Sun Rays (2024)

31/12/2021

Bells of Ireland

Before green flowers became a hot trend among plant breeders, there was bells of Ireland, an annual flowering plant that has been in cultivation since the 1500s. These plants produce spires with emerald green funnel-shaped flowers clustered along vertical stalks. The green bell is actually the calyx—outer sepals that surround the tiny white flower petals inside.

Florists love bells of Ireland for its availability and longevity, and you’ll see it used in wedding flower arrangements as often as in St. Patrick’s day bouquets. As a member of the Lamiaceae family, this plant is related to such ornamental and culinary plants as sage (Salvia), catmint (Nepeta), thyme (Thymus), and lavender (Lavandula).

Bells of Ireland is generally planted in the spring, from seeds either sown directly into the garden, or from seeds started indoors at least two months before the last expected frost of spring. It can take as much as a month for seeds to germinate and sprout, and another two months before they mature into flowering plants.

24/12/2021

Leonotis leonurus

Leonotis leonurus is resilient to drought conditions and will survive even frost. It is a member of the Lamiaceae family and often termed wild dagga, lion’s tail, or lion’s ear. This perennial shrub flowers intermittently during the year. Maintenance and care are considered easy for this member of the mint family.

The lion’s ear creates an attractive and colorful display in the garden with bright tassel-like flowers. The blooms range in colors from cream, white, orange and yellow.

The Leonotis leonurus has been used in medical applications for a variety of maladies such as asthma, headache, and fever and is also an edible plant.

12/12/2021

Heliconia

Heliconia, derived from the Greek word Ἑλικώνιος (helikṓnios)[citation needed], is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the ca 194 known species[3] are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the western Pacific and Maluku.[2] Many species of Heliconia are found in the tropical forests of these regions. Most species are listed as either vulnerable or data deficient by the IUCN Red List of threatened species.[4] Several species are widely cultivated as ornamentals, and a few are naturalized in Florida, Gambia, and Thailand.[5] Common names for the genus include lobster-claws, toucan beak, wild plantain, or false bird-of-paradise. The last term refers to their close similarity to the bird-of-paradise flowers (Strelitzia). Collectively, these plants are also simply referred to as "heliconias".

These herbaceous plants range from 0.5 to nearly 4.5 m (1.5–15 ft) tall, depending on the species.[6] 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 nonwoody 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 colored, 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 colored bracts. Floral shape often limits pollination to a subset of the hummingbirds in the region.[7]

Leaf
The leaves in different positions on the plant have a different absorption potential of sunlight for photosynthesis when exposed to different degrees of sunlight.[8] They also look like lobster claws.

Flower
The flowers produce ample nectar that attracts pollinators, most prevalent of which are hummingbirds.[9]

Heliconia rostrata growing in West Bengal, India

Heliconia rostrata Inflorescence close up
Seeds
Fruits are blue-purple when ripe and primarily bird dispersed.[10] Studies of post-dispersal seed survival showed that seed size was not a determinant. The highest amount of seed predation came from mammals.[11]

Taxonomy
Heliconia is the only genus in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae, but was formerly included in the family Musaceae, which includes the bananas (e.g., Musa, Ensete;[12]). However, the APG system of 1998, and its successor, the APG II system of 2003, confirm the Heliconiaceae as distinct and places them in the order Zingiberales, in the commelinid clade of monocots.

05/12/2021

Bottle brushes

Callistemon /ˌkælɪˈstiːmən/[2] is a genus of shrubs in the family Myrtaceae, first described as a genus in 1814.[3] The entire genus is endemic to Australia but widely cultivated in many other regions and naturalised in scattered locations.[4] Their status as a separate taxon is in doubt, some authorities accepting that the difference between callistemons and melaleucas is not sufficient for them to be grouped in a separate genus.

Callistemon species have commonly been referred to as bottlebrushes because of their cylindrical, brush like flowers resembling a traditional bottle brush. They are mostly found in the more temperate regions of Australia, especially along the east coast and typically favour moist conditions so when planted in gardens thrive on regular watering.[citation needed] However, two species are found in Tasmania and several others in the south-west of Western Australia. At least some species are drought-resistant and some are used in ornamental landscaping elsewhere in the world.

