The most developed in evolutionary terms, occupying a huge niche among the plant kingdom - the order Rosaceae (Rosáles). It consists of nine families (rosaceae, elm, mulberry, hemp, sucker, nettle, etc.). These include: apple trees, bird cherry trees, mountain ash, hawthorn, cotoneaster, cherries, wild strawberries, quinces, apricots and many others. Pollinated by insects.
All flowering plants are characterized by the presence of such an organ as a flower. The formula of the Rosaceae inflorescence flower , its structure is mandatory for study in a school biology course.
What is a flower?
Due to the presence of this organ, flowering plants are the most resistant in the world. For example, the Suez Canal: unbearable heat, and trees grow, but not gymnosperms or ferns, but flowering.
A flower is a breeding organ, a shortened shoot, and pistils, stamens, petals are modified leaves.
Spread
Order Rosaceae - Northern. Its representatives make their way even beyond the polar circle of our planet. All our favorite flowering plants: apple trees, pears, plums, apricots - were born in the northern hemisphere. Oddly enough, in the southern hemisphere there are very few of them. Only South America and tropical Africa (Australia also has units) can boast of "golden plums" from the chrysobalan family.
Rosaceae are a thriving order. Evolution endowed them with the ability to quickly adapt. That is why most often they can be found not in virgin forests, but in damaged areas - clearings, burnt areas, in cities, on slopes of ravines, on abandoned arable lands, even on mountain talus: stone-cut, thick-cut. There, having no competitors, they thrive, grow quickly and luxuriantly. And also capture the territory for a long time.
External structure
Many of the Rosaceae herbs are often confused with Ranunculaceae from the order of Ranunculaceae, since they are similar in primitiveness: many stamens and pistils. Externally, plants from these two orders also have similar characteristics. But among them there are more advanced types.
Distinctive properties of developed plants from the order Rosaceae
Primitive species often have a chaotic flower organization: large size, a huge number of stamens, but developed ones, on the contrary:
- pistils are protected by a cupped receptacle;
- the receptacle of the fruit grows and often becomes attractive, with a juicy pulp and a pleasant aroma (apple, pear);
- fruits and aroma attract animals, which, in turn, spread pink plants over long distances;
- seeds are protected by a very dense shell.
Family Rosaceae
It includes angiosperms (dicotyledonous). This includes both trees and shrubs with herbs. Often they have altered vegetative organs — rhizomes, mustaches, and thorns.
Flowers can be single, and in inflorescences. For example, cherries have cherries, umbrellas have cherries, pear shields. Perianths with bright colors or simply white, attracting pollinating insects.
What features of the schematic structure are rosaceae? The flower, the formula that follows, is characterized by the presence of a clear sequence:
- Ch5L5T∞P∞ - strawberries, rose hips and others have such a formula.
The meaning of the components of the formula:
- H - designation of sepals.
- L is the designation of the petal.
- T is the designation of the stamen.
- P - designation of the pestle.
- ∞ is a set (impossible to count).
The numbers indicate the quantity. For plants from the Rosaceae family, the flower (formula) has a typical appearance. The correct flower is the one through which many axes can be drawn, and all the parts separated by them will be symmetrical. Rosaceae possess such characteristics. The structure of the flower (formula) can be designated in another way.
For example, rose hip (Rosaceae) is a flower whose formula is as follows: Ca5Co5A∞G∞, where:
- Ca - from lat. calyx, which means a calyx or sepals.
- Co - from lat. corola or corolla consisting of the nth number of petals (in this case, 5).
- A (androceum) - male organs, i.e., stamens.
- G (genoceum) - a female organ, i.e., a pistil or fused carpels.
An interesting fact is that although wild rose and very useful plants, people from the island of Tasmania, due to the excessive growth of the number of this shrub, began to fight it. They set goats on them. These animals are known for their destructive influence on the fauna, but everything got out of control. The goats were replaced by dense thickets of rose hips, but, having eaten large seeds, they died due to clogging of the intestines. We can say that for the first time in the history of mankind, plants have repulsed the enemy.
No one can tell the exact number of varieties of rose hips. But all of them are divided into red, white and yellow. The most common and ancient (Rosa Rugosa) are red. Among them, even lianas and evergreen species are distinguished.
In Siberia, weakened, crumbling soils are saved by the massively growing wild rose hips - its strong rhizomes are similar to rusted iron rods.
The main pride of the Rosaceae deservedly can be considered their fragrant flowers. Rosaceae (flower, formula described above), their decorativeness, economic importance and environmental role - the future of the planet. It is impossible to imagine the existence of the modern world without these plants. We can say that it was their appearance that gave impetus to the development of all living things and made it the way we perceive it and know it now.