This is a hibiscus flower I found growing on Lama Island in Hong Kong. I guess it wasn't a wild plant as it was growing by the edge of a footpath, near a village. It's lovely, but. isn't it? |
Datura somniferum...I think. Some kind of cultivated variety of Datura anyway. These were growing near the Golden Temple, on a forested hill just north of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan provence in south-west China. |
These wild crocuses were growing on Mount Araghats, the highest mountain of modern Armenia. Like many high mountain plants, they don't flower for long. I took these pictures at the end of May, but when I returned ten days or so later, there were none left. |
I thought the flowers were so beautiful, I had to take a whole pile of photographs. Everywhere I looked there was a better shot to take. It was difficult to pick the best ones for this page, but I think it's these two. |
Water lilies floating in a wee pond in Da Li, Yunnan, China. I always expect to see frogs sitting on the leaves of water lilies, but I never do. |
These beautiful orchids were growing in baskets tied to the trees in Discovery Bay shopping mall, Lantau I sland, Hong Kong. |
This flower and the following ones were growing in Penang botanic gardens so they may not be native to Malaysia.
This one was growing on a woody vine and had a texture like wax. |
I had to climb partway up a small tree to take this photo. I gues if I had been a week earlier the tree would have been covered with flowers and I wouldn't have had to climb. As it was, these were the only fresh flowers left on the tree. |
I don't know the names of any of these three flowers, but I can offer one botanical fact about this species. The orange and yellow bits that look like petals are not really petals. They are, I think, called calyxes. On most species of flowers calyxes are small and green and found behind the petals. In this species and others like it, the true petals are vestigal. |
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