Flowerheads are large (to 12 cm) umbrella-shaped structures, which are surrounded by divided bracts with threadlike segments. Flowers are white or pinkish and about 2.5 mm wide; the petals are often uneven in size. Fruit are 3–4 mm long and ribbed, with rows of short hairs. Flowering is from spring to autumn.

Wisley Plant Fair today, plus the essential wander round the gardens and Surrey Sculpture Trail.

 

Native to New Zealand, Rubus squarrosus is known as the Bush Lawyer (or sometimes the Leafless Lawyer) ... because if you become entangled, you can never get away! Those tiny little spines are deceptively vicious.

 

It is a native vine (or ground cover plant) which can reach a height of 3 metres and with a similar spread. It is an intriguing leafless vine with conspicuous bright yellow thorns along its stems creating a skeletal look.

 

Rubus squarrosus is perhaps the most unusual of the genus Rubus ... in open situations and scrambling over shrubs, the leaflet blades remain undeveloped. The leaves consist of elongated petioles and the almost threadlike midribs of the leaflets, all beset with yellow prickles. Such leaves are very effective in clinging to any support. Once the stems reach the tree crowns, there is a trend towards growing normal leaves with well formed narrow leaflets.

 

It is endemic to North and South Islands, from Ahipara south but is rare north of the Manawatu.

On a recent visit to my parents I was reminded of the beauty of this flower, The cultivated varieties appear in shades of pink and purple as well as white, the foliage is finely cut into threadlike segments. When flowering, the plant can become top heavy, but this is not a problem when grown in groups, because the bipinnate leaves interlock, and the colony supports itself. Well worth growing in groups in any garden I'm sure you'll agree the flowers are stunning.

The rattlebush is a rank-growing, woody plant 2–10 feet tall. It has many branches in the upper part, well separated, with few leaves, giving it a rather spare appearance. Bark smooth, green to light brown. Leaves are alternate, 4–8 inches long on a short stem. They are divided into 20–50 leaflets, 1/2–l 1/2 inches long and about 1/4 inch wide with no terminal leaflet. Flowers about 1/2 inch long, yellow, often streaked with red hang in clusters about 2 inches long, on a threadlike stem about the same length. Each flower has 5 petals, the top petal being longer than the others and standing erect. When the seeds mature they are loose in the pod and rattle when shaken, suggesting the name rattlebush.

 

wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SEDR

 

The seeds are poisonous, containing the toxin sesbanimide. Animals raised with the plant learn to avoid it because of the foul taste of the green and flowering plants. However, naive cattle, goats or sheep placed on pastures containing dried plants in late fall and winter are frequently poisoned. Sick animals often die within 24 hours.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesbania_drummondii

this was some sort of weird algae, and it made the beach look like a giant tennis ball.

 

Viola is a genus of flowering plants in the violet family Violaceae. It is the largest genus in the family, containing over 680 species. Most species are found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere; however, some are also found in widely divergent areas such as Hawaii, Australasia, and the Andes.

 

Some Viola species are perennial plants, some are annual plants, and a few are small shrubs. Many species, varieties and cultivars are grown in gardens for their ornamental flowers. In horticulture, the term pansy is normally used for those multi-colored, large-flowered cultivars which are raised annually or biennially from seed and used extensively in bedding. The terms viola and violet are normally reserved for small-flowered annuals or perennials, including the wild species.

 

Description

Annual or perennial caulescent or acaulescent (with or without a visible plant stem above the ground) herbs, shrubs or very rarely treelets. In acaulescent taxa the foliage and flowers appear to rise from the ground. The remainder have short stems with foliage and flowers produced in the axils of the leaves (axillary).

 

Viola typically have heart-shaped or reniform (kidney-shaped), scalloped leaves, though a number have linear or palmate leaves. The simple leaves of plants with either habit are arranged alternately; the acaulescent species produce basal rosettes. Plants always have leaves with stipules that are often leaf-like.

 

The flowers of the vast majority of the species are strongly zygomorphic with bilateral symmetry and solitary, but occasionally form cymes. The flowers are formed from five petals; four are upswept or fan-shaped with two per side, and there is one, broad, lobed lower petal pointing downward. This petal may be slightly or much shorter than the others and is weakly differentiated. The shape of the petals and placement defines many species, for example, some species have a "spur" on the end of each petal while most have a spur on the lower petal. The spur may vary from scarcely exserted (projecting) to very long, such as in Viola rostrata.

 

Solitary flowers end long stalks with a pair of bracteoles. The flowers have five sepals that persist after blooming, and in some species the sepals enlarge after blooming. The corolla ranges from white to yellow, orange or various shades of blue and violet or multicolored, often blue and yellow, with or without a yellow throat.

 

The flowers have five free stamens with short free filaments that are oppressed against the ovary, with a dorsal connective appendage that is large, entire and oblong to ovate. Only the lower two stamens are calcarate (possessing nectary spurs that are inserted on the lowest petal into the spur or a pouch). The styles are filiform (threadlike) or clavate (clubshaped), thickened at their tip, being globose to rostellate (beaked). The stigmas are head-like, narrowed or often beaked. The flowers have a superior ovary with one cell, which has three placentae, containing many ovules.

 

After flowering, fruit capsules are produced that are thick walled, with few to many seeds per carpel, and dehisce (split open) by way of three valves. On drying, the capsules may eject seeds with considerable force to distances of several meters. The nutlike seeds, which are obovoid to globose, are typically arillate (with a specialized outgrowth) and have straight embryos, flat cotyledons, and soft fleshy endosperm that is oily.

 

Phytochemistry

One characteristic of some Viola is the elusive scent of their flowers; along with terpenes, a major component of the scent is a ketone compound called ionone, which temporarily desensitizes the receptors of the nose, thus preventing any further scent being detected from the flower until the nerves recover.

 

Taxonomy

First page of Linnaeus' 1753 description of Viola

Linnaeus' original description (1753)

 

History

First formally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753[7] with 19 species, the genus Viola bears his botanical authority, L. When Jussieu established the hierarchical system of families (1789), he placed Viola in the Cisti (rock roses), though by 1811 he suggested Viola be separated from these. However, in 1802 Batsch had already established a separate family, which he called Violariae based on Viola as the type genus, with seven other genera. Although Violariae continued to be used by some authors, such as Bentham and Hooker in 1862 (as Violarieae), most authors adopted the alternative name Violaceae, first proposed by de Lamarck and de Candolle in 1805, and Gingins (1823) and Saint-Hilaire (1824). However de Candolle also used Violarieae in his 1824 Prodromus.

 

Phylogeny

Viola is one of about 25 genera and about 600 species in the large eudicot family Violaceae, divided into subfamilies and tribes. While most genera are monotypic, Viola is a very large genus, variously circumscribed as having between 500 and 600 species. Historically it was placed in subfamily Violoideae, tribe Violeae. But these divisions have been shown to be artificial and not monophyletic. Molecular phylogenetic studies show that Viola occurs in Clade I of the family, as Viola, Schweiggeria, Noisettia and Allexis, in which Schweiggeria and Noisettia are monotypic and form a sister group to Viola.

 

Subdivision

Viola is a large genus that has traditionally been treated in sections. One of these was that of Gingins (1823), based on stigma morphology, with five sections (Nomimium, Dischidium, Chamaemelanium, Melanium, Leptidium). The extensive taxonomic studies of Wilhelm Becker, culminating in his 1925 conspectus, resulted in 14 sections and many infrasectional groups. The largest and most diverse, being section Viola, with 17 subsections. In addition to subsections, series were also described. Alternatively, some authors have preferred to subdivide the genus into subgenera. Subsequent treatments were by Gershoy (1934) and Clausen (1964), using subsections and series. These were all based on morphological characteristics. Subsequent studies using molecular phylogenetic methods, such as that of Ballard et al. (1998) have shown that many of these traditional divisions are not monophyletic, the problem being related to a high degree of hybridization. In particular section Nomimium was dismembered into several new sections and transferring part of it to section Viola. Section Viola s. lat. is represented by four sections, Viola sensu stricto, Plagiostigma s. str., Nosphinium sensu lato. and the V. spathulata group. In that analysis, the S American sections appear to be the basal groups, starting with Rubellium, then Leptidium. However, the exact phylogenetic relationships remain unresolved, as a consequence many different taxonomic nomenclatures are in use, including groupings referred to as Grex. Marcussen et al. place the five S American sections, Andinium, Leptidium, Tridens, Rubellium and Chilenium at the base of the phylogenetic tree, in that order. These are followed by the single Australian section, Erpetion, as sister group to Chilenium, the northern hemisphere sections and finally the single African section, V. abyssinica. These sections are morphologically, chromosomally, and geographically distinct.

