In addition to facilitating the reproduction of flowering plants, flowers have long been admired and used by humans to beautify their environment, and also as objects of romance, ritual, religion, medicine and as a source of food.
Floral formula
Floral diagram for the genus Nepenthes
A floral formula is a way to represent the structure of a flower using specific letters, numbers, and symbols. Typically, a general formula will be used to represent the flower structure of a plant family rather than a particular species. The following representations are used:
Ca = calyx (sepal whorl; e. g. Ca5 = 5 sepals)
Co = corolla (petal whorl; e. g., Co3(x) = petals some multiple of three )
Z = add if zygomorphic (e. g., CoZ6 = zygomorphic with 6 petals)
A = androecium (whorl of stamens; e. g., A∞ = many stamens)
G = gynoecium (carpel or carpels; e. g., G1 = monocarpous) x: to represent a "variable number"
∞: to represent "many"
A floral formula would appear something like this:
Ca5Co5A10 - ∞G1
Several additional symbols are sometimes used
Morphology
A stereotypical flower consists of four kinds of structures attached to the tip of a short stalk. Each of these kinds of parts is arranged in a whorl on the