~ World Of Flowers ~

[MysteRy]

Common name: Glossy Abelia
Botanical name: Abelia X grandiflora
Family: Caprifoliaceae (Honeysorryle family)

Glossy abelia is an evergreen shrub with arching branches and a rounded shape, which can grow up to 10 ft tall, and as wide as 12 ft. In reality the garden specimens are about 3-5 ft tall. Oppositely arranged glossy, dark green leaves are about 1-2 in long and half as wide. The fragrant, funnel shaped flowers are white, tinged with pink, and about an inch long. The long lasting sepals are rose pink in color, spreading. There are several named cultivars in the trade, including some with darker pink flowers, some with yellow or variegated leaves, some with a creeping habit, and some that stay small. Glossy abelia is a hybrid species that resulted from a cross between the deciduous Chinese abelia (Abelia chinensis) and an evergreen species A. uniflora, also from China.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Nilofar, Romanian White Waterlily
Botanical name: [Nymphaea alba L.] Nymphaea alba
Family: Nymphaeaceae (Waterlily family)
Synonyms: Castalia alba, Nymphaea venusta, Nymphaea splendens

Nilofar is an aquatic flowering plant found in Kashmir. It is also found in Europe and W. Asia and N. Africa. It grows in water from 1-5 ft deep and likes large ponds and lakes. The leaves can be up to 30 cm in diameter and they take up a spread of 5 ft per plant. Leaf's main veins radiate from a single point. The flowers are white and they have many small stamens inside. Flower are 10-20 cm across, unmistakable, with lot of yellow stamens in the center. Petals are 20-25, white, ovate-oblong, 3-6 cm, transition to stamens gradual. Filament of inner stamens are as wide as anther. Carpels are completely united, walls between cells of ovary single. Stigma rays are 14-20; carpellary appendages triangular-tapered. Fruit is semiglobose, 2.5-3 cm. Seeds ellipsoid, 2-3 mm, smooth. Flowerig: June-August.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Flamingo flower, Painter's palette
Botanical name: Anthurium andraeanum
Family: Araceae (arum family)

Anthurium, pronounced an-THOO-ree-um, are once-seen, never-forgotten flowers. Their unmistakable glossy heart-shaped bright red flower bract (which gives them their popular name of painter's palette) surrounds the true flowers, which are in the form of a spike (or spathe) at the centre. Anthuriums come in shades of reds, pinks, white, lilac, green and chocolate brown. A tropical perennial herb growing up to 20" tall; it has dark green heart-shaped leathery leaves and a green stem. The seeds are small subglobose berries. The flower bracts have a puckered appearance and shine as though they were varnished. Anthuriums will bloom more or less continuously, each plant having four to six flowers during the year. Each flower will last about six weeks on the plant or several weeks when cut and placed in a vase of water.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Lily Magnolia
Botanical name: Magnolia liliiflora
Family: Magnoliaceae (Magnolia family)
Synonyms: Magnolia lilliflora

Lily magnolia is a bushy, rounded deciduous shrub which gets up to 13 ft tall with a spread about the same. The leaves are large, up to 8 in long and 4 in wide. The goblet shaped fragrant flowers are pink to purplish, about 3 in across and produced in spring and sporadically through the summer. They look like lilies growing on a tree, hence the common name. Lily Magnolia is originally from China. It has been reported that the species may no longer occur in the wild.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Cymbidium Valya Craig
Botanical name: Cymbidium Balkis X Cymbidium Cariga
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)

Cymbidium Valya Craig 'Sutherland' is a cymbidium hybrid that blooms from late winter through summer. It had a very unique color contrast of medium yellow sepals and petals with a suffuse rose-red lip. Flowering: March-April.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Mexican Flame Vine, Orange Glow Vine
Botanical name: Senecio confusus
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Mexican flame vine is a woody tropical vine with the enchanting summertime habit of covering itself in brilliant daisy-like flowers. The bright orange blossoms are about 1 in in diameter and are borne in small clusters. As they age the flowers change from orange to almost red. They are followed by fruiting structures that resemble smaller versions of the dandelion's puffy seed heads. This vine has thick evergreen leaves that are shaped like arrowheads and serrated on the edges. They are arranged alternately on the vine and are deep green in color providing a handsome background for the firey orange flowers. The scientific name of this plant Senecio confusus translates to "confused old man" referring, probably, to this vine's rampant habit of growth. If not provided support, Mexican flame vine grows this way and that in a confusion of stems that piles up to eventually form a sprawling shrub.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Garden Weigela, Japanese Weigela
Botanical name: Weigela hortensis
Family: Caprifoliaceae (Honeysorryle family)

Garden Weigela is a tall multi-stemmed deciduous shrub, growing to 2-3 m in cultivation. It is named after German scientist Christian Ehrenfried Weigel. Oppositely arranged leaves are ovate-elliptic, 4-11 cm long, base heart-shaped, tip tapering to blunt. Beautiful pink flowers are borne at the end of branches or in leaf axils. Flowers are bell-shaped to funnel-shaped, 2.5-3.5 cm long. Fruit is a leathery cylindrical capsule 2 cm long, pointing up on the branches. Garden Weigela is native to Japan, cultivated in Kashmir valley. Flowering: May-July.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Aztec Arrowhead, Giant Arrowhead
Botanical name: Sagittaria montevidensis
Family: Alismataceae (Water Plantain family)