 

Sections

Seventeen sections are recognized, listed alphabetically (approximate no. species);

 

Sect. Andinium W.Becker (113) S America

Sect. Chamaemelanium Ging. s.lat. (61) N America, northeast Asia (includes Dischidium, Orbiculares)

Subsect. Chamaemelanium

Subsect. Nudicaules

Subsect. Nuttalianae

Sect. Chilenium W.Becker (8) southern S America

Sect. Danxiaviola W. B. Liao et Q. Fan (1) China

Sect. Delphiniopsis W.Becker (3) western Eurasia: southern Spain; Balkans

Sect. Erpetion (Banks) W.Becker (11–18) eastern Australia; Tasmania

Sect. Leptidium Ging. (19) S America

Sect. Melanium Ging. (125) western Eurasia (pansies)

Sect. Nosphinium W.Becker s.lat. (31–50) N, C and northern S America; Beringia; Hawaii

Sect. nov. A (V. abyssinica group) (1–3) Africa: equatorial high mountains

Sect. nov. B (V. spathulata group) (7–9) western and central Asia: northern Iraq to Mongolia

Sect. Plagiostigma Godr. (120) northern hemisphere (includes Diffusae)

Grex Primulifolia

Sect. Rubellium W.Becker (3–6) S America: Chile

Sect. Sclerosium W.Becker (1–4) northeastern Africa to southwestern Asia

Sect. Tridens W.Becker (2) southern S America

Sect. Viola  s.str. (Rostellatae nom. illeg.) (75) northern hemisphere (violets) (includes Repentes)

Subsect. Rostratae Kupffer (W.Becker)

Subsect. Viola

Sect. Xylinosium W.Becker (3–4) Mediterranean region

 

Species

The genus includes dog violets, a group of scentless species which are the most common Viola in many areas, sweet violet (Viola odorata) (named from its sweet scent), and many other species whose common name includes the word "violet". But not other "violets": Neither Streptocarpus sect. Saintpaulia ("African violets", Gesneriaceae) nor Erythronium dens-canis ("dogtooth violets", Liliaceae) are related to Viola.

 

List of selected species

Viola canina flower and leaves

Viola canina

 

Section Andinium

With about 113 species, the South American section Andinium is the largest of the Viola sections. It is one of the four sections distributed primarily or exclusively in South America, and the basal group of Viola. New species continue to be identified. Species include;

Viola escarapela

Viola lilliputana

Viola biflora flower and leaves

Viola biflora

 

Section Chamaemelanium

Chamaemelanium was one of a number of sections originally classified on the basis of the shape of the stigma, in this case one that was facial shaped, had an absent beak and had lateral beards. But this section has subsequently been shown to be paraphyletic, requiring revision. It occurs at high altitudes (above 600 m) in both N America and northeast Asia, including Siberia and Korea, and the species are perennial, caulous and herbaceous. With about 61 species including;

 

Viola biflora – yellow wood violet, twoflower violet

Viola glabella – stream violet

Viola pedunculata – yellow pansy

Viola praemorsa – canary violet

Viola pubescens – downy yellow violet

Viola reichei

Viola reichei

 

Section Chilenium

A small S American section with about 8 species, as sister group to Erpetion, including;

Viola reichei

 

Section Danxiaviola

Viola hybanthoides

 

Section Delphiniopsis

Viola Cazorlensis

Viola Cazorlensis

Viola cazorlensis

Viola delphinantha

Viola kosaninii

 

Section Erpetion

Viola banksii

Viola banksii

Viola banksii – Australian native violet, ivy-leaved violet

Viola hederacea – Australian native violet, ivy-leaved violet

 

Section Leptidium

Viola stipularis

Viola stipularis

Viola stipularis

Section Melanium (pansies)

 

Flowers of Viola tricolor

Viola tricolor

Viola arvensis – field pansy

Viola bicolor

Viola pedunculata – yellow pansy, Pacific coast.

Viola bertolonii

Viola calcarata

Viola cheiranthifolia – Teide violet

Viola cornuta

Viola lutea

Viola tricolor – wild pansy, heartsease

Section Nosphinium

 

Flowers of Viola pedata

Viola pedata

Viola pedata

Section A (V. abyssinica group)

 

Flower of Viola abyssinica

Viola abyssinica

Viola abyssinica

Section B (V. spathulata group)

 

Viola spathulata

Section Plagiostigma

 

Flower of Viola epipsila

Viola epipsila

Viola epipsila

 

Section Rubellium

Viola capillaris

Viola portalesia

Viola rubella

 

Section Sclerosium

Viola cinerea

 

Section Tridens

Flowers of Viola tridentata

Viola tridentata

Viola tridentata – mountain violet

Section Viola (violets)

 

Flowers of Viola sororia

Viola sororia

Viola canina – heath dog violet

Viola hirta – hairy violet

Viola labradorica – alpine violet

Viola odorata – sweet violet

Viola persicifolia – fen violet

Viola riviniana – common dog violet

Viola rostrata – long-spurred violet

Viola sororia – common blue violet, hooded violet

Viola decumbens

Viola decumbens

 

Evolution and biogeography

One fossil seed of †Viola rimosa has been extracted from borehole samples of the Middle Miocene fresh water deposits in Nowy Sacz Basin, West Carpathians, Poland. The genus is thought to have arisen in S America, most likely the Andes.

 

Genetics

Habitat fragmentation has been shown to have minimal effect on the genetic diversity and gene flow of the North American woodland violet Viola pubescens. This may be partially attributed to the ability of Viola pubescens to continue to persist within a largely agricultural matrix. This trend of unexpectedly high genetic diversity is also observed in Viola palmensis, a Canary Island endemic known only from a 15 square kilometer range on La palma island. High levels of genetic diversity within these species indicate that these plants are outcrossing, even though many violet species can produce many clonal offspring throughout the year via cleistogamous flowers. Plants that produce copious amounts of clonal seeds from cleistogamous flowers often experience increased levels of inbreeding. These reportedly high rates of outcrossing and genetic diversity indicate that these violets are strong competitors for pollinators during the early spring when they are in bloom and that those pollinators can travel considerable distances between often fragmented populations.

 

Distribution and habitat

The worldwide northern temperate distribution of the genus distinguishes it from the remaining largely tropical Violaceae genera, restricted to either Old World or New World species, while in the tropics the distribution is primarily in high mountainous areas. Centres of diversity occur mainly in the northern hemisphere, in mountainous regions of eastern Asia, Melanesia, and southern Europe, but also occur in the Andes and the southern Patagonian cone of South America. One of the highest species concentrations is in the former USSR. Australia is home to a number of Viola species, including Viola hederacea, Viola betonicifolia and Viola banksii, first collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander on the Cook voyage to Botany Bay.

 

Ecology

Viola species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including the giant leopard moth, large yellow underwing, lesser broad-bordered yellow underwing, high brown fritillary, small pearl-bordered fritillary, pearl-bordered fritillary, regal fritillary, cardinal, and Setaceous Hebrew character. The larvae of many fritilary butterfly species use violets as an obligate host plant, although these butterflies do not always ovaposit directly onto violets. While the ecology of this genera is extremely diverse, violets are mainly pollinated by members within the orders Diptera and Hymenoptera. Showy flowers are produced in early spring, and clonal cleistogamous flowers are produced from late spring until the end of the growing season under favorable conditions. Cleistogamy allows plants to produce offspring year round and have more chances for establishment. This system is especially important in violets, as these plants are often weak competitors for pollination due to their small size.

 

Many violet species exhibit two modes of seed dispersal. Once seed capsules have matured, seeds are dispelled around the plant through explosive dehiscence. Viola pedata seeds have been reported being dispersed distances of up to 5 meters away from the parent plant. Often, seeds are then further dispersed by ants through a process called myrmecochory. Violets whose seeds are dispersed this way have specialized structures on the exterior of the seeds called elaiosomes. This interaction allows violet seed to germinate and establish in a protected, stable environment.

