Parts of a Magnolia Flower

• Magnolia blossoms are made up of many smaller parts. Design Pics/Valueline/Getty Images

  The magnolia is a large flowering plant or small tree that is found in both Asia and the Americas. Believed to have evolved before bees, the magnolia flower is designed to be pollinated by beetles, and has many primitive features including a multiplicity of pistils, each of which has only a single carpel.

Petal

• The magnolia blossom has between six and twelve petals, in addition to three sepals. Unlike those of more advanced flowers, the petals and sepals are almost indistinguishable, both generally having the same pinkish-white hue. Most other flowers have green sepals, which grow at the base of the flower, and brightly colored petals to attract the attention of insects and other pollinators.

Stamens

• The stamen is the flower's male reproductive organ, consisting of an anther at the end of a long stalk called a filament. While most flowers have only five such stamens, the magnolia has a large number that occur in spiraling rows. Both the stamens and pistils are clustered together at the end of a long receptacle that extends above the petals.

Pistils

• A flower's pistil is the female organ, which produces ovules. Again, the magnolia blossom has many more than most other blossoms, but to an even greater extent -- most flowers have only a single pistil, while the magnolia has even more pistils than stamens, with a single curling stigma at the end of each. The pistils mature into dry follicles, which, counted together, form a single aggregate fruit, the magnolia's equivalent to a blackberry.

Ovules

• While most flowers have several ovules per carpel and several carpels per pistil, as well as branching stigma, the magnolia blossom has a much simpler structure. Each pistil has only a single stigma and a single carpel. Each carpel contains either one or two ovules. Ovules are the flower's equivalent to eggs, which will eventually develop into seeds.