Carduus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, and the tribe Cardueae, one of two genera considered to be true thistles, the other being Cirsium. Plants of the genus are known commonly as plumeless thistles. They are native to Eurasia and Africa, and several are known elsewhere as introduced species. This genus is noted for its disproportionately high number of noxious weeds compared to other flowering plant genera.
These are usually annual or biennial herbs, sometimes perennial. Species often grow 2 meters in height but are known to reach 4 meters. The erect stems are winged and spiny, and usually have woolly hairs. The leaf blades are hairy to hairless and entire or divided into lobes, and they have spine-toothed edges. The flower heads are solitary or borne in inflorescences of up to 20. The head is spherical to cylindrical and covered in several layers of spreading or curving spine-tipped phyllaries. It contains long, tubular disc florets in shades of white, pink, or purple. The fruit is a cypsela tipped with a pappus of barbed bristles or scales.
Several Carduus are notorious invasive plants outside their native range, for example, in Australia and the United States. Species such as C. acanthoides, C. nutans, C. pycnocephalus, and C. tenuiflorus easily become weedy in disturbed habitat, such as overgrazed pasture. C. nutans is allelopathic, producing compounds that inhibit the growth and development of other plants.
The peony or paeony is a flowering plant in the genusPaeonia, the only genus in the familyPaeoniaceae. 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, although the current consensus is 33 known species. The relationships between the species need to be further clarified.
Most are herbaceous perennial plants 0.25–1 metre tall, but some are woody shrubs 0.25–3.5 metres 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.
Meaning In the language of flowers, the peony carries the symbolic meaning of romance, compassion, good luck, prosperity, a happy marriage, and even bashfulness. In their native China, peonies are often referred to as the “queen of flowers” and are the official state flower of Indiana.
https://www.petalrepublic.com/peonies-flowers/
Peony. Fractal created by Alida, She used Fractal Explorer
The first generation of Kao, wild peony, Ranunculaceae, and medicinal
genus, was founded in 1800 meters in Baiyun Mountain, Song County, Henan. Transplanted by Cui Yueqi, the owner of the house, in May 1958, after 27 years of labor and land, the plant chapter of "Henan Geography Knowledge Expo" was filmed by China Education Television in April 2017. The height of the tree is 1.7 meters, the diameter of the canopy is more than two meters, and the number of flowers will reach 350 in the future. The peony is among the longest-used flowers in Eastern culture. Along with the plum blossom, it is a traditional floral symbol of China, where the Paeonia suffruticosa is called (mǔdān). It is also known as "flower of riches and honour" or "king of the flowers", and is used symbolically in Chinese art.
In 1903, the Qing dynasty declared the peony as the national flower. Currently, the Republic of China government in Taiwan designates the plum blossom as the national flower, while the People's Republic of China government has no legally designated national flower. In 1994, the peony was proposed as the national flower after a nationwide poll, but the National People's Congress failed to ratify the selection. In 2003, another selection process was initiated, but no choice has been made to date.
The ancient Chinese city Luoyang has a reputation as a cultivation centre for the peonies. Throughout Chinese history, peonies in Luoyang have been said to be the finest in the country. Dozens of peony exhibitions and shows are still held there annually.
In the Middle Ages, peonies were often painted with their ripe seed-capsules, since it was the seeds, not the flowers, which were medically significant. Ancient superstition dictated that great care be taken not to be seen by a woodpecker while picking the plant's fruit, or the bird might peck out one's eyes.
The red flowers of the species Paeonia peregrina are important in Serbian folklore. Known as Kosovo peonies (Serbian: косовски божур, kosovski božur), they are said to represent the blood of Serbian warriors who died in the Battle of Kosovo.
Mischievous nymphs were said to hide in the petals of the Peony, giving it the meaning of Shame or Bashfulness in the Language of Flowers. While the peony takes several years to re-establish itself when moved, it blooms annually for decades once it has done so.
Peonies tend to attract ants to the flower buds. This is due to the nectar that forms on the outside of the flower buds, and is not required for the plants' own pollination or other growth. The presence of ants is thought to provide some deterrence to other harmful insects though, so the production of ant-attracting nectar is plausibly a functional adaptation. Ants do not harm the plants.
