The present invention provides a system for transforming plants by floral wounding. Plant flowers are transformed by wounding of the floral bud and delivery of a bacterial suspension, such as Agrobacterium tumefaciens, carrying vector DNA. In preferred embodiments, the vector DNA includes nucleic acid encoding a pharmaceutical agent. Preferably, the flowers are allowed to mature to fruit and the seeds of the fruit are harvested and grown to produce mature transformed plants. The floral wounding methods of the present invention avoid the costly and time intensive step of plant regeneration required by standard transformation procedures.
