Were you expecting an arrangement in a vase?
You forget. I am a biologist.
So when I cut a flower, I cut up a flower.
I removed the two sets of 3 petals from the base.
Then, I cut longitudinally into the green calyx and ovary to expose the seed-forming tissues.
Here’s a little lesson in flower parts.
The long, single pistil is the female part.
.
The top end of the pistil is called the stigma. It is sticky to capture pollen that lands on it.
Cutting the ovary in half exposes the developing seeds.
The six stamen produce yellow pollen on the ends. Pollen acts like dust if you shake or touch it.
Pollen looks like rice on 40x.
Pollen is also sticky and sometimes stains clothing. That’s why some florists cut off the stamen. Ouch!
The petal coloring shows up in cells looking like pixels on 40x.
Don’t get mad at me for dissecting my Amaryllis flower.
Your Valentine’s bouquet will die, too. Might as well learn something before you toss it out.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
floweralley 
Great post…I love seeing the inner world!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bonjour Floweralley, merci de ce billet très intéressant et j’adore les tulipes. En ce moment, on en trouve chez les fleuristes et j’ai souvent un bouquet de tulipes sur ma table du salon 🙂
Joyeuse Saint-Valentin également à vous avec mes amitiés ♥♥
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very interesting! Thank you for this lesson and all this wonderful pictures.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This post reminds me of Mrs. Wallace, an older lady who substituted for my 7th grade class for a while. One day she brought in daffodils from her yard and gave each of us one to lay on a paper towel on our desks. Then we each examined our flower to learn about all its parts as she explained each one. It was my first science lab. I’ll always be grateful to Mrs. Wallace for sharing her flowers and her enthusiasm with us.
LikeLiked by 1 person