Peonies are a common subject in tattoos, often used along with koi-fish. The popular use of peonies in Japanese tattoo was inspired by the ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi's illustrations of Suikoden, a classical Chinese novel. His paintings of warrior-heroes covered in pictorial tattoos included lions, tigers, dragons, koi fish, and peonies, among other symbols. The peony became a masculine motif, associated with a devil-may-care attitude and disregard for consequence.
Famous painters of peonies have included Conrad Gessner (ca. 1550) and Auguste Renoir in 1879. Paeonia officinalis can be found in the altar picture of Maria im Rosenhag by Schongauer in the former Dominican Church in Colmar.[34] The Italian Jesuit, painter and architect Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766), who worked at the court of the Qianlong Emperor in the Qing dynasty, painted peonies.
Aeonium arboreum. Fractal created by Alida. Used Fractal Explorer.
It is an invasive weed in places outside its natural distribution, for example as a garden escape throughout temperate southern Australia.
Aeonium arboreum grows as a less branched subshrub and reaches stature heights of up to 2 metres. The more or less upright or ascending, smooth, not net-like patterned stem axes have a diameter of 1 to 3 centimetres.
Their leaves are in flattened rosettes with diameters of 10 to 25 centimetres at the end of the stem axes together. Young leaves are pressed tightly together. The obovate to oblate lanceolate leaf blade is pointed toward its apex and wedge-shaped at the base.
+1⁄2 in) wide and 1.5 to 3 millimetres thick. The green, usually purple-colored, glossy leaf surface is almost bare. The leaf margin is set with curved eyelashes.
The conical to ovate inflorescence has a length of 10 to 25 centimetres and a diameter of 10 to 15 centimetres. The inflorescence stem is 130 to 510 mm long. The flowers sit on a 2-to-12-millimetre-long, slightly fluffy flower stem. Its sepals are also slightly fluff-haired with a pointed top and wedge-shaped base that is smooth and shiny green, red or purple. The yellow, narrow oblong to lanceolate, pointed petals are 5 to 7 millimetres long and 1.5 to 2 millimetres wide. The stamens are bare. It bears rosettes of leaves and large pyramidal panicles of bright yellow flowers in the spring.
Garlik Fractal created by Jenny She used Fractal Explorer
Allium is a genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants. There are many species of Allium. They occur in temperate climates of the Northern Hemisphere. Allium genus produce chemical compounds (mostly derived from cysteine sulfoxides) that give them a characteristic (alliaceous) onion or garlic taste and odor. The plant includes:
Red onion Fractal created by Alida She used Fractal Explorer
onion - known as the bulb onion or common onion.
The onion plant has bluish-green leaves and its bulb at the base of the plant begins to swell (autumn or in spring) the foliage dies down and the outer layers of the bulb become dry and brittle. The crop is harvested and dried and the onions are ready for use or storage.
History: The geographic origin of the onion is uncertain. Food uses of onions date back thousands of years in China, Egypt and Persia.
Culinary uses: Onion can be baked, boiled, braised, grilled, fried, roasted, sautéed, or eaten raw in salads.
Non-culinary uses:Onions have particularly large cells that are readily observed. Onion's cell is easy to separate for educational, experimental, and breeding purposes.
Freshly cut onions often cause a stinging sensation in the eyes of people nearby, and often uncontrollable tears. This is caused by the release of a volatile gas, which stimulates nerves in the eye creating a stinging sensation. This gas is produced by a chain of reactions which serve as a defense mechanism.
Allium cepa Photo taken by Jenny
Garlic is a very interesting, edible plant knon on all the world. People love and hate it at the same time. They love eating garlic because it makes food's flavor richer, but the garlic and the others plants of Allium genus produce chemical compounds which give a characteristic odor (it is not enjoyable at all). the most interesting feature of the garlic is that it brings most of the health benefits. It is a natural antibiotic which fight against bacterias in people's body:). It also has very few calories but it contains everything what we need to have: Manganese, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, Selenium, Fiber and decent amounts of Calcium, Copper, Potassium, Phosphorus, Iron and Vitamin B1. The best way to consume garlic is raw, or to crush and cut it and leave it out for a while before you add it to your recipes.
scallion (also known asspring onionsorgreen onions) are vegetables derived from various species in the genusAllium. Scallions generally have a milder taste than mostonionsand their close relatives includegarlic,shallot,leek,chive,andChinese onions.