 

Many violet seeds exhibit physiological dormancy and require some period of cold stratification to induce germination under ex situ conditions. Rates of germination are often quite poor, especially when seeds are stored for extended periods of time. In North American habitat restoration, native violets are in high demand due to their relationship with the aforementioned fritillary butterflies.

 

Violet species occupy a diverse array of habitats, from bogs (Viola lanceolata) to dry hill prairies (V. pedata) to woodland understories (V. labradorica). While many of these species are indicators of high quality habitat, some violets are capable of thriving in a human altered landscape. Two species of zinc violet (V. calaminaria and V. guestphalica) are capable of living in soils severely contaminated with heavy metals. Many violets form relationships with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and in the case of the zinc violets, this allows them to tolerate such highly contaminated soils.

 

Flowering is often profuse, and may last for much of the spring and summer. Viola are most often spring-blooming with chasmogamous flowers that have well developed petals pollinated by insects. Many species also produce self-pollinated cleistogamous flowers in summer and autumn that do not open and lack petals. In some species the showy chasmogamous flowers are infertile (e.g.,Viola sororia).

 

Horticultural uses

The international registration authority for the genus is the American Violet Society, where growers register new Viola cultivars. A coding system is used for cultivar description of ten horticultural divisions, such as Violet (Vt) and Violetta (Vtta). Examples include Viola 'Little David' (Vtta) and Viola 'Königin Charlotte' (Vt).

 

In this system violets (Vt) are defined as "stoloniferous perennials with small, highly fragrant, self-coloured purple, blue or white flowers in late winter and early spring".

 

Species and cultivars

Many species, varieties and cultivars are grown in gardens for their ornamental flowers. In horticulture the term pansy is normally used for those multi-colored, large-flowered cultivars which are raised annually or biennially from seed and used extensively in bedding. The terms viola and violet are normally reserved for small-flowered annuals or perennials, including the wild species.

 

Cultivars of Viola cornuta, Viola cucullata, and Viola odorata, are commonly grown from seed. Other species often grown include Viola labradorica, Viola pedata, and Viola rotundifolia.

 

The modern garden pansy (V. × wittrockiana) is a plant of complex hybrid origin involving at least three species, V. tricolor (wild pansy or heartsease), V. altaica, and V. lutea (mountain pansy). The hybrid horned pansy (V. × williamsii) originates from hybridization involving garden pansy and Viola cornuta.

 

Bedding plants

In 2005 in the United States, Viola cultivars (including pansies) were one of the top three bedding plant crops and 111 million dollars worth of flats of Viola were produced for the bedding flower market. Pansies and violas used for bedding are generally raised from seed, and F1 hybrid seed strains have been developed which produce compact plants of reasonably consistent flower coloring and appearance. Bedding plants are usually discarded after one growing season.

 

Perennial cultivars

There are hundreds of perennial viola and violetta cultivars; many of these do not breed true from seed and therefore have to be propagated from cuttings. Violettas can be distinguished from violas by the lack of ray markings on their petals. The following cultivars, of mixed or uncertain parentage, have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's

 

Award of Garden Merit:

'Aspasia'

'Clementina'

'Huntercombe Purple'

'Jackanapes'

'Molly Sanderson'

'Moonlight'

'Nellie Britton'

 

Other popular examples include:

Ardross Gem' (viola)

'Blackjack'

'Buttercup' (violetta)

'Columbine' (viola)

'Dawn' (violetta)

'Etain' (viola)

'Irish Molly' (viola)

'Maggie Mott' (viola)

'Martin' (viola)

'Rebecca' (violetta)

'Vita' (viola)

'Zoe' (violetta)

 

Other uses

Culinary

When newly opened, Viola flowers may be used to decorate salads or in stuffings for poultry or fish. Soufflés, cream, and similar desserts can be flavoured with essence of Viola flowers. The young leaves are edible raw or cooked as a mild-tasting leaf vegetable. The flowers and leaves of the cultivar 'Rebecca', one of the Violetta violets, have a distinct vanilla flavor with hints of wintergreen. The pungent perfume of some varieties of V. odorata adds inimitable sweetness to desserts, fruit salads, and teas while the mild pea flavor of V. tricolor combines equally well with sweet or savory foods, like grilled meats and steamed vegetables. The heart-shaped leaves of V. odorata provide a free source of greens throughout a long growing season, while the petals are used for fragrant flavoring in milk puddings and ice cream or in salads and as garnishes.

 

A candied violet or crystallized violet is a flower, usually of Viola odorata, preserved by a coating of egg white and crystallised sugar. Alternatively, hot syrup is poured over the fresh flower (or the flower is immersed in the syrup) and stirred until the sugar recrystallizes and has dried. This method is still used for rose petals and was applied to orange flowers in the past (when almonds or orange peel are treated this way they are called pralines). Candied violets are still made commercially in Toulouse, France, where they are known as violettes de Toulouse. They are used as decorating cakes or trifles or included in aromatic desserts.

 

The French are also known for their violet syrup, most commonly made from an extract of violets. In the United States, this French violet syrup is used to make violet scones and marshmallows. Viola essence flavours the liqueurs Creme Yvette, Creme de Violette, and Parfait d'Amour. It is also used in confectionery, such as Parma Violets and C. Howard's Violet candies.

 

Medicinal

Many Viola species contain antioxidants called anthocyanins. Fourteen anthocyanins from V. yedoensis and V. prionantha have been identified. Some anthocyanins show strong antioxidant activities. Most violas tested and many other plants of the family Violaceae contain cyclotides, which have a diverse range of in vitro biological activities when isolated from the plant, including uterotonic, anti-HIV, antimicrobial, and insecticidal activities. Viola canescens, a species from India, exhibited in vitro activity against Trypanosoma cruzi.

 

Viola has been evaluated in different clinical indications in human studies. A double blind clinical trial showed that the adjuvant use of Viola odorata syrup with short-acting β-agonists can improve the cough suppression in children with asthma. In another study intranasal administration of Viola odorata extract oil showed to be effective in patients with insomnia. Topical use of an herbal formulation containing Viola tricolor extract also showed promising effects in patients with mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis.

 

Perfume

Viola odorata is used as a source for scents in the perfume industry. Violet is known to have a 'flirty' scent as its fragrance comes and goes. Ionone is present in the flowers, which turns off the ability for humans to smell the fragrant compound for moments at a time.

 

Cultural associations

Birth

Violet is the traditional birth flower for February in English tradition.

 

Geographical territories

In the United States, the common blue violet Viola sororia is the state flower of Illinois, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Wisconsin, In Canada, the Viola cucullata is the provincial flower of New Brunswick adopted in 1936 In the United Kingdom, Viola riviniana is the county flower of Lincolnshire.

 

Lesbian and bisexual culture

Violets became symbolically associated with romantic love between women. This connection originates from fragments of a poem by Sappho about a lost love, in which she describes her as "Close by my side you put around yourself [many wreaths] of violets and roses." In another poem, Sappho describes her lost love as wearing "violet tiaras, braided rosebuds, dill and crocus twined around" her neck. In 1926, one of the first plays to involve a lesbian relationship, La Prisonnière by Édouard Bourdet, used a bouquet of violets to signify lesbian love.

 

Tributes

Violets, and badges depicting them, were sold in fund-raising efforts in Australia and New Zealand on and around Violet Day in commemoration of the lost soldiers of World War I.

Scientific name: Albizia julibrissin 'Ernest Wilson'

Common name: silktree

Family: Fabaceae

 

The silk tree cultivar Albizia julibrissin ‘Ernest Wilson’ has fine-textured bipinnately compound leaves and showy flowers. It is a member of Fabaceae, the pea family. The inflorescences consist of many small petalless flowers with long, threadlike stamens in shades of pink. Flowering begins in early July and continues throughout the summer. This selection, collected by Wilson in Korea, is the hardiest of the species. Examples can be found at the entrance of Chinese Path in the Explorers Garden and on the slope to the southwest of the Hunnewell Visitor Center.

Wisley Plant Fair today, plus the essential wander round the gardens and Surrey Sculpture Trail.

