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===Different structures===
===Different structures===
There are countless flower forms, evolutionarily meant to aid pollination by either by insects, other animals, wind or even water. Flowers pollinated by insects and other animals tend to be brightly colored with a sweet scent, and usually having sugar-rich nectar. Some have evolved specialized forms to encourage particular pollinators - for example, the flowers of certain orchids can resemble female insects in order to attract the males. Flowers which are wind pollinated tend to be less easily visible and smaller, though in plants like grasses, they often are crowded in large inflorescences.
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===Inflorescences===
===Inflorescences===
Flowers on some plants come as one flower on its own stem. Many other flowers come grouped into inflorescences. The types of inflorescences can be identified by the arrangement of flowers on the stem. Sometimes compound flowerheads resemble a single flower, such as in lantana.
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===Shape===
===Shape===
There are two types of flower shapes; either regular or radially symmetrical and rounded in outline; or long and irregular or symmetrical along one axis only. Petals can be separate (free) or else partly fused, forming a flower which is tubular or funnel-shaped. Composite flowers may have elongated florets, but usually the flowerhead is rounded.
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===Petal arrangement===
===Petal arrangement===
Almost all flowers in the wild have a single whorl or fused group of 2-6 petals. A few do have more, but this is more a tendency far more often seen in cultivated plants, which occurred as a mutation and was perpetuated through selective breeding. Semi-double flowers tend to have 2 or 3 whorls of petals, while double flowers have 3 or more whorls and no stamens (or just a few), sometimes they don't even have carpels. Many times stamens have been modified into structures like petals called staminodes. Doubling occurs in a good number of members of the ''Asteraceae'', like ''Dahlia'' and C''hrysanthemums'', but when this happens the number of ray florets goes up, and partially or fully replaces the disk florets.
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===Habits===
===Habits===
The habit of a flower or an inflorescence is a description of its orientation on its stalk at maturity. This can change on some plants during the development of the flower.
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Image:placeholder.jpg| Erect
Image:placeholder.jpg| Erect
===Colors===
===Colors===
Both colors and markings on a flower evolved originally as a means of attracting pollinators. For cultivated plants, they are modified to enhance their decorative value.
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