Male flowerIt makes pollen. It sits on a thin stalk.
Flower stalk (pedicel)The thin stalk of one flower. The male flower has a long one.
Female flowerIt has a small cucumber, the ovary, below its petals.
TendrilA thin thread that coils around a support. The vine climbs with it.
Cut in half 7
PetalsThe showy parts of the flower. They join into a bell.
SepalsNarrow pointed leaves under the petals. Together they are the calyx.
StamensThey make the pollen. Only the male flower has them.
StigmaThe top of the pistil. Pollen has to land on it.
StyleThe short column from stigma to ovary.
OvaryThe swollen part below the petals. It grows into the cucumber.
OvulesThey sit in rows inside the ovary and can become seeds.
How this list was compiled: Every name was checked on 2026-09-30 against sources read that day; a name is kept only when two of them use it. (1) University of Minnesota Extension, Growing cucumbers in home gardens, https://extension.umn.edu/vegetables/growing-cucumbers (cucumber plants bear separate male and female flowers on one plant; male flowers usually come first, each on a thin pedicel (stem); female flowers sit close to the vine, and a small round ovary, the unfertilized fruit, sits between flower and vine; an insect must carry the pollen; the first blossoms often drop because they are male; some varieties have only female flowers, and some set seedless fruit without pollination). (2) University of Illinois Extension, Home Vegetable Gardening, Cucumber, https://extension.illinois.edu/gardening/cucumber (the first flowers are male flowers that provide pollen; the small cucumber shows at the female flower's base even before it opens). (3) NC State Extension, North Carolina Extension Gardener Handbook, chapter 3, Botany, https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/extension-gardener-handbook/3-botany (sepals, together the calyx; petals; the stamen with its anther; the pistil; a complete flower has sepals, petals, stamens and pistils; a flower that lacks stamens or pistils is imperfect, and therefore also incomplete; male flowers are staminate and female flowers pistillate; early in the season cucumbers and squash bear only male flowers). (4) Wikipedia, text only: Cucurbita, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucurbita (in the gourd family: male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers on one plant; five fused petals, the corolla, and a bell-shaped calyx; female flowers make the fruit, male flowers the pollen; stamens with joined anthers; an inferior ovary with stigmas; pedicels; tendrils), Cucurbitaceae, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucurbitaceae (unisexual flowers; the female flowers have inferior ovaries; tendrils), Cucumber, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucumber (a vine that climbs with thin spiraling tendrils; male blossoms first, then female; some cultivars make almost all female blossoms), and Plant reproductive morphology, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_reproductive_morphology (staminate, pistillate, monoecious, dioecious, perfect). (5) John N. Martin, Botany for Agricultural Students, 1919, public domain, https://archive.org/details/botanyforagricul00mart (Figure 6, the two unisexual flowers of the pumpkin with the bell-shaped corolla torn away: the staminate flower with its stamens standing together, and the pistillate flower; pumpkins, cucumbers and corn bear both on the same plant and are monoecious; the ovary holds the ovules, which become seeds). Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain curves; own work, nothing traced. Licence: own work
How it works
This cucumber flower diagram shows the two kinds of flower one vine makes. The male flower sits on a thin stalk. The female flower has a small cucumber, its ovary, below the petals.
Read the full guide
Telling the two apart
Look below the petals. A male flower has only a slender stalk, the pedicel. A female flower has a swelling there that looks like a tiny cucumber. The first flowers on a vine are usually male, so they drop without making fruit.
Reading the male and female flower diagram
Cut open, the male flower holds stamens, which make pollen. The female flower holds a stigma and a style above an ovary full of ovules. Bees carry the pollen across, and the ovary grows into the cucumber.
A flower with only stamens or only a pistil is called imperfect. It is also incomplete, because a set of parts is missing.
Some cucumber varieties make almost only female flowers.
Questions and answers
How do you tell a male cucumber flower from a female one?
Look under the petals. The female flower has a small swelling shaped like a tiny cucumber, which is its ovary. The male flower has only a thin stalk.
Why do the first cucumber flowers fall off without making fruit?
The first flowers on a vine are usually male. They make pollen, not fruit, and drop after they open. Female flowers follow.
Do cucumbers need both kinds of flower?
Most kinds do. An insect, usually a bee, has to carry pollen from a male flower to a female flower. Some newer varieties set seedless fruit with no pollination.
What is a plant with separate male and female flowers called?
Monoecious, when both kinds grow on the same plant, as on a cucumber, a squash or corn. When each plant carries only one kind, it is dioecious.