~ World Of Flowers ~

[MysteRy]

Common name: Nun's Orchid, Nun's Cap Orchid Family: Orchidaceae (orchid family)
Synonyms: Limodorum tancarvilleae

This magnificent species is a very wide spread terrestrial, being found along the eastern seaboard of Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Indo-China, Thailand and on into Northern India. The plant is a large one, with stout fleshy pseudobulbs, and several large pleated leaves. Inflorescence is a simple raceme which may attain 100cm in height, and bear up to 30 large (10cm) shapely blooms. The common name is explained by looking into the throat of the flower. One can see what appears to be a nun with head bowed in prayer. It is a species which has evolved as a bog dweller and it is always found in areas which are shady, and subject to flooding for a few months each year, remaining cool and moist for the rest of the year. The more than 4' long, erect, basal, racemose inflorescence, after blooming and the fall of the dead flowers, can be cut off and placed on sand in a long, plastic, plant flat and partially covered, put in a deep shaded, humid, well watered area and in 2 to 3 months, plantlets will begin to grow from the old floral bracts. After 6 months they can be transplanted into a pot.

[MysteRy]

Common Name: Verbena
Botanical Name: Verbena Hybrida
Family: Verbenaceae

Verbena (play /vərˈbiːnə/),[2] (vervain), is a genus in the family Verbenaceae. It contains about 250 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants. The majority of the species are native to the American continent and Europe.

The leaves are usually opposite, simple, and in many species hairy, often densely so. The flowers are small, with five petals, and borne in dense spikes. Typically some shade of blue, they may also be white, pink, or purple, especially in cultivars.

The genus can be divided into a diploid North American and a polyploid South American lineage, both with a base chromosome number of 7. The European species is derived from the North American lineage. It seems that verbena as well as the related mock vervains (Glandularia) evolved from the assemblage provisionally treated under the genus name Junellia; both other genera were usually included in the Verbenaceae until the 1990s.[3] Intergeneric chloroplast gene transfer by an undetermined mechanism – though probably not hybridization – has occurred at least twice from vervains to Glandularia, between the ancestors of the present-day South American lineages and once more recently, between V. orcuttiana or V. hastata and G. bipinnatifida. In addition, several species of verbena are of natural hybrid origin; the well-known garden vervain has an entirely muddy history. The relationships of this close-knit group are therefore hard to resolve with standard methods of computational phylogenetics

Some species, hybrids and cultivars of verbena are used as ornamental plants. They are drought-resistant, tolerating full to partial sun, and enjoy well-drained, average soils. Plants are usually grown from seed. Some species and hybrids are not hardy and are treated as half-hardy annuals in bedding schemes. — with Say Hifarva.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Red Heart Hibiscus, Red Heart Rose-of-Sharon
Botanical name: Hibiscus syriacus 'Red Heart'
Family: Malvaceae (Mallow family)

A shrub of upright growing habit, with lobed, dark-green leaves. Strikingly beautiful flowers of pure white with a red heart appear incessantly, from July well into Autumn. The flowers are single and huge in size. It is a cultivar of Rose of Sharon.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Splendid Hibiscus
Botanical name: Hibiscus splendens
Family: Malvaceae (Mallow family)

A bush or small tree up to 6 metres tall and 7 cm in trunk diameter. The cylindrical trunk is covered in sharp prickles, as is most of the plant. Leaves are 7 to 20 cm long. Being toothed, heart shaped with a fine point at the tip. Leaves are simple or with three to five lobes, arranged alternatively on the stem. The mid rib and lateral veins are visible on both sides of the leaf.

The spectacular pink coloured flowers are around 7 cm long, appearing in the months of October to December. The species name "splendens" refers to the beauty of the flower.