 

Native to New Zealand, Rubus squarrosus is known as the Bush Lawyer (or sometimes the Leafless Lawyer) ... because if you become entangled, you can never get away! Those tiny little spines are deceptively vicious.

 

It is a native vine (or ground cover plant) which can reach a height of 3 metres and with a similar spread. It is an intriguing leafless vine with conspicuous bright yellow thorns along its stems creating a skeletal look.

 

Rubus squarrosus is perhaps the most unusual of the genus Rubus ... in open situations and scrambling over shrubs, the leaflet blades remain undeveloped. The leaves consist of elongated petioles and the almost threadlike midribs of the leaflets, all beset with yellow prickles. Such leaves are very effective in clinging to any support. Once the stems reach the tree crowns, there is a trend towards growing normal leaves with well formed narrow leaflets.

 

It is endemic to North and South Islands, from Ahipara south but is rare north of the Manawatu.

Also called Long-horn Moth......Adela species in the Incurvariidae Family (Yucca and Fairy Moths) of the Order Lepidoptera! This is an amazing first for me!!! Adults in this family are small moths with threadlike antennae that range in length from short to very very long. The males of some species have antennae that may be several times the length of the wings, the longest antennae of any Lepidoptera. Larvae feed on the foliage or seeds of plants.....etc. From Insects of the Pacific NW by Peter and Judy Haggard

Introduced, warm-season, biennial (2 years), erect herb, 30-150 cm tall. Stems are bristly and striated. Leaves are hairless and once or twice divided; leaflets are lobed. Flowerheads are large (to 12 cm) umbrella-shaped structures, which are surrounded by divided bracts with threadlike segments. Flowers are white or pinkish and about 2.5 mm wide; the petals are often uneven in size. Fruit are 3–4 mm long and ribbed, with rows of short hairs. Flowering is from spring to autumn. A native of Eurasia and North Africa, it occurs along roadsides and in waste places. An indicator of disturbance and bare ground. It is a common component of roadsides, but rarely is found in pastures. Susceptible to trampling and grazing by livestock. This plant has become incredibly abundant this year on the Northern Tablelands due to a wet Dec and Jan

Bukit Tagar, Selangor, Malaysia.

 

Carnivorous or insectivorous plant - Habitat; old tin-mining lake with receding water line. Utricularia gibba L. Lentibulariaceae. CN: [Malay - Lumut ekor kuning (referring to U. flexuosa Vahl syn. U. aurea Lour.], Bladderwort, Conespur bladderpod, Fibrous bladderwort, Humped bladderwort, Floating bladderwort. Found globally and the widest range among the Utricularia spp. The upper corolla lip that is larger than the lower corolla lip; very small with only threadlike stolons and numerous 2-tipped leaves; classified as suspended and affixed aquatic plant. Aquatic weed.

 

Synonym(s):

Many; refer to The Plant List www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-2446981

 

Ref and suggested reading:

www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-2446981

zipcodezoo.com/Plants/U/Utricularia_gibba/

www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq5666.html

www.sarracenia.com/pubs/focus5.html

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utricularia

www.astikhin.com/image/I0000mXC.iBAyNnk

Flowerheads are large (to 12 cm) umbrella-shaped structures, which are surrounded by divided bracts with threadlike segments. Flowers are white or pinkish and about 2.5 mm wide; the petals are often uneven in size. Fruit are 3–4 mm long and ribbed, with rows of short hairs. Flowering is from spring to autumn.

Foeniculum vulgare (Fennel) shows a dense mass of finely divided, threadlike green foliage forming a soft, airy texture.

There was a very small freshwater creek entering the ocean at this point.

 

The entire course of the creek's journey over the rocks to the sea was carpeted in this interesting algae.

 

Photographed at Salt Point State Park, Sonoma County, California

The telephone trembles and dithers aside my right palm, like children quivering with symptoms of bête noire against their fuming fathers, housing small flies of panic inside their still-growing bellies. Their threadlike wings fasten movement until they ultimately vanish, creating an insufferable nervosity about those organs.

  

"Speak to me," her repetition of twin soprano coos, pupils dilating toward the highways beforehand. Shoving my being forward into the realms to those concerned, I heave quick phrases from my tongue as if they taste of sickening savors, and allow her to arrest them to do with them what she will.

  

Then she begins to weep, singing a song through thick tears explaining how furious she was with me, inquiring of how I could ever possess the notion to do such things, of whether I carried any sense inside my sweater pockets. I rummaged together all of the pieces of this everlasting puzzle I had let slip from my hands and paraded her perception with the beauty of everything once it was finally fit as one. She understood.

  

"I told her that if there was anything I wished you to know, it was that if even the entire world left you alone and claimed that they did not love you, that I always would."

On the underside of a mushroom - apparently feeding. Elegant shiny elytra and threadlike antennae. Not seen before and not thought to be common locally. That opinion may change. Knowing where to look is most of the game. A Scaphisoma sp. based on a suggestion in the comments (thank you) and from inaturalist images.

Bukit Tagar, Selangor, Malaysia.

 

Carnivorous or insectivorous plant - Close-up of flowers. Utricularia gibba L. Lentibulariaceae. CN: [Malay - Lumut ekor kuning (referring to U. flexuosa Vahl syn. U. aurea Lour.], Bladderwort, Conespur bladderpod, Fibrous bladderwort, Humped bladderwort, Floating bladderwort. Found globally and the widest range among the Utricularia spp. The upper corolla lip that is larger than the lower corolla lip; very small with only threadlike stolons and numerous 2-tipped leaves; classified as suspended and affixed aquatic plant. Aquatic weed.

 

Synonym(s):

Many; refer to The Plant List www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-2446981

 

Ref and suggested reading:

www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-2446981

zipcodezoo.com/Plants/U/Utricularia_gibba/

www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq5666.html

www.sarracenia.com/pubs/focus5.html

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utricularia

Lilaea scilloides has two types of flowers, one on a threadlike stalk (seen to the right)the other can be seen on a thicker stalk coming out from amongst the leaves. The seeds are in the foreground.

Carduus acanthoides is a species of thistle known as the spiny plumeless thistle and welted thistle. This plant is native to Europe but is well-known in many other parts of the world, including parts of North and South America, New Zealand, and Australia, as a noxious weed. This thistle may exceed two meters in height and can form weedy monotypic stands. The stem and foliage are spiny and sometimes woolly. The plant starts from a flat basal rosette and then bolts an erect stem with occasional toothed, wrinkled, spiny leaves. At the top of each branch of the stem is an inflorescence of one to several flower heads, each rounded, covered in spiny phyllaries, and bearing many threadlike purple disc florets. In both native and non-native ranges this plant is a weed of roadsides, fields, and disturbed areas.

Flowerheads are large (to 12 cm) umbrella-shaped structures, which are surrounded by divided bracts with threadlike segments. Flowers are white or pinkish and about 2.5 mm wide; the petals are often uneven in size. Fruit are 3–4 mm long and ribbed, with rows of short hairs. Flowering is from spring to autumn.

Taken with my macro lens -

 

Katydid: Any of numerous, predominantly nocturnal insects related to crickets and grasshoppers, noted for their loud mating calls. Katydids have large hind legs and are distinguished by their extremely long, threadlike antennae and the thick, upwardly curved ovipositor (egg-laying structure) of the females. Often large and green, many katydids have long wings, but some common species are nearly wingless. Katydids are most abundant in the tropics—the Amazon rainforest is home to about 2,000 species—but katydids are also found in cooler and drier regions throughout the world; the United States is home to over 100 species. They live on trees, bushes, or grasses, often matching the appearance of their surroundings. Many species resemble leaves; leaf-katydids of the American tropics precisely mimic partially eaten or otherwise disfigured leaves. Owing to such adaptations and their lack of daytime activity, relatively little is known of this group of insects, despite their ubiquity, abundance, and variety.

 

www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/313386/katydid

  

Usnea sp. BEARD LICHEN. Threadlike branches have a distinctive central cord.On tree branch with a greenish foliose lichen, possibly a Flavopunctelia. Bog Trail

Christmas cactus flower

This little purse shaped flower reminds me of egg whites with their yolk. Common toadflax or butter-and-eggs.

