Tepal

Many flowers that appear to have six petals actually have 2 whorls of 3 petal-like structures, one above the other.

Bolander’s Lily – photo by Keir Morse

The upper whorl is made up of 3 petals. The bottom whorl is 3 sepals.

If the two whorls look the same, as they do above, then all six petal-like structures are called tepals.

Want more? See Wikipedia.

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