On peduncles and pedicels:
Now that Mother's day is over,
I'm back to my obsession with the
Ornamental Onion, Allium species
that is coming into it's own in my front garden. I've been
calling it
Allium Giganteum,
because I thought that was the one I bought. Now that I've been
looking around on the web
for information on this plant, I'm not entirely sure what species I
have. I do know that it is an
Allium, belonging to the family Alliaceae. For great information
on ornamental onions in general
visit http://www.theflowerexpert.com/content/growingflowers/growingflowers/allium.
The thing that I am finding most fascinating is the flower.
It is an umbel on top of stalk.
My old botany book tells me that an
umbel is a type of racemose inflorescences.
An inflorescence is a group of flowers at the end
of a flower stalk or peduncle.
Racemose means that flowers continue to develop continuously.
In alliums the axis is short and the little short flower stalks in
the inflorescences is nearly of equal length.
Poppies pop and are done, but alliums develop continuously
over a longer period of time, allowing my amateur skills
as a photographer to show that this flower will be
in the garden for a long period of time.
Above are pictures taken today.
I'm back to my obsession with the
Ornamental Onion, Allium species
that is coming into it's own in my front garden. I've been
calling it
Allium Giganteum,
because I thought that was the one I bought. Now that I've been
looking around on the web
for information on this plant, I'm not entirely sure what species I
have. I do know that it is an
Allium, belonging to the family Alliaceae. For great information
on ornamental onions in general
visit http://www.theflowerexpert.com/content/growingflowers/growingflowers/allium.
The thing that I am finding most fascinating is the flower.
It is an umbel on top of stalk.
My old botany book tells me that an
umbel is a type of racemose inflorescences.
An inflorescence is a group of flowers at the end
of a flower stalk or peduncle.
Racemose means that flowers continue to develop continuously.
In alliums the axis is short and the little short flower stalks in
the inflorescences is nearly of equal length.
Poppies pop and are done, but alliums develop continuously
over a longer period of time, allowing my amateur skills
as a photographer to show that this flower will be
in the garden for a long period of time.
Above are pictures taken today.
Alliums are fun flowers, my daughter calls them firework flowers. Mine are the smaller variety as I didn't want to spend too much when I was starting out. I leave them in the garden to add interest and they have started to seed out and make more. They look great with your really healthy looking hostas.
ReplyDeleteI love allium!!!!!!!!!! I love the color. They look so neat!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE alliums! My plants have blue flowers. The color of yours is so intence! Thank you! And also thanks for expanding my allium vocabulary!
ReplyDeleteMillie,
ReplyDelete(I absolutely love that name, by the way!) Last fall I planted Allium 'Purple Sensation' and 'Schubertii'. I am looking forward to adding a few more varieties this year, including drumstick allium. What a wonderful post!