 

It is a perennial plant with short spreading roots, erect to decumbent stems 15–90 cm (6–35 in) high, with fine, threadlike, glaucous blue-green leaves 2–6 cm (3⁄4–2 1⁄4 in) long and 1–5 mm (0.04–0.20 in) broad. The flowers are similar to those of the snapdragon, 25–33 mm (0.98–1.30 in) long, pale yellow except for the lower tip which is orange, borne in dense terminal racemes from mid summer to mid autumn. The flowers are mostly visited by bumblebees.[6] The fruit is a globose capsule 5–11 mm (0.20–0.43 in) long and 5–7 mm (0.20–0.28 in) broad, containing numerous small seeds.[2]

 

The plant is widespread on ruderal spots, along roads, in dunes, and on disturbed and cultivated land.[2]

 

Because the flower is largely closed by its underlip, pollination requires strong insects such as bees and bumblebees (Bombus species).[2]

 

The plant is food plant for a large number of insects such as the sweet gale moth (Acronicta euphorbiae), mouse moth (Amphipyra tragopoginis), silver Y (Autographa gamma), Calophasia lunula, gorgone checkerspot (Charidryas gorgone carlota), toadflax pug (Eupithecia linariata), satyr pug (Eupithecia satyrata), Falseuncaria ruficiliana, bog fritillary (Boloria eunomia), Pyrrhia umbra, brown rustic (Rusina ferruginea), and Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla.

 

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linaria_vulgaris

 

nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlasleeuwenbek

 

nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liggende_leeuwenbek

On the way out to Ulstrup and Aarhus, we had taken the bridges: the Great Belt Bridge from Sjælland to Fyn and the New Little Belt Bridge from Fyn to the Jutland. Ma Sunshine commented that when she was a girl visiting with her parents, the enormously long Great Belt Bridge had not yet been constructed, and the only way to the Jutland by car was by ferry. This was what we took on the way back, boarding from the port of Aarhus and sailing across the Samso to the tiny port of Odden on the a threadlike peninsula in the far northwest of the Sjælland. From there, we could drive about ninety minutes to be back in the capital.

 

En route, we got ample views of one of Danmark's most prominent businesses, exports, and means of power generation: the modern windmill, with its three vast propeller blades. Some hate the imposition of the towers on the horizon, but I rather like their graceful lines. These specimens were not far inland from the Lammelfjorden off the main Isefjord. Yes, Danmark has fjords too, but they are not the dramatic cliff-lined defiles of Norway, just long narrow inlets surrounded by land that scarcely rises above sea level.

Flowerheads are large (to 12 cm) umbrella-shaped structures, which are surrounded by divided bracts with threadlike segments. Flowers are white or pinkish and about 2.5 mm wide; the petals are often uneven in size. Fruit are 3–4 mm long and ribbed, with rows of short hairs. Flowering is from spring to autumn.

Introduced, cool-season, annual, ascending to erect, slender herb, 15-50 cm tall. Leaves are very finely divided into linear or threadlike segments that are less than 1 mm wide. Flowerheads are umbels in the leaf axils; they have small flowers with very small (about 0.3 mm long) white petals. Fruit are small and strongly ribbed; these are longer lasting and more likely to be noticed than the flowers. Flowering is from late winter to early summer. A native of America, it occurs in disturbed pastures, gardens and waste places. It is more abundant in moist areas, but is also found in drier areas during wet years. An indicator of disturbance and bare ground. It is a minor component of many pastures and regarded as an insignificant weed. It is relatively unpalatable to stock and only grazed when there is little else on offer. It may taint milk when present in sufficient quantities. Control can be achieved by maintaining strong dense pastures.

This is the blue version of this species which is a Mediterranean native with 1-1 ½” blooms in pink, white and blue. The fine threadlike leaves cover the foot tall plant and form a collar under the flowers, making the “mist”. It the fall it forms a large paper like, balloon shaped seed pod topped with five curling horns. It always gets lots of comments from visitors to the garden. This is an old fashioned favorite that grows in almost any climate and has seeded itself all over the yard.

 

This was a very complex flower so I did a study of the petals, about 24, the unusual center with the horns and the small pollen holders that are suspended from thin lines originating at the center of the flower. I then did a detailed drawing with a hard lead pencil before starting painting. The blue flowers range in shade from light to dark blue to a purple tone and I used ultramarine blue with a violet wash, lightly touched with white to capture the unique color of this bloom.

 

Unlike most other Chamaesyce species, this one is not a creeper, but a long-stemmed, lacy curtain of threadlike branches, starry white flowers, and very narrow, toothed leaves. The flowers are quite large (5-8mm) and are more conspicuous than the leaves.

Cosmos bipinnatus, commonly called the garden cosmos or Mexican aster, is a medium-sized flowering herbaceous plant in the daisy family Asteraceae, native to the Americas. The species and its varieties and cultivars are popular as ornamental plants in temperate climate gardens.

 

Description

In natural habitat

Cosmos bipinnatus is an annual that is often considered half-hardy, although plants may reappear via self-sowing for several years. The plant height varies from 2–6 ft to (rarely) 9 ft (0.61–1.83–2.74 m). The cultivated varieties appear in shades of pink and purple as well as white. The branched stem is usually densely to occasionally occupied by fine, split up, rough trichomes, some specimens are completely hairless. The petiole itself is inconspicuous, winged, 10 (rarely to 15) mm long, sometimes the leaves are almost sessile.

 

The partial leaves are linear-filiform to narrow linear with a width of 0.5 to 1 (rarely to 1.7) mm; the tips are pointed, hardened, but not particularly sharp. Its foliage is finely cut into threadlike segments. When flowering, the plant can become top heavy. This problem is alleviated when grown in groups, as the bipinnate leaves interlock, and the colony supports itself.

 

The achenes become blackish, are smooth or short-bristly. Their shape is spindle-like. They are rounded off into a short, 0.5 to 1.7 mm long, but distinctly pronounced rostrum. The inner achenes are up to 18 mm long, their yellowish beaks are 4 to 5 (rarely to 10) mm long. A pappus is missing or it consists only of two to three awn-like, 1-3 mm large bristles.

 

Flowers

The very conspicuous cup-shaped inflorescences have a diameter of usually 5–7 cm (2.0–2.8 in) and contain tongue and tubular flowers, which are surrounded by bracts. There are usually 8 outer bracts, and they are ovate to lanceolate-tail-shaped, 7-15 mm long, 3-5 mm wide. The inner bracts are ovate-lanceolate and 8-12 mm long. They are translucent with many black stripes and a clear edge up to 1 mm wide, sometimes with yellowish or pink pigments, the tip is ciliate. The sprout leaves have gold-yellow, thread-like tips and protrude between the tubular flowers. The broadened base of these spreader leaves is translucent, provided with a yellow line. During flowering, the plant can sag under its weight. This problem can be solved by grouping the feet together so that the leaves hang together.

 

The mostly eight ray florets are pink to violet or white colored, at the base may show noticeable stains caused by anthocyanin. The tongues are reversely ovate shaped, have a length of usually 20-35 mm and a width of usually 12-20 mm. The tips are almost dull and have three broad, wavy teeth. Below that, they are greatly rejuvenated. In the center of the flower baskets is a large number of tubular flowers (also called disc florets), whose overgrown petals are yellow, turn white in the lower part and reach a length of 5-6 mm. The anthers are brownish-black and about 3 mm long, at the tips are short-triangular, translucent attachments with a length of 0.5-0.8 mm. The branches of the stylus are short and rather dull, with a length of .5 mm.

 

Distribution

This plant is native to Mexico, Guatemala and Costa Rica. Since it is used as an ornamental plant in many countries and prone to sedimentation, it is an invasive plant in many areas of the world. It has naturalized in scattered locations across North America, South America, the West Indies, Italy, Australia, and Asia, where it is a garden escape (introduced species) and in some habitats becoming a weed.

 

Cultivars

Cultivars of Cosmos bipinnatus in cultivation today include:

Apollo Series

'Apollo Carmine' agm

'Apollo Pink' agm

'Apollo White' agm

'Daydream' features a pink inner ring on a white background

Double Click Series features semidouble to fully double flowers that resemble Japanese anemones (Anemone japonica)

'Double Click Cranberries'

'Double Click Rose Bonbon'

'Double Click Snow Puff'

'Double Click Vari Extra'

'Rubenza' agm

'Sensation', also known as 'Early Sensation', is a widely available mix of tall varieties

'Sensation Pinkie' agm

Sonata series

'Velouette'agm

'Versailles', developed for the cut flower trade, are shorter than the species, with heights remaining below three feet

'Versailles Dark Rose'

'Vesailles Tetra'

(those marked agm have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit).