The fruit is an egg shaped capsule, covered in hairs. Five cells within the capsule contain pyramid shaped dark seeds, 3 to 4 mm long. Care is required in handling the capsule because of the irritating hairs. Fruit matures from December to February. Being a rainforest regeneration plant, germination from seed is easily achieved, and cuttings strike well.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Maple-Leaved Mallow
Botanical name: Hibiscus platanifolius
Family: Malvaceae (Mallow family)
Synonyms: Pavonia platanifolia, Hibiscus eriocarpus, Hibiscus collinus

Maple-Leaved Mallow is a tree, growing up to 10 m tall. Flowers are pale pink, with each petal having a deep pink base. Flowers are about 3-5 inches across. Sepals are leathery, hairy. Stamen-column is 2-2.5 cm long, pale pink. Leaves are usually 3-5-lobed, 6-12 x 5-12 cm. Maple-Leaved Mallow is native to India.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Rose Mallow, Swamp mallow
Botanical name: Hibiscus moscheutos
Family: Malvaceae (Mallow family)

Rose mallow is a perennial wetland plant that can grow in large colonies. It dies back in winter and re-sprouts in spring. The hirsute leaves are of variable morphology, but commonly found as deltoidal in form and sometimes having up to three lobes. It is found in wetlands and along the riverine systems of the southeastern United States. The flowers are about 6" across.There exists in nature numerous forms and petal colors range from pure white to deep rose, and, except for one genome, all have an eye of deep maroon. Taxonomic consensus is lacking for the nomenclature of the multiple sub-species. The complete flowers are born apically, whereas the related Hibiscus laevis carries bud and bloom along the stem.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Althaea, Rose of Sharon
Botanical name: Hibiscus syriacus
Family: Malvaceae (Mallow family)

Rose of Sharon isn't a rose, but its large, flat blossoms and nectar attract hummingbirds and tiny insects. Native to China and India, they have been cultivated as long as records exist. The Chinese used the flowers and leaves for food. Thomas Jefferson grew them from seed, and was documented to have planted them at all three of his homes. The flowers on this woody shrub come in several colors, including white, pink, purple, and red. Its leaves don't come out until late in spring, causing false everal kinds have dark-colored centers in the flowers, and single-flowering types are quite common. Seedlings often sprout in nearby areas. Propagation from cuttings is usually preferred, because unlike seedlings, r

[MysteRy]

Common name: Fox Brush Orchid, Cat's-tail Orchid
Botanical name: Aerides maculosa
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Synonyms: Saccolabium speciosum, Aerides schroederi, Aerides illustris

Fox Brush Orchid is a dwarf orchid species with crystalline pink, spotted magenta, fragrant flowers to 2cm. The spikes are arching to pendulous, to about 25cm long with many flowers. They occur mainly in Asia : the Indian subcontinent, Nepal, Southern China, SE Asia, the Philippines, New Guinea. They form pendulous racemes with many fragrant, long-lasting, waxy flowers, in white, (rarely) yellow, purple or pink colors, with a forward facing spur, growing on stout many-leaved stems from the leaf axils. The leaves grow distichously (in two vertical rows) The leaf margins are bilobed, while the apex is emarginate.

[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: Match Stick Plant, Gamos Bromeliad
Botanical name: Aechmea gamosepala
Family: Bromeliaceae (Pineapple family)

Aechmea are known for beautiful foliage, long lasting color and vivid berry-like fruit. These plants can adapt and grow on a variety of surfaces such as on trees in full sunlight between 300 to 3,500 feet. Specimens have been found in Peru having 3 foot long leaves, but the avarage is 1 foot in length. Match Stick Plant has smooth, 20-inch long, green leaves. The flat-topped inflorescence has reddish-purple bracts and purple petals and red sepals. The flowers look like pink match-sticks with bright blue heads.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Pussy Ears, Furry Kittens
Botanical name: Cyanotis somaliensis
Family: Commelinaceae (Dayflower family)

