FLOWERS

More than 80 per cent of all green plants have flowers. Flowers make seeds that develop into new plants. A plant that lives for only one year flowers at the end of its life. Most plants that live for many years flower every year.

ª These flowers come from the flax plant.Flax was the most important vegetable fibre in Europe before cotton.It is still used to make linen.

ª Bird of paradise flowers have a flat ‘landing platform’ for the birds that visit to feed on nectar.

ª Poppies die as soon as they have flowered.Each flower produces hundreds of seeds.

ª Thriff flowers grow at the tips of grass-like tufts on cliffs, rocks and salt marshes from April to October.

ª The yellow stigmas o the purple saffron crocus make saffron a valuable spice.

ª Apple blossoms are usually pink.They get their colour from anthocyanin pigments, which also turn leaves red in autumn.

ª Primrose flowers provide a vital source of nectar for early spring butterflies, such as the brimstone.Flowers grow from the base of the plant on long stalks.

ª Snowdrops flower early in the year, using energy stored in underground bulbs.

ª Passion flowers have in the middle of their flowers an unusual rig of flaments.

ª Daisies look like a single bloom but they actually consist of many small flowers.Those around the edge each have a single petal.