Digital Prodigy. Peloric Foxglove, Digitalis purpurea monstrosa, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Actually I myself prefer the word 'prodigy' rather than 'monster' to describe this wonderfully interesting and rather rare anomaly of the common Foxglove, Digitalis purpurea. Charles Darwin in the nineteenth century already experimented with Digitalis that has this 'peloric terminal flower' ('peloric' is from the Greek for monster or prodigy). It seems that it is caused by a simple Mendelian recessive gene that is sometimes 'empowered' by an environmental shock of some sort; perhaps in this case the curious ups-and-downs of this year's Spring weather. Others say it's caused by too frequent inbreeding as might occur within a Horticultural Garden. In any case, this terminal flower of a Digitalis stalk is quite amazing and not at all usual in Nature.
Digital Prodigy. Peloric Foxglove, Digitalis purpurea monstrosa, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Actually I myself prefer the word 'prodigy' rather than 'monster' to describe this wonderfully interesting and rather rare anomaly of the common Foxglove, Digitalis purpurea. Charles Darwin in the nineteenth century already experimented with Digitalis that has this 'peloric terminal flower' ('peloric' is from the Greek for monster or prodigy). It seems that it is caused by a simple Mendelian recessive gene that is sometimes 'empowered' by an environmental shock of some sort; perhaps in this case the curious ups-and-downs of this year's Spring weather. Others say it's caused by too frequent inbreeding as might occur within a Horticultural Garden. In any case, this terminal flower of a Digitalis stalk is quite amazing and not at all usual in Nature.