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Plant Family Collection: Roses
About 40 or 60 million years ago, bees and butterflies became more diverse and abundant, and flowers began to evolve in concert with them. Roses and related plants, grouped by botanists into the subclass Rosidae, do not depend on the vagaries of the wind for pollination; they have coevolved with the insects that pollinate their flowers and the animals that disperse their seeds.
Different members of the rose family have developed their own particular structures that protect the female part of the flower to varying degrees. In the apple, the tissue surrounding the ovary becomes fleshy, forming the edible fruit. This fleshy tissue provides added protection to the ovary and also, as the seeds ripen, provides food for animals, which return the favor by disseminating the plant's seeds across the landscape.
Map of the Garden
The Plant Family Collection is indicated by the orange box. Click on the map to visit other locations in the Garden, or click here to view a larger map.
