floral formula

A floral formula is a way to represent the structure of a flower using specific letters, numbers, and symbols.

A floral formula would appear something like this:

Several additional symbols are sometimes used (see Key to Floral Formulas).

Floral formula:

This a shorthand method of describing the way the bones (rays) of a bony fish's fins are arranged, comparable to the floral formula for flowers.

To investigate the structure of a flower, it must be dissected, examined under a binocular microscope, and its structure summarised by a floral diagram or a floral formula.

Convolvulaceae can be recognized by their funnel-shaped, radially symmetrical corolla; the floral formula for the family has five sepals, five fused petals, five epipetalous stamens (stamens fused to the petals), and a two-part syncarpous and superior gynoecium.