This is the 10th post in the Series of Picture Poster-Flowers.The following blog posts have been separated into pictures with flowers, bees, birds, insects and others. Each blog post will contain about six to eight pictures in each series; and there will be more than a blog post for each section.
The following illustrations have been resized from their originals to expedite quicker uploading for internet purposes. As such, there will be a drop in the picture or text quality.
Echinacea is a genus, or group of herbaceous flowering plants in the daisy family. The genus Echinacea has ten species, which are commonly called coneflowers. They are found only in eastern and central North America, where they grow in moist to dry prairies and open wooded areas. Wikipedia.
Echinacea is a very popular herb, and people commonly take it to help combat flu and colds It is also known as the American coneflower. Picture taken at Gardens By The Bay.
Dillenia philippinensis. Common Names : Philippines Simpoh, Katmon.
This is an Evergreen small tree, able to grow up to about 6 – 15 m tall.
The Bark is shallowly fissured and greyish-brown to reddish-brown.
Foliage: Green elliptic to oblong-ovate leaves, simple and alternate arrangement, margins serrate, venation prominent, measuring about 8 – 25 cm long and 6 – 16 cm wide, petiole about 3.5 – 5 cm long with broad, caducous stipules about 1 cm wide.
Flowers: White 5-petaled flower about 10 – 15 cm wide, solitary or paired, 5 white petals obovate in shape and about 4 – 6 cm long, 5 pale green sepals cup-shaped, stamens in 2 groups (outer stamens yellow and about 11 mm long, inner stamens purple and about 15 – 23 mm long).
Fruits: Fruit is globose in shape and about 5 – 6 cm wide, consist of black seeds embedded in a soft pulp inside. Fruits, young shoots and flowers are used as a flavouring in dishes. Juice from the fruit is used in the treatment of cough and chest pain.
Picture taken at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
Dillenia suffruticosa. Common Names : Simpuh Air, Simpoh Air, Shrubby Simpoh, Simpoh Ayer, White Simpoh, Yellow Simpoh.
A large shrub, growing up to 7 m tall, often forming thickets.
Foliage: Its alternate, stalked leaves have leaf blades that are 12.5-38 by 6.5-25.5 cm, with prominent, parallel secondary veins.
Flowers: Its large flowers are 8-13 cm wide, with 5 bright yellow petals that are 4-5 by 2.5-3 cm each. Flowers last for a day.
Its fruit splits open into a star when it ripens to reveal up to four seeds that are covered by a fleshy red aril. It grows along forest edges, streams, and in marshes, secondary forests, and swampy grounds, up to 500 m altitude.
In Singapore, it is one of the key species found in adinandra belukar (secondary forest on degraded soil) and other secondary forests. Its young shoots and leaves are edible. The large leaves are also used to wrap food such as tempeh, or formed into shallow cones to contain traditional ‘fast food’ such as rojak.
Picture taken at the Kent Ridge Park.
Costus productus var. productus.
Growth Form: Spiral ginger to 1m tall, pseudo stems growing upright initially but often sprawling thereafter. Foliage: Leaves mid green, hairy, to 15cm long by 5(6)cm side. Ligule of leaf sheaths light green, to 3.5cm long by 2cm wide, overlapping the bases of the succeeding leaf sheaths.
Flowers: Inflorescence to 15cm tall. Bracts bright red; flowers tubular to 5cm in length, bright yellow. Lip lobed, bright red with faint yellow markings.
Picture taken at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
The rose is known for its simple, architectural beauty, but some colours are so loaded with significance that they can be a bit tricky to work with.
Sending a get-well bouquet of red roses to your administrative assistant might raise eyebrows around the office, for instance. Suffice it to say, you can never go wrong with yellow roses.
Long associated with the sun and its life-giving warmth, yellow is the age-old spokes-colour for warm feelings of friendship and optimism. In many Eastern cultures, the colour represents joy, wisdom and power. But while any yellow flower will send a lighthearted message, the history of the yellow rose in particular has an optimistic, serendipitous character that really makes it the complete package.
Picture taken at a Plant Nursery.
Gerberas are gorgeous flowers, and are great as decorative garden plants or as cut flowers. They belong to the daisy family and are available in various colours.
The flower’s earliest origins are mainly South Africa where you will find some native flowers growing in the wild, Asia, South America and Tasmania.
Gerbera gets it’s name from German botanist and medical doctor Traugott Gerber. Dutchman Jan Frederic Gronovius is responsible for christening the genus Gerbera after the physician back in the 1700s.
Gerberas are available in many different natural colours except for Blue. Any gerberas available in a shade of blue have been created artificially. Some of the colours include white, red, orange, yellow, pink, lilac, purple and bicolour.
Gerberas cutflowers are among the top most used flowers in arrangements and bouquets. The flower is fifth most popular after roses, carnations, chrysanthemums and tulips.
Gerberas come in different size with diameters varying from 7 cm to 12cm.
The gerbera flower formation is quite fascinating. At first glance, you would that it is one single flower head with numerous tiny petals. But the gerbera flower head is actually huge cluster of hundreds of tinier flowers.
At present there are around forty documented species of gerberas around the world.
Picture of this bicoloured gerbera was taken at a plant nursery in Singapore.
The Single White Rose.
Used as a gesture of strong emotion and devotion, the tradition of sending one single white rose is practiced by lovers, people who share great esteem and love for one another, and others who want to declare a message of love and hope. The white rose meaning can also mean spiritual love, charm and humility. Early tradition used white roses as a symbol for true love, an association which would later become the hallmark of the red rose.
Also known as the bridal rose, the white rose is a traditional wedding flower. As opposed to the red rose that speaks of passionate promises, the meaning of a white rose is in its simplicity and pristine purity.
Sometimes called “the flower of light”, one of the meanings of white roses is everlasting love – love stronger than death, an eternal love, undying and all sustaining.
Contrary to the passion associated with a single red rose, a single white rose acknowledges everlasting love, honour and respect, especially when given to a person of authority or esteem or when used as part of a celebration or event.
Pachystachys lutea, known by the common names lollipop plant and golden shrimp plant, is a subtropical, soft-stemmed evergreen shrub between 36 and 48 inches tall. Wikipedia.
Narrow, tubular, two-lipped white flowers are partially covered by and protrude from showy, overlapping golden yellow bracts which provide the predominant structure and colour to the 4-sided inflorescences. Yellow bracts somewhat resemble the overlapping scales on a shrimp, hence the common name of shrimp plant.
Genus name comes from the Greek words pachys meaning thick and stachys meaning ear of corn or spike in reference to the dense flower clusters.
Picture taken at a Floral garden.
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