A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants. Flowers give rise to fruit and seeds. Many flowers have evolved to be attractive to animals, so as to cause them to be vectors for the transfer of pollen.In addition to facilitating the reproduction of flowering plants, flowers have long been admired and used by humans to beautify their environment, and also as objects of romance, ritual, religion, medicine and as a source of food.The primary purpose of a flower is reproduction. Since the flowers are the reproductive organs of plant, they mediate the joining of the sperm, contained within pollen, to the ovules — contained in the ovary.Many plants are dependent upon external factors for pollination, including: wind and animals, and especially insects. Even large animals such as birds, bats, and pygmy possums can be employed. Plants cannot move from one location to another, thus many flowers have evolved to attract animals to transfer pollen between individuals in dispersed populations. land plants have existed for about 425 million years, the first ones reproduced by a simple adaptation of their aquatic counterparts: spores.. The earliest fossil of a flowering plant, Archaefructus liaoningensis, is dated about 125 million years old.The general assumption is that the function of flowers, from the start, was to involve animals in the reproduction process.Many flowers have important symbolic meanings in Western culture. The practice of assigning meanings to flowers is known as floriography. Some of the more common examples include:
*Poppies are a symbol of consolation in time of death. In the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia and Canada, red poppies are worn to commemorate soldiers who have died in times of war.
*Irises/Lily are used in burials as a symbol referring to "resurrection/life". It is also associated with stars (sun) and its petals blooming/shining.
*Daisies are a symbol of innocence.
Flowers within art are also representative of the female genitalia, as seen in the works of artists such as Georgia O'Keeffe, Imogen Cunningham, Veronica Ruiz de Velasco, and Judy Chicago, and in fact in Asian and western classical art. Many cultures around the world have a marked tendency to associate flowers with femininity.
The great variety of delicate and beautiful flowers has inspired the works of numerous poets, especially from the 18th-19th century Romantic era. Famous examples include William Wordsworth's I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud and William Blake's Ah! Sun-Flower.Because of their varied and colourful appearance, flowers have long been a favourite subject of visual artists as well.In modern times, people have sought ways to cultivate, buy, wear, or otherwise be around flowers and blooming plants, partly because of their agreeable appearance and smell. Around the world, people use flowers for a wide range of events and functions that, cumulatively, encompass one's lifetime.
*For new births or Christenings.
*As tokens of love or esteem.
*For wedding flowers for the bridal party, and decorations for the hall.
*As a gift of remembrance for bon voyage parties, welcome home parties, and "thinking of you" gifts.
*For worshipping goddesses. in Hindu culture it is very common to bring flowers as a gift to temples.
People therefore grow flowers around their homes, dedicate entire parts of their living space to flower gardens, pick wildflowers, or buy flowers from florists who depend on an entire network of commercial growers and shippers to support their trade.Flowers have been used since as far back as 50,000 years in funeral rituals. Many cultures do draw a connection between flowers and life and death, and because of their seasonal return flowers also suggest rebirth, which is the why many people place flowers upon graves. In ancient times the Greeks would place a crown of flowers on the head of the deceased as well as cover the tomb with wreaths and flower petals, rich and powerful women in ancient Egypt would wear floral headdresses and necklaces upon their death as representations of renewal and a joyful afterlife, and the Mexicans to this day use flowers prominently in their Day of the Dead celebrations in the same way that their Aztec ancestors did.
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