The Latin name Callistemon comes from the combination of 2 Greek words of 'callis' meaning beauty and 'stemon' meaning stamen, referring to the flowers of the plant.[5]

The genus Callistemon was first formally described in 1814 by Robert Brown.[6][7] In his description he noted that the genus includes “those species of Metrosideros that have inflorescence similar to that of Melaleuca, and distinct elongated filaments.”[6] Carl Linnaeus had described the genus Melaleuca in 1767[8] and in 1867, George Bentham brought all the Metrosideros species into Melaleuca. Bentham described melaleucas as having stamens united in bundles opposite the (five) petals.[9]

In his 1864 description of Callistemon salignus in Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae, Ferdinand von Mueller noted that the difference between the genera was “entirely artificial” (“omnino artificiale").[10] George Bentham also noted in Flora Australiensis that Callistemon “passes gradually into Melaleuca, with which F. Mueller proposes to unite it.”[11] In 1876, Henri Ernest Baillon proposed in Histoire des Plantes that Callistemon, as well as Calothamnus and Lamarchea be merged into Melaleuca.[12]

Nevertheless, most authors had preserved the distinction between the two genera Callistemon and Melaleuca until 1998. In that year, in recognition of the fact that the callistemons and melaleucas on New Caledonia were clearly related, Lyndley Craven and J.W. Dawson transferred the callistemons on that island to Melaleuca, even though some (e.g. Melaleuca pancheri) do not have stamens fused in 5 groups.[13]

On the basis of DNA evidence,[14] in 2006[15] and 2009[16] Craven moved all but four callistemons to melaleuca. Those four were Callistemon forresterae, Callistemon genofluvialis, Callistemon kenmorrisonii and Callistemon nyallingensis which were regarded as being hybrids.[13]

The new description of Melaleuca has been accepted by some herbaria but not all. For example, the Queensland Herbarium accepts Melaleuca flammea (synonym Callistemon acuminatus)[17] but the New South Wales Herbarium accepts Callistemon acuminatus.[18] In 2012, Frank Udovicic and Roger Spencer transferred the newly described species of melaleuca with separate stamens (e.g. Melaleuca megalongensis and Melaleuca wimmerensis) to Callistemon (hence Callistemon megalongensis and Callistemon wimmerensis). Their argument is that using the DNA evidence is premature.[19] They further argue that if all the genera Beaufortia, Callistemon, Calothamnus, Conothamnus, Eremaea, Melaleuca, Phymatocarpus were combined (as Craven has suggested),[20] then there would be no characteristics that would define the group.

29/11/2021

Brachyglottis repanda

Brachyglottis repanda (rangiora or bushman's friend) is a small, bushy tree or tall shrub endemic to New Zealand. It grows to a height of 5 to 7 meters. The petioles of the leaves have a characteristic groove up to 10 cm long.[1] The large leaves with a soft furry underside have been referred to as "bushman's toilet paper".

Other common names in Māori (beyond rangiora) include: kōuaha, pukapuka, pukariao, puke-rangiora, raurākau, raurēkau, whārangi, or whārangi-tawhito.

Rangiora is a shrub / small tree which grows to around 6 m (19.7 ft.) tall and has corky bark. It has leathery 5–25 cm long, 5–20 cm wide leaves suspended off of 8–10 cm grooved petioles. The leaves are a pale green above and white underneath as the underside is covered with many tiny white hairs. It flowers from August to October with dramatic panicle inflorescences made of 6 ribs and 3mm long involucral bracts. Pseudanthium are 5mm in diameter and the inflorescences contain 10–12 yellow florets. The seeds are oblong and 1–1.8 mm long, with 2–3 mm rough yellow pappus. It fruits from November to December and disperses its seeds via the wind.

