Nature Pictures & Art

 FLOWER POWER

Pleasure at beautiful flowers goes back to antiquity. More than 4000 years ago ancient Egyptians already cut flowers and arranged them into flower pictures.

Their gods liked them too. The Lotus was sacred to Isis.
To the Chinese of 200 BC some flowers symbolized longevity, others fertility, and some brought luck to you.
​And the medicinal properties of flowers and herbs were well known. 
Flowers were not merely pretty, but of cultural significance.
Greeks and Romans of old wound them into garlands and used foliage as well. Wreaths of oak and laurel hailed the victor.
From them to us flowers are used as messengers. They carry a message from the audience to the diva, from lovers to each other, from the cheering to the victor and as respect to those who lost a life. A world without flowers is unthinkable.
You can find some interesting morsels about the meaning of flowers in different eras at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_flower_arrangement

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BIRD OF PARADISE - Strelitzia reginae
fam: Musaceae

WHITE DOUBLE TULIP ‘Montreux’ - Tulipa hybrida
fam: Liliaceae

YELLOW HIBISCUS ‘Canary Girl’ - Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
fam: Malvaceae

MEXICAN BUSH MALLOW - Physomia umbellata
fam: Malvaceae

CAPE MELLOW - Anisodontea capensis
fam: Malvaceae

KING PROTEA - Protea cynaroides
fam: Proteaceae

LEUCOSPERMUM ‘Yellow Pincushion’
fam: Proteaceae

IVORY CURL TREE - Buckinghamia celessima
fam: Proteaceae

PROTEA ‘Pink Ice’ closeup
fam: Proteaceae

white Bauhinia - Bauhinia candida
fam: Fabaceae

Sturt’s Desert Pea - Swainsona formosa
fam: Fabaceae

BLACK GIDGEE - Acacia pruinocarpa
fam: Fabaceae

ACACIA sp. on the plateau of Kings Canyon - Watarrka National Park
fam: Fabaceae

SPINIFEX FIELD - Triodia plectrachne
fam: Poaceae

SPINIFEX HUMMOCK - Triodia plectrachne
fam: Poaceae

SPINIFEX BUNCH - Triodia plectrachne
fam: Poaceae

SPINIFEX NEEDLES - Triodia plectrachne
fam: Poaceae

SPINIFEX is one of Australia's endemic grasses, a hummock-forming tussock grass of arid regions belonging to the Poaceae family.
The Aborigines ground its seeds to make cakes. They used the sticks for weaving and the resign as an adhesive. When burnt, thick black smoke became a signal to communicate over distances. 
The palaeontologist Richard Fortey hated it.
""It is beyond dispute that the hardest scratchiest place in the world to geologists is the Australian outback. … Every shrub is equipped with spines, and those that are not are equipped with burrs. There is a terrible weed called spinifex which grows in glaucous hemispheres a metre across and is apparently composed of nothing but spines. Its weapons are tipped with silica.
To tumble into a spinifex bush is to experience an accident with a cartload of syringes tipped in vitriol.
One comes to regret the evolutionary chutzpah of the plant kingdom."

From his book 'Life - An Unauthorised Biography'

