Cut Flower Exports of Africa    
Home Start key Fact sheets Glossary Common flowers    

Flower - symmetry

This feature concerns flowers, not heads or other inflorescence types. The illustrations below depict flowers viewed from above.

 

more or less actinomorphic

Radially symmetrical; divisible into approximately equal halves along two or more planes. Perianth parts similar in shape and size and evenly distributed. In some double flowers, there may be multiple whorls of randomly spaced segments. Nevertheless, the whole may look basically actinomorphic.

 

zygomorphic or irregular

Bilaterally symmetric; divisible into approximately equal halves along one plane only (above), or not divisible into two equal halves. Perianth parts differ in shape, or size, or are not evenly spaced. Choose this state if a flower is noticeably zygomorphic or irregular.

 top