Flowers have been important to humans for thousands of years, and continue to play a part in our lives when we give gifts or mark life's milestones though ceremony. We are all familiar with the appearance of many different types of flowers, but how much else do you know about your favourite blooms? Here is a brief introduction to some of the biological facts about flowering plants.

Flowering plants are also known as angiosperms. The flower is the structure that carries out reproductive functions. In comparison, the reproductive structures of other non-flowering plants are markedly different.

Flowering plants have four kinds of modified leaves, and two types of these modified leaves bear pollen and seeds. These are called stamens and carpels, with carpels sometimes also known as pistils. The carpel grows as an ovary around the ovule. The ovule is then completely enclosed, and within the ovule will become a seed.

The way that this ovary forms from the carpel to protect the ovule while it becomes a seed is the genesis of the name angiosperm. This name is derived from the Greek, and means 'seed in a vessel.' In contrast, there are non-flowering plants called 'gymnosperms,' and gymnosperm means 'naked seed'.

The ovules on gymnosperms are also carried on modified leaves, but in gymnosperms ? as the Greek suggests ? the modified leaves stay open. Pinecones are an example of open modified leaves carrying ovules.

Established fossil evidence suggest that flowering plants appeared on the planet some 140 million years ago; in evolutionary terms, this is fairly recently (although some new evidence places the appearance of angiosperms 80 million years earlier). To put this in context, blue green algae - the earliest known form of land based plant life ? made an appearance around 1.2 billion years ago.

Flowering plants are now the number one species of vegetation on Earth; the estimated number of species of angiosperms is 250,000. Gymnosperms have less than 1000 known species. 40,000 species of plant life are vascular plants (like ferns) or Bryophytes (like mosses).

Angiosperms seen set to remain the dominant kind of plant life, especially with the help of mankind as we continue to cultivate plants for their flowers to use as gifts, in remembrance at funerals and other ceremonies, and at major events like weddings.

Maricruz Tennill is a retired biologist and keen amateur botanist who has lived in Jersey for over sixty years. Maricruz Tennill recommends Interflora searching for florists in Jersey.