RHODES GRASS - Chloris gayana
fam: Poaceae

Bamboo Orchid - Sobralia macrantha
fam: Orchidaceae

CYMBIDIUM ORCHID hybrid
fam: Orchidaceae

WHITE MOTH ORCHID CU - Phalaenopsis amabilis
fam: Orchidaceae

YELLOW TULIP cultivar - Tulipa hybrid
fam: Liliaceae

DOUBLE HIBISCUS - Hibiscus mutabilis
fam: Malvaceae

BLUE HIBISCUS - Alyogyne huegelii
fam: Malvaceae

CHINESE LANTERN / FLOWERING MAPLE - Abutilon sp.
fam: Malvaceae

white CHINESE LANTERN - Abutilon hybridum
fam: Malvaceae

COMMON HOLLYHOCK - Alcea rosea
fam: Malvaceae

FLOSS SILK TREE - Ceiba (Chorisia) speciosa
fam: Malvaceae

DOGWOOD (white) - Cornus florida
fam: Cornaceae

PROTEA ‘Pink Ice’ - Protea cultivar
fam: Proteaceae

WARATAH ‘Shady Lady’ - Telopea speciosissima
fam: Proteaceae

PRETTY ‘N’ PINK - Serruria florida
fam: Proteaceae

LONG-LEAF SMOKE BUSH - Cenospermum longifolium
fam: Proteaceae

GHOST GUM - Eucalyptus papuana
fam: Myrtaceae

GHOST GUM 2 - Eucalyptus papuana
fam: Myrtaceae

GHOST GUM - Eucalyptus papuana is named for its ghostly white trunk. It is rather stunted when growing straight out of red rock walls seemingly without soil.  But in deeper ground on the plains it can grow into a tall and elegant looking tree with a thick canopy. Habitat is restricted to central and north Australia. A chalky powder rubs off its stem. The Aborigines used this for body paint.

COASTAL TEA TREE - Leptospermum laevigatum
fam: Myrtaceae

WHITE CYMBIDIUM ORCHID
fam: Orchidaceae

RED MOTH ORCHID - Phalaenopsis hybrid
fam: Orchidaceae

WHITE MOTH ORCHID - Phalaenopsis hybrid
fam: Orchidaceae

ROCK ORCHID - Dendrobium speciosum
fam: Orchidaceae

DONKEY ORCHID - Diuris brumalis
fam: Orchidaceae

TULIPS - Tulipa sp.
fam: Liliaceae

TULIP ‘Freedom’ - Tulipa hybrida
fam: Liliaceae

CASABLANCA LILY - Lilium asiaticum
fam: Liliaceae

RED HIBISCUS
fam: Malvaceae

BOUCLE d’OREILLE - Hibiscus boryanus
fam: Malvaceae

ROSE OF SHARON - Hibiscus syriacus
fam: Malvaceae

SAW BANKSIA - Banksia serrata 2
fam: Proteaceae

SAW BANKSIA - Banksia serrata
fam: Proteaceae

SILKY OAK - Grevillea robusta
fam: Proteaceae

BROAD-LEAF DRUMSTICK - Isopogon anemonifolius
fam: Proteaceae

GRAY SPIDER FLOWER - Grevillea buxifolia
fam: Proteaceae

TREE WARATAH - Alloxyon flammeum
fam: Proteaceae

RIVER RED GUM -Eucalyptus camaldulensis
fam: Myrtaceae

EUCALYPTUS - the Australian Gum Tree
There are almost 700 species to the genus Eucalyptus. It is  widely regarded as THE Australian tree. This is not true in the central deserts where Acacias dominate. And it does not grow within rainforest. Otherwise the tree has adapted to all climatic zones and to Australia's ancient infertile soils. It is also fire-resistant and can survive prolonged drought; others tolerate prolonged flooding, like the River Red Gum. Eucalypts appeared first a little over 40 million years ago (together with the grasses) and began to replace the rainforest, which covered much of Australia at that time.

Gum Caps - The name Eucalyptus has Greek roots  'eu-kalyptos' meaning 'well-covered' because the flower is initially covered by a cap.
fam: Myrtaceae

CYPRESS PINE - Callitris glaucophylla
on plateau of Kings Canyon - Watarrka National Park
fam: Cupressaceae

DESERT OAK - Allocasuarina decaisneana
fam: Casuarinaceae

DESERT OAK 2 - Allocasuarina decaisneana
fam: Casuarinaceae

BUXOM IRENE - Cymbidium orchid hyb.
fam: Orchidaceae

GREAT SUN ORCHID - Thelymitra grandiflora
fam: Orchidaceae

to: FLOWERS 2

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