The origin of this creeping, tender perennial is uncertain, but it is probably Somalia. Its fleshy, narrowly oblong leaves are glossy dark green and covered with soft white hairs,resembling ears of a pussy. It produces small, 3-petaled, blue flowers, dotted with yellow stamens, in the axils of the leaves in the winter and spring. Cyanotis is the third largest genus of Commelinaceae in Africa, with approximately 25 species. The genus is widespread outside of forested habitats, occurring often in dry habitats, but it also includes an aquatic species.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Blue Lettuce, Russian lettuce, Tataren Lattich
Botanical name: [Mulgedium tataricum (L.) DC.] Mulgedium tataricum
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)
Synonyms: Lactuca tatarica, Lactuca multipes, Lagedium tataricum

Blue Lettuce is a plant with milky sap, 20-100 cm tall. It is a perennial herb arising from white, deep-seated, creeping root, often growing in patches. Stems are erect, hairless or almost so. Leaves are alternate, narrowly lance-shaped, 5-18 cm long and 6-35 mm wide, entire, or the lower ones more or less with triangular, backward-pointing lobes or sharply toothed, often with waxy coating beneath. Flower-heads are blue, showy, about 2 cm wide, with 18-50 ray florets only, several in open clusters. Involucre is 1.5-2 cm high in fruit, with overlapping bracts in 3 rows. Fruits are 4-7 mm long, the slender body moderately compressed, prominently several-nerved on each face, the beak stout, often whitish, equaling or less than half as long as the body. Pappus of white, hair-like bristles. The species name tataricum means, from the Tatar Mountains in Russia. Blue Lettuce is found in SW Asia, Russia, Mongolia, China and E. Europe. In India it is found on riverbanks and terraces, by lakes, meadows, by fields, consolidated sand dunes, gravelly places in the Himalayas, in Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh, at altitudes of 1200-4300 m. Flowering: June-September.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Willow Leaved Dayflower
Botanical name: Commelina clavata
Family: Commelinaceae (Dayflower family)
Synonyms: Commelina salicifolia, Commelina thwaitesii, Commelina diffusa (invalid)

Willow Leaved Dayflower is a perennial herb with thick, non tuberous roots. Shoots are rising to climbing, rooting on contact with ground, up to 1 m long. Leaves are narrowly lance-shaped to narrowly lanceshaped-elliptic, 2.5-10 cm long, 0.4-1.5 cm wide, with pointed or long pointed tip. Flowers are borne in 2-flowered clusters. Flowers are sky-blue, about 1.5 cm across, with sepals 3 mm long. Paired petals are 7 mm wide, sky-blue. The third petal is 5 mm wide.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Blue Himalayan Anemone
Botanical name: Anemone obtusiloba
Family: Ranunculaceae (Buttercup family)

Blue Himalayan Anemone is a perennial herb which is very variable, with 2-5 cm buttercup flowers in colors white, blue or yellow. Flowers are borne on short spreading, tufted stems about 5-15 cm long. Flowers have 5-7 elliptic petals which are silky haired beneath. The plant has many softly hairy basal leaves, 2-5 cm across. Leaves are rounded in outline, deeply 3-lobed. The lobes are further lobed or cut. Leaves just below the flowers are about 2.5 cm, 3-lobed and stalkless. Blue Himalayan Anemone is commonly found in forests, shrubberies, open slopes and grazing grounds, at altitudes of 2100-4300 m. Flowering: May-July.

[MysteRy]

Common name: Potato tree, Giant Star Potato Tree
Botanical name: Solanum macranthum
Family: Solanaceae (potato family)

Native to Brazil, Potato tree is a small tree widely cultivated in the tropics. It is not actually potato, but belongs to the potato family. This plant grows quickly into a bushy tree of 15 feet in height and 15' wide. Grown for its ornamental purpose. The leaves are large, lobed and prickly. Flowers are fragrant and change their color from white to pink to lavender. It requires a rich soil for good growth. Suited for planting singly. Propagated by seeds. The Solanum family is very large, consisting of nearly 1500 species ranging from vegetables like the potato and aubergine, to ornamental shrubs and climbers, plus a number of weeds. Some, as their common name Nightshade suggests, are toxic and need careful handling.