I was sitting having a break from weeding (with a lovely cup of tea) when I started to
notice that the Aquilegias have some flowers with 'horned' petals and others where the
horns never emerge and are completely covered with the 5 back petals.

When these latter ones are beginning to open, they resemble small Fratillaria flowers.
What could be the purpose for this difference? They are on the same plant and even the
same stem.

A second question (bear with me, please). Are those flowers with whorls of bright yellow
stamens, male and the ones with cone shaped clusters of none yellow oval 'bits' on stalks,
female? This is unrelated to the first query and does not fit in with the shape of the
flowers.

Sorry it is a bit scientific but there are some very knowledgeable people in this group.

Thanks,
Kath

Aquilegias are good at producing a wide range of flower types in their seedlings, from the "clematis flowered" type with flat petals through to various degrees of double-ness. I don't think there's much "purpose" to it. Better to ask the purpose of the spurs, which are nectar containing, thus limiting pollination to long-tongued insects (because the pollinating insects come to the flowers to take the nectar) . The advantage of limiting pollination to a smaller group of insects is that the insects themselves will be feeding on a smaller range of flowers (those which require a long tongue) and so there's a greater chance your pollen gets taken to another aquilegia and not, say, a rose.

The flat flower type is more typical of other plants in the same family, eg clematis, buttercup.

But I've never seen two flower types on one plant.

As to the second question - aquilegia don't have separate male and female flowers - both male and female bits are in the same flower. Have you considered that the flowers might not be the same age? I haven't looked at aquilegia flowers closely enough so haven't seen what you are asking about, but wonder whether the stamens devlope first, then die back when they have shed their pollen, allowing easier access to the stigma - a mechanism to avoid self-pollination? This is speculation. I really should go and look at some aquilegia flowers first.

You're right though that when the male and female flowers are separate (eg Skimmia, where they're on separate plants) the males are the ones with fluffy stamens, and the females have a knob-like stigma. Primroses do it a bit differently. All flowers are bisexual, but some have the stamens longer than the stigma, and some have the stigma longer than the stamens, so that if you look without dissecting the flower, you can be forgiven for thinking there are separate male and female flowers.

I now have looked at the aquilegias in our garden. First I have to climb down and say that we do have different types of flowers on the same plant. I have one which has double flowers on one stem and single flowers on the rest. And several which show any number (0-5) of spurred petals on different flowers on the same plant. And another where the bud reminded me of the description you gave as being like a fritillaria, where the spurs were tucked behind the outer petals in the young flowers, but became visible as the flower matured.

I think I may have seen the difference in your second question - flowers with a central spire completely hidden by fat anthers making a cone-shaped heap, and other flowers, and others with a central spire surrounded by stamens with tiny dark coloured anthers on top. As I thought, that's a maturity thing - the second type are on older flowers, where the anthers had withered, and to demonstrate that, I also found some intermediates, with anthers one side withered and the other side looking like the cone-shaped heap of oval bits.

On Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:16:25 +0200, kay wrote:


'Kath[_2_ Wrote:
;984892']I was sitting having a break from weeding (with a lovely cup of
tea) when I started to
notice that the Aquilegias have some flowers with 'horned' petals and
others where the
horns never emerge and are completely covered with the 5 back petals.

When these latter ones are beginning to open, they resemble small
Fratillaria flowers.
What could be the purpose for this difference? They are on the same
plant and even the
same stem.

A second question (bear with me, please). Are those flowers with whorls
of bright yellow
stamens, male and the ones with cone shaped clusters of none yellow oval
'bits' on stalks,
female? This is unrelated to the first query and does not fit in with
the shape of the
flowers.



Aquilegias are good at producing a wide range of flower types in their
seedlings, from the "clematis flowered" type with flat petals through to
various degrees of double-ness. I don't think there's much "purpose" to
it. Better to ask the purpose of the spurs, which are nectar
containing, thus limiting pollination to long-tongued insects (because
the pollinating insects come to the flowers to take the nectar) . The
advantage of limiting pollination to a smaller group of insects is that
the insects themselves will be feeding on a smaller range of flowers
(those which require a long tongue) and so there's a greater chance your
pollen gets taken to another aquilegia and not, say, a rose.

The flat flower type is more typical of other plants in the same family,
eg clematis, buttercup.

But I've never seen two flower types on one plant.

As to the second question - aquilegia don't have separate male and
female flowers - both male and female bits are in the same flower. Have
you considered that the flowers might not be the same age? I haven't
looked at aquilegia flowers closely enough so haven't seen what you are
asking about, but wonder whether the stamens devlope first, then die
back when they have shed their pollen, allowing easier access to the
stigma - a mechanism to avoid self-pollination? This is speculation. I
really should go and look at some aquilegia flowers first.

You're right though that when the male and female flowers are separate
(eg Skimmia, where they're on separate plants) the males are the ones
with fluffy stamens, and the females have a knob-like stigma. Primroses
do it a bit differently. All flowers are bisexual, but some have the
stamens longer than the stigma, and some have the stigma longer than the
stamens, so that if you look without dissecting the flower, you can be
forgiven for thinking there are separate male and female flowers.

Thank you for your thoughts and info. It has certainly intregued me. I may look into it a
bit deeper, if only to satisfy an awakened curiosity.

Kath