 

Cultivation

Germination takes between 7 and 10 days at the optimal temperature of 75 °F (24 °C); flowering begins between 60 and 90 days after germination

It prefers a soil pH between 6.0 and 8.5, reflecting its native habitat in the alkaline regions of Central America

Flowering is best in full sun, although partial shade is tolerated

Excessive rain can cause cultivation problems, due to the delicate nature of the stems. Heavy rain can cause breakage. Cosmos bipinnatus can tolerate heat as long as adequate moisture is provided, however, it does not handle droughts, strong winds or cold temperatures well. Snails, slugs and aphids have a taste for Cosmos bipinnatus. Successfully cultivated plants can mature 2 to 4 feet (0.61 to 1.22 m) x 12 to 18 inches (300 to 460 mm).

 

They are not tolerant of frost, but can be grown outdoors in a temperate climate with a warm to hot summer and are therefore called half-hardy in British gardening literature.

Pollinators

The flowers of Cosmos bipinnatus attract birds and butterflies, including the monarch butterfly. It can be part of butterfly gardening and pollinator/honey-bee habitat gardens.

Maybe actually a butterfly? Threadlike antennae and scaly wings. About 3cm long.

For ODC-Begins With "T"

 

In botany, a tendril is a specialized stem, leaf or petiole with a threadlike shape that is used by climbing plants for support, attachment and cellular invasion by parasitic plants, generally by twining around suitable hosts. They do not have a lamina or blade, but they can photosynthesize. They can be formed from modified shoots, modified leaves, or auxiliary branches and are sensitive to airborne chemicals, often determining the direction of growth, as in species of Cuscuta. [1] ...Wikipedia.

Coreopsis verticillata - They continue to grow and produce blooms in early to late summer with

very little care. The threadleaf coreopsis has fine-textured, threadlike foliage that is very attractive throughout the growing season. It has small yellow flowers that appear in early summer and bloom through fall. They are native American wildflowers.

 

If all the material that makes up Saturn's rings were compressed into a

single body, it could make a moon roughly 80 percent the size of Saturn's

moon Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across). Enceladus is seen

here against the darkness of the planet's night side.

  

Saturn's rings are incredibly thin by astronomical standards; in most

places no thicker than the height of a two-story building. Their apparent

thickness here is deceptive, as Cassini is not located precisely within

the ringplane, and the image resolution is greater than the physical

thickness of the rings.

  

Long, threadlike shadows cast by the rings adorn the atmosphere in this

somewhat eerie scene.

  

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft

wide-angle camera on March 11, 2005, at a distance of approximately 1.3

million kilometers (800,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 74

kilometers (46 miles) per pixel.

  

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European

Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory,

a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages

the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The

Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and

assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science

Institute, Boulder, Colo.

  

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.

For additional images visit the Cassini imaging team homepage ciclops.org.

  

credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Common Name:

Baldwin's Ironweed

 

Scientific Name:

Vernonia baldwinii

 

A.K.A.:

Inland Ironweed

 

B aldwin's Ironweed is an early blooming "fall" wildflower of the prairie. It is a member of the Sunflower family that may be found from Illinois to Arkansas and Texas and west to Colorado. Ranging from 2 to 4 feet tall, it is a perennial that sends a cluster of stems up from a woody rootstock. The stems are unbranched for most of their length, then make numerous flower-bearing branches near the top. The vivid purple flowers begin to open in mid-July.

 

Ironweed got its name from being very fibrous and hence tough to pull or cut. It is also very bitter. Cattle won't eat it, making it an increaser species in overgrazed pastures. In general, it does best in low, moist ground, but may be found in most any prairie situation.

 

Baldwin's Ironweed is one of several members of the genus Vernonia that may be found on the Great Plains. The different species frequently interbreed, making positive identification difficult. The characters most important for separating the different species are the shape of the floral bracts and the number of individual flowers in a flower head.

  

Ironweed flower buds

 

Bracts are leaflike structures that occur either just beneath the flowers or at the point where a flower branches off the main stem.

In this close-up the bracts (red arrow) may be seen enclosing the unopened flower buds. In Baldwin's Ironweed, the bracts come to a tapered point that curls away from the bud. They make the buds look like little pineapples! In other ironweeds, the bracts may have a rounded tip or one that is long and threadlike.

 

The amount of fuzziness on the bracts and elsewhere on the plant varies also.

   

The different species of ironweed have either less or more than 30 individual flowers in a flower head. Baldwin's Ironweed has less than 30. Ironweeds do not have ray flowers (like the petals on a sunflower), only disc flowers.

The leaves of Baldwin's Ironweed are up to 7 inches long and 2 1/2 inches wide, with toothed margins and very short petioles. They are simple and arranged alternately on the stem.

  

Like most members of the Sunflower family, Baldwin's Ironweed is very attractive to nectar-feeding insects such as butterflies and bees. It is a good candidate for a prairie butterfly garden.

"Eysenhardtia texana Scheele

Texas kidneywood, Kidneywood, Bee-Brush, Vara dulce

Fabaceae (Pea Family)

Synonyms: Eysenhardtia angustifolia

USDA Symbol: EYTE

USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

Texas kidneywood is an unarmed, much-branched shrub, 3-10 ft. tall, with an open, airy structure. A many-branched shrub with an open crown and gland-dotted, aromatic, resinous leaves and flowers. Its 3-4 in. spikes of white flowers are fragrant, as are the deciduous, finely divided leaves. Leaves up to 3 1/2 inches long, consisting of a central axis and as many as 40 small leaflets, each about 1/4 inch long, pungent when crushed. Flowers white, small, with a delicate fragrance, arranged in spikes up to 4 1/2 inches long at the ends of branchlets, appearing intermittently from May to October. Fruit a pod about 3/8 inch long, often with a threadlike tip. Seed pods are somewhat persistent.

 

This tree and its relative, the more westerly E. orthocarpa, were once used in remedies for kidney and bladder ailments, hence the name."

www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=EYTE

 

Here’s a detailed breakdown of what’s in this image:

 

Main Subject – Person

An individual with short gray hair, seated on a portable folding stool in a garden setting.

 

Wearing a bright turquoise-blue short-sleeved shirt and gray trousers.

 

On the wrist: a silver watch.

 

Posture: slightly leaned forward, engaged with a camera setup, suggesting focus and intent on photographing plants.

 

Photography Equipment

 

Camera: A black DSLR or mirrorless camera mounted on a tripod.

 

Equipped with a macro or telephoto lens (given the flower photography context).

 

Tripod height adjusted to match the level of the tall plants being photographed.

 

Strap: Hanging from the camera, secured to prevent dropping.

 

Plant Subject in Front

 

Foreground plants:

Tall, upright stems topped with umbrella-shaped yellow flower clusters (typical of the carrot family, Apiaceae).

 

Leaves: feathery, threadlike, finely divided foliage.

 

Most likely Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), which grows tall (4–6 ft) and bears yellow umbel flowers.

 

Other flowers visible: splashes of pink, purple, orange, and white further back in the border, creating a colorful layered backdrop.

 

Setting

 

Location: A garden border or wildflower bed, edged by a grassy path.

 

Background: Mixed flowering perennials in bloom, suggesting a summer season.

 

Atmosphere: Quiet, contemplative — typical of someone absorbed in nature or macro photography.

 

Interaction

 

The scene captures a moment of fieldwork or hobbyist photography:

 

The subject is carefully positioned, seated for stability and comfort.

 

The camera is trained on the fennel flowers, possibly to capture pollinators (bees, hoverflies, or butterflies).

 

hair·do (hâr d ) ... hair - a covering for the body (or parts of it) consisting of a dense growth of threadlike structures.

