Market Science on May 23rd was a floral extravaganza!
Flowers are often the most noticeable parts of plants. Many flowers are meant to be attractive, not just to gardeners who choose the prettiest flowering plants to buy at the market, but also to various pollinators. Flowering plants surround their reproductive parts with showy petals, scents, or nectar rewards to entice animals to move their pollen around. Though some plants still used the tried and true wind dispersal method (similar to non-flowering plants, like pines).
We examined many different types of flowers at the market to find all of their parts. We even learned that sunflowers have large compound flowers (dandelions do, too). The next time you see a sunflower, check and see if you can see all of the many flowers within it.
We had cards to make a flower dissection and see all of the parts, but some budding botanists drew their own flowers.
We examined some reasons flowers appear in so many different forms.We asked visitors to take a silly personality quiz to find out what kind of flowers they would have (if they were flowering plants). Flowers are attempting to spread and collect pollen and different strategies are used. Flowers that open at night are often attracting moths or bats. Flowers that are open during the day and have a fresh scent may be attracting bees. Flowers that smell like rotting meat may be tricking flies into visiting. Most people are a wind-pollinated variety, but stinky fly-pollinated plants came in second!
We’ll get into all different kinds of pollinators on June 20! We’ll talk flowers and who is working for them then!