Brachyglottis comes from the two greek words: Brachus, meaning short, and glottis which is the vocal apparatus of the larynx. Repanda means irregularly undulating, referring to the leaf margins Māori used the plant for a number of medicinal uses. Rangiora leaves were used for wounds and old ulcerated sores, and the gum was chewed for foul breath but was poisonous if swallowed.[3] The ethnographer Richard Taylor recorded that the leaves were used to wrap cakes made from hīnau berry meal while they cooked in a hāngi.[4] They were also used, he claimed, to line the baskets which held the siftings of raupō pollen in the process of making bread (from the pollen), the siftings then being thrown out

21/11/2021

Pyrrosia lingua 'Ogon Nishiki'

Pyrrosia lingua is a species of epiphytic fern in the family Polypodiaceae. It occurs through China, Southeast Asia and into Japan and Taiwan, China.[1] Pyrrosia lingua is grown as a cultivated plant, and multiple named cultivars have been developed. This choice evergreen Tongue Fern is notable for the yellowish variegation on its evergreen 12" long leaves and is likely conspecific with the clone sold as 'Variegata', Pyrrosia are easy but require great drainage and unless you are planting it in a stumpery, rockery or slope, you will need to seriously amend with gravel, bark or assorted detritus of life.

14/11/2021

Peony

The peony or paeony[2][3] is a flowering plant in the genus Paeonia, the only genus in the family Paeoniaceae. Peonies are native to Asia, Europe and Western North America. Scientists differ on the number of species that can be distinguished, ranging from 25 to 40,[4][5] although the current consensus is 33 known species.[6] The relationships between the species need to be further clarified.[7]

Most are herbaceous perennial plants 0.25–1 metre (1–3 ft) tall, but some are woody shrubs 0.25–3.5 metres (1–11 ft) tall. They have compound, deeply lobed leaves and large, often fragrant flowers, in colors ranging from purple and pink to red, white or yellow, in late spring and early summer. The flowers have a short blooming season, usually only 7–10 days.

Peonies are popular garden plants in temperate regions. Herbaceous peonies are also sold as cut flowers on a large scale, although generally only available in late spring and early summer.

All Paeoniaceae are herbaceous perennials or deciduous shrubs, with thick storage roots and thin roots for gathering water and minerals. Some species are caespitose (tufted), because the crown produces adventitious buds, while others have stolons. They have rather large compound leaves without glands and stipules, and with anomocytic stomata. In the woody species the new growth emerges from scaly buds on the previous flush or from the crown of the rootstock. The large bisexual flowers are mostly single at the end of the stem. In P. emodi, P. lactiflora, P. veitchii and many of the cultivars these contributed to, few additional flowers develop in the axils of the leaves. Flowers close at night or when the sky is overcast. Each flower is subtended by a number of bracts, that may form a sort of involucre, has 3-7 tough free sepals and mostly 5-8, but occasionally up to 13 free petals. These categories however are intergrading, making it difficult to assign some of them, and the number of these parts may vary. Within are numerous (50–160) free stamens, with anthers fixed at their base to the filaments, and are sagittate in shape, open with longitudal slits at the outer side and free pollen grains which have three slits or pores and consist of two cells. Within the circle of stamens is a more or less prominent, lobed disc, which is presumed not to excrete nectar. Within the disk is a varying number (1-15) of separate carpels, which have a very short style and a decurrent stigma. Each of these develops into a dry fruit (which is called a follicle), which opens with a lengthwise suture and each of which contains one or a few large fleshy seeds. The annual growth is predetermined: if the growing tip of a shoot is removed, no new buds will develop that season

07/11/2021

Quiver tree (Aloe dichotoma)

Aloidendron dichotomum, formerly Aloe dichotoma, the quiver tree or kokerboom, is a tall, branching species of succulent plant, indigenous to Southern Africa, specifically in the Northern Cape region of South Africa, and parts of Southern Namibia.

Known as choje to the indigenous San people, the quiver tree gets its English common name from the San people practice of hollowing out the tubular branches of Aloidendron dichotomum to form quivers for their arrows. The specific epithet "dichotomum" refers to how the stems repeatedly branch into two ("dichotomous" branching) as the plant grows.[citation needed] This species was moved to the genus Aloidendron as Aloidendron dichotomum in 2013.

Three separate species, A. dichotomum, A. pillansii and A. ramosissimum inhabit the same arid areas of the Richtersveld and the Namib Desert around the South African-Namibian border. The three have been given different ratings on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: 'vulnerable' for A. dichotomum, 'critically endangered' for A. pillansii and 'endangered' for A. ramossisimum.

Sun Rays

31/12/2021

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