Tucson, Arizona USA

Milagro Cohousing

www.milagrocohousing.org

 

photo by Cathy Mullan

 

Thymophylla pentachaeta, also known as golden dyssodia or dogweed, is a perennial or subshrub in the Asteraceae family. The species is native to the southwestern United States and Mexico

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thymophylla_pentachaeta

www.fireflyforest.com/flowers/2462/thymophylla-pentachaet...

 

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Thymophylla pentachaeta

Synonym: Dyssodia pentachaeta

Common Names: Fiveneedle Pricklyleaf, Five-needle Pricklyleaf, Dyssodia

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial

Growth Habit: Subshrub, Herb/Forb

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert, Upland. These wildflowers are fairly common in open or disturbed areas.

Flower Color: Yellow

Flowering Season: Spring, Summer, Fall

Height: Up to 8 inches (20 cm) tall, but usually less

Description: The flowers are on slender stems above the dense, mounding foliage. The individual flower heads are up to 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) wide and have yellow disks and rays. The leaves are dark green, opposite, and pinnately cleft into 3 to 11, threadlike, spine-tipped lobes. These plants typically grow wider than tall.

Special Characteristics

Butterfly Plant – The flowers attract butterflies.

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants

Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants

Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants

Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants

Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons

Subclass: Asteridae

Order: Asterales

Family: Asteraceae – Aster family

Genus: Thymophylla Lag. – pricklyleaf

Species: Thymophylla pentachaeta (DC.) Small – fiveneedle pricklyleaf

 

DSC03147_2

Taken with my macro lens

 

Katydid: Any of numerous, predominantly nocturnal insects related to crickets and grasshoppers, noted for their loud mating calls. Katydids have large hind legs and are distinguished by their extremely long, threadlike antennae and the thick, upwardly curved ovipositor (egg-laying structure) of the females. Often large and green, many katydids have long wings, but some common species are nearly wingless. Katydids are most abundant in the tropics—the Amazon rainforest is home to about 2,000 species—but katydids are also found in cooler and drier regions throughout the world; the United States is home to over 100 species. They live on trees, bushes, or grasses, often matching the appearance of their surroundings. Many species resemble leaves; leaf-katydids of the American tropics precisely mimic partially eaten or otherwise disfigured leaves. Owing to such adaptations and their lack of daytime activity, relatively little is known of this group of insects, despite their ubiquity, abundance, and variety.

 

www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/313386/katydid

"Sneezeweed," "bitterweed," various other names. Helenium amarum (Raf.) Rock, a perennial species widespread in the Southeast. The leaves are bright green and threadlike, not at all decurrent on the stem as in other members of the genus. This little plant starts blooming aroung here in early autumn, sometimes making specatular displays in cowpastures...as it is basically inedible (that is, horses and cows shun it), due to a variety of bitter compounds. It's something of a tacky weed, and yet it has a certain kind of impervious charm, blooming on the driest, awfullest roadsides and vacant lots, well into the winter. (Here in South Carolina, you can find it blooming, desperately, in the coldest days of January.) It loves to be mowed, and commonly the repeatedly mowed plants will bloom, forming low carpets of yellow heads.

Mark Bierner erected the section Amarum to include this and one other North American species...for details see:

 

Bierner, M. W. 1989. Taxonomy of Helenium sect. Amarum (Asteraceae). Sida 13:453–459.

Cosmos bipinnatus, commonly called the garden cosmos or Mexican aster, is a medium-sized flowering herbaceous plant in the daisy family Asteraceae, native to the Americas. The species and its varieties and cultivars are popular as ornamental plants in temperate climate gardens.

 

Description

In natural habitat

Cosmos bipinnatus is an annual that is often considered half-hardy, although plants may reappear via self-sowing for several years. The plant height varies from 2–6 ft to (rarely) 9 ft (0.61–1.83–2.74 m). The cultivated varieties appear in shades of pink and purple as well as white. The branched stem is usually densely to occasionally occupied by fine, split up, rough trichomes, some specimens are completely hairless. The petiole itself is inconspicuous, winged, 10 (rarely to 15) mm long, sometimes the leaves are almost sessile.

 

The partial leaves are linear-filiform to narrow linear with a width of 0.5 to 1 (rarely to 1.7) mm; the tips are pointed, hardened, but not particularly sharp. Its foliage is finely cut into threadlike segments. When flowering, the plant can become top heavy. This problem is alleviated when grown in groups, as the bipinnate leaves interlock, and the colony supports itself.

 

The achenes become blackish, are smooth or short-bristly. Their shape is spindle-like. They are rounded off into a short, 0.5 to 1.7 mm long, but distinctly pronounced rostrum. The inner achenes are up to 18 mm long, their yellowish beaks are 4 to 5 (rarely to 10) mm long. A pappus is missing or it consists only of two to three awn-like, 1-3 mm large bristles.

 

Flowers

The very conspicuous cup-shaped inflorescences have a diameter of usually 5–7 cm (2.0–2.8 in) and contain tongue and tubular flowers, which are surrounded by bracts. There are usually 8 outer bracts, and they are ovate to lanceolate-tail-shaped, 7-15 mm long, 3-5 mm wide. The inner bracts are ovate-lanceolate and 8-12 mm long. They are translucent with many black stripes and a clear edge up to 1 mm wide, sometimes with yellowish or pink pigments, the tip is ciliate. The sprout leaves have gold-yellow, thread-like tips and protrude between the tubular flowers. The broadened base of these spreader leaves is translucent, provided with a yellow line. During flowering, the plant can sag under its weight. This problem can be solved by grouping the feet together so that the leaves hang together.

 

The mostly eight ray florets are pink to violet or white colored, at the base may show noticeable stains caused by anthocyanin. The tongues are reversely ovate shaped, have a length of usually 20-35 mm and a width of usually 12-20 mm. The tips are almost dull and have three broad, wavy teeth. Below that, they are greatly rejuvenated. In the center of the flower baskets is a large number of tubular flowers (also called disc florets), whose overgrown petals are yellow, turn white in the lower part and reach a length of 5-6 mm. The anthers are brownish-black and about 3 mm long, at the tips are short-triangular, translucent attachments with a length of 0.5-0.8 mm. The branches of the stylus are short and rather dull, with a length of .5 mm.

 

Distribution

This plant is native to Mexico, Guatemala and Costa Rica. Since it is used as an ornamental plant in many countries and prone to sedimentation, it is an invasive plant in many areas of the world. It has naturalized in scattered locations across North America, South America, the West Indies, Italy, Australia, and Asia, where it is a garden escape (introduced species) and in some habitats becoming a weed.

 

Cultivars

Cultivars of Cosmos bipinnatus in cultivation today include:

Apollo Series

'Apollo Carmine' agm

'Apollo Pink' agm

'Apollo White' agm

'Daydream' features a pink inner ring on a white background

Double Click Series features semidouble to fully double flowers that resemble Japanese anemones (Anemone japonica)

'Double Click Cranberries'

'Double Click Rose Bonbon'

'Double Click Snow Puff'

'Double Click Vari Extra'

'Rubenza' agm

'Sensation', also known as 'Early Sensation', is a widely available mix of tall varieties

'Sensation Pinkie' agm

Sonata series

'Velouette'agm

'Versailles', developed for the cut flower trade, are shorter than the species, with heights remaining below three feet

'Versailles Dark Rose'

'Vesailles Tetra'

(those marked agm have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit).

 

Cultivation

Germination takes between 7 and 10 days at the optimal temperature of 75 °F (24 °C); flowering begins between 60 and 90 days after germination

It prefers a soil pH between 6.0 and 8.5, reflecting its native habitat in the alkaline regions of Central America

Flowering is best in full sun, although partial shade is tolerated

Excessive rain can cause cultivation problems, due to the delicate nature of the stems. Heavy rain can cause breakage. Cosmos bipinnatus can tolerate heat as long as adequate moisture is provided, however, it does not handle droughts, strong winds or cold temperatures well. Snails, slugs and aphids have a taste for Cosmos bipinnatus. Successfully cultivated plants can mature 2 to 4 feet (0.61 to 1.22 m) x 12 to 18 inches (300 to 460 mm).

 

They are not tolerant of frost, but can be grown outdoors in a temperate climate with a warm to hot summer and are therefore called half-hardy in British gardening literature.

Pollinators

The flowers of Cosmos bipinnatus attract birds and butterflies, including the monarch butterfly. It can be part of butterfly gardening and pollinator/honey-bee habitat gardens.

