Many of their fruit crops, legumes, vegetables, and oilseed crops depend upon pollinating insects for set of fruit or seeds. Therein lies the basis for the most important contribution made by any insect to agriculture-pollination by the honey bee. Some knowledge of the flower structure and fruit setting is necessary to understand the entire pollination process.
All flowers have the same basic pattern, but there are many variations.
The peach blossom, the tassel and ear of corn, and the sunflower head appear remarkably different, but all have the same basic parts. Typically, the flower is composed of the sexual organs, protected by the usually colorful delicate petals that may form a sort of tube or crownlike corolla. These are supported and partially protected by the usually green and more durable sepals, collectively called the calyx. The calyx and corolla combined are referred to as the perianth. There may be leaflike bracts just below the sepals.