Sunday, April 5, 2009

Today's Flowers; Mussaenda;


The showy, pink mop heads of the tropical Mussaenda are flowering in my garden all summer into winter.







The tiny, yellow star flower are quite attractive too.
click pictures.



Mussaenda


Family: Rubiaceae

This shrub is sometimes referred to as "Bangkok Rose".


It produces a showy display in shades of white, pink, salmon to red over an extended period. Unfortunately, the bushes are not so attractive in winter when they can loose their leaves, at least here in Brisbane. Therefore, they might be best in a mixed garden where other plants can provide interest when the Mussaenda is not in flower.

Bracts or sepals?The showy part of the Mussaenda flower is composed of enlarged sepals, either white or variously coloured. In a "typical" flower, the petals are the showy component while the sepals (which form the calyx) are usually green and relatively inconspicuous in the open flower.


Today's Flowers around the world click here


Photos TS.

14 comments:

Tarolino said...

What an amazing thing to have in your garden. You really get to enjoy it for such a long time. I love the salmon pink colour. The info was very interesting. I actually learned new english words today :)

Anonymous said...

Lovely series of photos - I love the pink flowers which I didn't know grew on mop tops

Unknown said...

Now I know it's name, they bloom so abundantly here in my place. I should never forget this one coz I've been asking around what it's called and I learn it from your blog. How wonderful,thanks for the info.

Judy said...

They do look like mopheads!!

LOURDES C COSTA said...

Beautiful series of pics...
Thanks for sharing!

Arija said...

So beautiful to havethings flowering all year round.

Naturegirl said...

Mop heads..I've not heard of them..although they are pretty in pink!

Elfe said...

Mussaenda, was für ein zauberhafter Name für eine Blume. Brisbane, da muss ich doch gleich mal auf der Karte nachschauen, wo das genau liegt, Geografie ist nicht so meine Stärke. Auch kann ich mir den Herbst und Winter in Australien nicht so richtig vorstellen. Schnee habt Ihr wohl keinen? Ich muss mich mal über Google etwas schlauer machen, da habe ich wirklich eine Wissenslücke.

Einen guten Start in die Kar- und Osterwoche wünsche ich Dir liebe Titania
Herzliche Grüsse
Elfe

Tulip said...

We have that flowers here in the philippines too. In fact its in my garden but i don't know the name now you give me the hint. Lovely flowers. Thanks for posting.

Luiz Santilli Jr said...

Titania,

Your flowers are wonderful!
All takes are beautiful!
Thanks for posting for TODAY'S FLOWERS.

Luiz

Sara Chapman said...

Fascinating and completely new to me. Unusual colors and shapes. Thanks for posting, and thanks for visiting my blog. Much appreciated.

Kilauea Poetry said...

Hi there..you know, we have that here too (probably the Island thing) but ours is just sprouting green leaves. I did some foiler feeding today on the pale green leafed one because it's surrounded by a lavender lantana ground cover. I think I need to pull it away? The others I have are the one you have here and a red one. When I saw the caption I knew. These are my favorite too.
Someone. Do you have passion fruit (lilikoi)? Just curious.
Hey, thanks for stopping by with your sweet comments-

Danielle said...

I must be living on the wrong continent! It's so beautiful there...

Fotos de Dahan Olga said...

Musaendas grow in Brasil, I saw them in Alta Floresta in Mato Grosso.
Yours are beautiful too.
Regards