by Mary Free and Christa Watters, Extension Master Gardeners

Curious about floral design? Understand the importance of the receptacle (not the vase used in floristry but the part of a flower stalk bearing the floral parts) and the hypanthium. Explore the ingenious ways nature arranges floral parts and how botanists interpret those arrangements to categorize flower type—hypogynous, perigynous, epigynous.
Click on any of the new glossary words above to learn more.



From left to right: Longitudinal sections of hypogynous Eurasian Solomon’s-seal, perigynous Prunus flower, and epigynous daffodil.
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