The male flowers come first, with only petals and no fruit underneath them. The male flowers are normally two or three followed by female flowers that are usually few. The male flower is always the first so that when the female flower cones, the pollinators are able to carry the pollen from the male flower to the female flower. The pollinators e.g. bees and butterflies are therefore very important and the farmer needs to make sure their farm is not polluted by not using strong chemicals. The female flower is characterized by a pod/seed-like feature below the petals, which develops into a fruit after pollination. If pollination does not occur, the flower falls and the farmer experiences flower abortion.
Importance of male and flowers
Watermelon plants are different from other plants in that they don’t produce both the male and female parts on the same flower. The male flowers come first, with only petals and no fruit underneath them, on the other hand, the female flower is characterized by a pod/seed-like feature below the petals, which develops into a fruit after pollination. The male flower is always the first so that when the female flower cones, the pollinators are able to carry the pollen from the male flower to the female flower. If the female flower is not fertilized, it does not form a fruit leading to flower abortion.
