If you have ever stopped to smell the roses, then you are familiar with the largest group of plants, the Anthophyta. The distinctive feature of this group is the flower, a cluster of highly-specialized leaves which participate in reproduction. Not all flowers are as conspicuous as the Magnolia blossom in the picture above; oaks, ivy, and grasses also produce flowers, but because they are not as showy we often do not notice them.

Flowering plants are important in many ways above and beyond their aesthetic appeal in flower arrangements. Not a day goes by in which our lives are not affected by flowering plants. Nearly all of our food comes from flowering plants; grains, beans, nuts, fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices almost all come from plants with flowers, as do tea, coffee, chocolate, wine, beer, tequila, and cola. Much of our clothing comes from them as well -- cotton and linen are made from "fibers" of flowering plants, as are rope and burlap, and many commercial dyes are extracted from other flowering plants. (source: UCMP Berkely)