Aztec Arrowhead is an aquatic herb, considered native to South America, possibly Brazil. Leaf stalks are thick, cylindrical, spongy, mostly erect but also reclining, up to 75 cm. Leaves are arrow-shaped, hairless. Inflorescence is typically shorter than leaves, prostrate. Flowers arise in whorls or pairs at nodes. Flowers have 3 white petals with yellow base. Sepals are 3, green. Flower stalks are thick, up to 5 cm long. Flowering: June-September.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Marmalade Bush
Botanical name: [Streptosolen jamesonii (Benth.) Miers] Streptosolen jamesonii
Family: Solanaceae (Potato family)

Marmalade bush, is an evergreen shrub that produces loose clusters of flowers gradually changing from yellow to red as they develop, resulting in an overall appearance resembling orange marmalade (thus the name). The sole member of its genus, it is found in open woodlands of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It is cultivated in cooler parts of India. The stems tend to be tall and slender, with an overall height of 3-6 ft. The leaves are ovate to elliptic, green to dark green, with a pattern of fine wrinkles. The flowers have a slender tube 3-4 cm long, with spreading petal lobes. The blooms can appear nearly all year in mild-winter areas, but the heaviest flowering is from spring through fall.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Venidium Zulu Prince, Cape Daisy, Monarch of the Veldt
Botanical name: Venidium fastuosum 'Zulu Prince'
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Venidium is a genus of flowering plants, native to South Africa. This variety produces gorgeous creamy white semi-double 4" daisy flowers bloom prolifically for several months. The center disc is a beautiful shiny black, giving a very exotic look. The leaves are silky, silvery green due to the presence of soft hairs, and are deeply lobed. Blooms over a very long summer and fall season. Stunning when mass planted and is an excellent cut flower. Grows to 2 feet tall, and is wonderful in a pot.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Calla lily, Arum Lily
Botanical name: Zantedeschia aethiopica
Family: Araceae (arum family)
Synonyms: Calla aethiopica, Richardia africana, Richardia aethiopica, Colocasia aethiopica

Calla Lily is an old-fashioned, but very elegant garden plant, native to South Africa. These elegant flowers have graced many bridal bouquets in Europe, in old times. Calla lily is a clump forming herbaceous plant, arising from tubers, with large arrow shaped leaves. It grows to about 2 ft in height. The flower consists of a orange-yellow finger-like spathe surrounding a white spadix. Pink and yellow varieties of Zantedeschia are also available. Golden calla has elongated oval shaped leaves, dotted with small white splotches, and bright, gleaming golden yellow spathes. All are strikingly beautiful, and even when not in flower, the large, tropical looking, spear shaped leaves make a lush statement, like bananas, cannas or ginger.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Leopard Flower, Blackberry lily
Botanical name: Iris domestica
Family: Iridaceae (Iris family)
Synonyms: Belamcanda chinensis

Leopard Flower is an perennial herb, with leaves in fans on branching stems. Lance-shaped leaves will reach 2 to 3 feet. Flowers are 5 cm across, borne on long, slender stalks, at the end of stems. They have 6 petals, yellow to orange-red, spotted with maroon or purple, which is what gave it the name leopard flower. Fruit is a black berry. The name Blackberry Lily derives from the clusters of shiny black seeds exposed when seed capsules split open. In India, Leopard Flower is found in the Himalayas at altitudes of 1000-2300 m. Flowering: July-August.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Mealy Blue Sage, Mealy sage, Mealy-cup sage, Mealycup sage
Botanical name: Salvia farinacea
Family: Lamiaceae (Mint family)

Mealy Blue Sage is a 2-3 ft upright perennial plant, originally from Mexico. Mealy sage is named for the mealy-white appearance of the sepals which are covered with felted hairs. The species name farinacea means flour, alluding to the same characteristic. The blue flowers are 5-lobed and 2-lipped 2/3–3/4 inch long with 2 stamens and 1 pistil. They have the usual sage fragrance. The long narrow leaves grow in clusters out of which grow the flower stems. The leaves may or may not have teeth. Dark-blue to white tubular flowers are densely congested in whorls along the upper stems creating a 3-9 inch spike. Gray-green lance-shaped leaves are numerous especially in the lower portion of the plant. Several cultivars are available with varying flower color and plant height. The cultivar 'Victoria Blue' has darker blue flowers.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Pentas, Star flower, Star cluster
Botanical name: Pentas lanceolata
Family: Rubiaceae (coffee family)

Dark green, lance-shaped, somewhat furry and deeply veined leaves provide a lush backdrop for prolific clusters of never-ending, five-petaled flowers. These may be red, white, lavender, purple, or shades of pink. Some are two-toned. All are extremely attractive to butterflies, and the red and dark pink varieties delight hummingbirds. Depending on the variety, the habit of growth may be upright to about 3', or low and mounding. Full sized pentas are often sprawling, as tall stems will topple over. The flowers are held in terminal clusters and self-deadhead. In warm weather the plant grows fast and stays in bloom constantly. Where winters are not too severe, pentas are perennial. They may always be treated as an annual and replanted after danger of frost for long-lasting summer color. Africa is probably the original home of pentas.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Blanket Flower, Firewheel, Indian blanket
Botanical name: Gaillardia pulchella
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Blanket flower is a short-lived annual flowering plant native to the central United States. The branching stem of this plant is hairy and upright, growing to 2 ft tall. The leaves are alternate, mostly basal, 4-8 cm long, with edges smooth to coarsely toothed or lobed. The pinwheel, daisy-like inflorescences are 4-6 cm diameter, vividly colored with red, orange and yellow. The central disc florets of the flowerhead tend to be more red-violet, with the outer ray florets being yellow. In one variety, almost the entire flower is red, with only the barest tips of the pedals touched with yellow.