Delicate Greenthread (Thelesperma filifolium), with its threadlike slender foliage, finds a home along the creek in the Texas Botanical Gardens. Greenthread is a favorite nectar plant for butterflies and other pollinators. This native wildflower can be dried and crushed, and infused to make a tea. All plants parts can reportedly be dried and stored for later use.

 

Note: Caution is advised in using plants in a holistic manner as described here. Elders, herbalists and other traditionalists should be consulted to determine the proper time to harvest and at what state of the plant’s development. Tannins and oils vary in their concentration based on stages of the plant’s development. Uses as described here rely upon anecdotal records from a variety of sources, so care should be exercised when using native plants as herbal and medicinal remedies.

Scientific name: Albizia julibrissin

Common name: Silktree

Family: Fabaceae

 

The silk tree cultivar Albizia julibrissin ‘Ernest Wilson’ has fine-textured bipinnately compound leaves and showy flowers. It is a member of Fabaceae, the pea family. The inflorescences consist of many small petalless flowers with long, threadlike stamens in shades of pink. Flowering begins in early July and continues throughout the summer. This selection, collected by Wilson in Korea, is the hardiest of the species. Examples can be found at the entrance of Chinese Path in the Explorers Garden and on the slope to the southwest of the Hunnewell Visitor Center.

There was a very small freshwater creek entering the ocean at this point.

 

The entire course of the creek's journey over the rocks to the sea was carpeted in this interesting algae.

 

Photographed at Salt Point State Park, Sonoma County, California

Papyrus

Cyperaceace Family

Native to Africa, subtropical to tropical

Clump forming tender perennial sedge to 10' H

triangular green stems topped by dense cluster of 100 thin bright green threadlike rays

full sun-part shade

OBL Region 2

 

Exhibitor | Peggy Guggenheim Collection

 

(left to right)

 

Artist | El Lissitzky (1890-1941 in Russia)

Title | Untitled (c.1919-1920)

oil on canvas

79.6 x 49.6 cm

 

www.guggenheim-venice.it/en/art/works/untitled-39/

 

This painting reveals the principles of Suprematism that El Lissitzky absorbed under the influence of Kazimir Malevich in 1919–20. Trained as an engineer and possessing a pragmatic temperament, Lissitzky soon became one of the leading exponents of Constructivism . In the 1920s, while living in Germany, he became an important influence on both the De Stijl group and the artists of the Bauhaus. Like Malevich, he believed in a new art that rejected traditional pictorial structure, centralized compositional organization, mimesis, and perspectival consistency. In this work the ladder of vividly colored forms seems to be floating through indeterminate space. Spatial relationships are complicated by the veil of white color that divides these forms from the major gray diagonal. The linkage of elements is not attributable to a mysterious magnetic pull, but is indicated in a literal way by the device of a connecting threadlike line. The winding line changes color as it passes through the various rectangles that may serve as metaphors for different cosmic planes.

 

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El Lissitzky was born Lazar Markovich Lisitskii on November 23, 1890, in Pochinok, in the Russian province of Smolensk. He grew up in Vitebsk, then pursued architectural studies at the Technische Hochschule in Darmstadt, Germany, from 1909 to 1914. With the the outbreak of World War I Lissitzky return to Russia. In 1916, he received a diploma in engineering and architecture from Riga Technological University. Lissitzky and Kazimir Malevich were invited by Marc Chagall to join the faculty of the Vitebsk Popular Art School in 1919, where Lissitzky taught architecture and graphics. That same year, he executed his first Proun (an acronym in Russian for “project for the affirmation of the new”) and joined the Unovis group.

 

In 1920, he became a member of Inkhuk (the Institute for Artistic Culture) in Moscow and designed his book Pro dva kvadrata. The following year, he taught at Vkhutemas technical school with Vladimir Tatlin and joined the Constructivist group. The Constructivists exhibited at the Erste russische Kunstausstellung designed by Lissitzky at the Galerie van Diemen in Berlin in 1922. During this period he collaborated with Ilya Ehrenburg on the journal Veshch/Gegenstand/Objet. In 1923, the artist experimented with new typographic designs for a book by Vladimir Mayakovski, Dlya golosa, and visited Hannover, where his work was shown under the auspices of the Kestner-Gesellschaft. Also in 1923, Lissitzky created his Proun environment for the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung and executed his lithographic suites Proun and Victory over the Sun (illustrating the opera by Alexei Kruchenykh and Mikhail Matiushin), before traveling to Switzerland to receive medical treatment.

 

In 1924, he worked with Kurt Schwitters on the issue of the periodical Merz called “Nasci,” and with Arp on the book Die Kunstismen. The next year, he returned to Moscow to teach at Vkhutemas-Vkhutein technical school, which he continued to do until 1930. During the mid-1920s, Lissitzky stopped painting in order to concentrate on the design of typography and exhibitions. He created a room for the Internationale Kunstausstellung in Dresden in 1926 and another at the Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum Hannover in 1927. Lissitzky died on December 30, 1941, in Moscow.

 

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Artist | Kazimir Malevich (1878 in Ukraine - 1935 in Russia)

Title | Untitled (c.1916)

oil on canvas

53 x 53 cm

 

www.guggenheim-venice.it/en/art/works/untitled-40/

 

Kazimir Malevich proposed the abstract style of Suprematism as an alternative to earlier art forms, which he considered inappropriate to his own time. He proposed a self-referential art in which proportion, scale, color, and disposition obey intrinsic, nonutilitarian laws, and considered his non-objective forms to be reproductions of purely affective sensations that bore no relation to external phenomena. Malevich’s units are developed from the straight line and its two-dimensional extension, the plane, and are constituted of contrasting areas of unmodeled color, distinguished by various textural effects. The diagonal orientation of the geometric forms creates rhythms on the surface of the canvas. The overlapping of elements and their varying scale relationships within a white ground provide a sense of indefinitely extensive space. A magnetic attraction and repulsion seem to dictate the slow rotational movement of parts.

 

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Kazimir Severinovich Malevich was born February 26, 1878, near Kiev, Ukraine. He studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture in 1903. During the early years of his career, he experimented with various Modernist styles and participated in avant-garde exhibitions, such as those of the Moscow Artists’ Association, which included Vasily Kandinsky and Mikhail Larionov, and the Jack of Diamonds exhibition of 1910 in Moscow. Malevich showed his Primitivist paintings of peasants at the exhibition Donkey’s Tail in 1912. After this exhibition, he broke away from Larionov’s group. In 1913, together with composer Mikhail Matiushin and writer Alexei Kruchenykh, Malevich drafted a manifesto for the First Futurist Congress. That same year, he designed the sets and costumes for the opera Victory over the Sun by Matiushin and Kruchenykh. Malevich showed at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris in 1914.

 

At the 0.10: The Last Futurist Exhibition in Petrograd in 1915, Malevich introduced his non-objective, geometric Suprematist paintings. In 1919, he began to explore the three-dimensional applications of Suprematism in architectural models. Following the Russian Revolution in 1917, Malevich and other advanced artists were championed by the Soviet government and attained prominent administrative and teaching positions. Malevich began teaching at the Vitebsk Popular Art School in 1919; he soon became its director. In 1919–20, he was given a solo show at the Sixteenth State Exhibition in Moscow, which focused on Suprematism and other non-objective styles. Malevich and his students at Vitebsk formed the Suprematist group Unovis. From 1922 to 1927 he taught at the Institute of Artistic Culture in Petrograd, and between 1924 and 1926 he worked primarily on architectural models with his students.

 

In 1927, Malevich traveled with an exhibition of his paintings to Warsaw and also went to Berlin, where his work was shown at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung. In Germany, he met Jean Arp, Naum Gabo, Le Corbusier, and Kurt Schwitters and visited the Bauhaus, where he met Walter Gropius. The Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow gave Malevich a solo exhibition in 1929. Because of his connections with German artists, he was arrested in 1930 and many of his manuscripts were destroyed. In his final period, he painted in a figurative style. Malevich died on May 15, 1935, in Leningrad.

  

PGC046

Erect pappus hairs intermixed with threadlike yellow-brown female corollas. Created wetland, Faxon Field, Quincy, MA 10/29/11