This is the 8th 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. 

Strawflower. Xerochrysum bracteatum.
Macro shot of a strawflower. We frequently see these plants and flowers, members of the Aster family, commonly known as strawflowers, for sale in craft stores or florists’ shops, however they are quite easy and fun to grow in our home gardens. Taken at Gardens by the Bay, Singapore.

Lagerstroemia indica var. alba. A large woody shrub.
Crown: Vase shape with moderate density. 
Foliage: Alternate or opposite arrangement, green, smooth, deciduous, simple, margin entire, shape elliptical or oblong or oval or obovate, pinnate venation, measuring 2 – 4 inches, less than 2 inches wide. 
Flowers: White, terminal inflorescence, showy.
Fruits: Oval or round shape, measuring less than 5 inches long, dry and hard, brown or black, when matures, they split and release seeds which are disk shaped. Picture taken at Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Irises are perennial plants, growing from creeping rhizomes (rhizomatous irises) or, in drier climates, from bulbs (bulbous irises). They have long, erect flowering stems which may be simple or branched, solid or hollow, and flattened or have a circular cross-section. The rhizomatous species usually have 3–10 basal sword-shaped leaves growing in dense clumps. The bulbous species have cylindrical, basal leaves.
Pictures taken at Singapore Botanic Gardens. August 21st 2018.

Victoria cruziana. Common Names : Amazon Water-Lily, Royal Water-Lily, Giant Waterlily, Water Maize. The leaves are peltate, circular and have an upturned rim. The leaf underside is covered with sharp spines and has a prominent leaf venation. The leaf petiole too is covered with sharp spines.
Flowers: The flowers are large and cream-white in colour, turning light pink when pollination has occurred. The flower bud has prickles on the base. It is similar to Victoria amazonica. However, the leaves of Victoria cruziana are also smaller in diameter than that of Victoria amazonica. The flower bud has prickles on the base of the bud while that of Victoria amazonica has prickles all over the flower bud. Picture taken at Singapore Botanic gardens. I was there one day in the morning and saw this white bud about to open. I returned after dinner that evening to capture this picture.

Nymphaeaceae is a family of flowering plants, commonly called water lilies. They live as rhizomatous aquatic herbs in temperate and tropical climates around the world. The family contains five genera with about 70 known species. Wikipedia. Water lilies are rooted in soil in bodies of water, with leaves and flowers floating on or emergent from the surface. The leaves are round, with a radial notch in Nymphaea and Nuphar, but fully circular in Victoria and Euryale. 

Musa Laterita. Plants have green, slender pseudostems that grow up to 2 m in height that do not have any wax bloom on them. Leaves are medium dark green in colour with reddish midribs. Size of leaf can be up to 1.5 m long and 0.4 m wide and joined to petioles that can be as long as 0.5 m. Leaf shape is obovate with a truncated apex.Produces an erect inflorescence with brick-red bracts. Fruits are borne on a very compact bunch and pressed parallel to the rachis. Individual fruits can reach 10 cm long, which turn yellow when ripe. Seeds are black, round and flattened on one side. Picture taken at Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Rotheca myricoides is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is native to Africa and widely cultivated elsewhere. In cultivation, it is frequently known by one of its synonyms, such as Clerodendrum myricoides or Clerodendrum myricoides ‘Ugandense’. Wikipedia. Flowers resemble butterflies, having 4 white to light blue, lateral petals and 1 blue to purplish blue, downward-pointing petal. The long, white to bluish stamens arch over the petals and serve as a landing platform for insect pollinators. Flowers are arranged in branched inflorescences known as panicles and are located at the branch tips.   
Fruits: Dry fruits are known as schizocarps. ​The genus name “Rotheca” is a Latin version of small teak in the Malayalam language (a major language spoken in southern India). The cultivar name “Ugandense” is derived from the German name of Rotheca myricoides (“Uganda-Losstrauch”). Picture taken at the Fragrant Garden, Singapore Botanic gardens.

Heliconia, derived from the Greek word Ἑλικώνιος (helikṓnios), is a genus of flowering plants in the family Heliconiaceae. These herbaceous plants range from 0.5 to nearly 4.5 meters (1.5–15 feet) tall depending on the species. The simple leaves of these plants are 15–300 cm (6 in–10 ft). They are characteristically long, oblong, alternate, or growing opposite one another on non-woody petioles often longer than the leaf, often forming large clumps with age. Their flowers are produced on long, erect or drooping panicles, and consist of brightly coloured waxy bracts, with small true flowers peeping out from the bracts. The growth habit of heliconias is similar to Canna, Strelitzia, and bananas, to which they are related.The flowers can be hues of reds, oranges, yellows, and greens, and are subtended by brightly coloured bracts.