Although thebulbsof manyAlliumspecies are used as food, the defining characteristic of scallion species is that they lack a fully developed bulb. Instead theAlliumspecies referred to as scallions make use of the hollow, tubular green leaves growing directly from the bulb. These leaves are used as a vegetable and can be eaten either raw or cooked. Often the leaves are chopped into other dishes and used as garnishes.
shallot The shallot is a type of onion. It probably came from Central or Southwest Asia and was travelling from there to India and the eastern Mediterranean. The name "shallot" comes from Ashkelon, an ancient Canaanite city, where people in classical Greek times believed shallots originated. The skin colour of shallots can vary from golden brown to gray to rose red, and their off-white flesh is usually tinged with green or magenta.
Red onion cut Photo taken by Jenny
leekThe leek was a part of the Egyptian diet from at least the second millennium BCE onwards. They also allude to surviving texts that show it had been also grown in MesopotamiA from the beginning of the second millennium BCE.
chives
History: First Linnaeus described Allium (1753). There were 30 species in his classification. Later (2009) classification showed 800 species.
Ornament: Many Allium species are cultivated as ornamental flowers. The hybrids of Allium "Bea Regard", "Gladiator", "Globemaster" have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Toxicity: Dogs and cats may be poisoned after eating the plant.
Uses: Important economical species: onions, French shallots, leeks, scallions, garlic, chives.
Cornflower. Fractal created by Lynn. Used Fractal Explorer.
Centaurea cyanus, commonly known as cornflower or bachelor's button, is an annual flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Europe. In the past, it often grew as a weed in cornfields (in the broad sense of "corn", referring to grains, such as wheat, barley, rye, or oats), hence its name. It is now endangered in its native habitat by agricultural intensification, particularly by over-use of herbicides. However, Centaurea cyanus is now also naturalised in many other parts of the world, including North America and parts of Australia through introduction as an ornamental plant in gardens and as a seed contaminant in crop seeds.
Centaurea cyanus is an annual plant growing to 40–90 cm tall, with grey-green branched stems. The leaves are lanceolate and 1–4 cm long. The flowers are most commonly an intense blue colour and arranged in flowerheads (capitula) of 1.5–3 cm diameter, with a ring of a few large, spreading ray florets surrounding a central cluster of disc florets. The blue pigment is protocyanin, which in roses is red. Fruits are approx. 3.5 mm long with 2–3 mm long pappus bristles. It flowers all summer.
Centaurea cyanus. Fractal created by Alida. Used Apo.
Centaurea cyanus is native to temperate Europe, but is widely naturalized outside its native range. It has been present in Britain and Ireland as an archaeophyte (ancient introduction) since the Iron Age.[ In the United Kingdom, it has declined from 264 sites to just 3 sites in the last 50 years. In reaction to this, the conservation charity Plantlife named it as one of 101 species it would actively work to bring 'back from the brink'.
In the County Clare (VC H9) in Ireland, Centaurea cyanus is recorded in arable fields as very rare and almost extinct,while in the North-East of Ireland, it was abundant before the 1930s.
Centaurea cyanusis considered a noxious weed in arable crops, especially cereals and rapeseed. In winter wheat, one plant per m2 can cause a yield loss of up to 30 kg / ha.Centaurea cyanus produces around 800 seed per plant, which are either shed shortly before the harvest of cereals, or they are threshed together with the cereal grains, contributing to the further spread of the species by the harvesting machinery and contaminated seed. The occurrence of Centaurea cyanus strongly decreased during the last decades due to improved seed cleaning, more intensive nitrogen fertilization and herbicide use. However, Centaurea cyanus has become more common in cropland due to an increase in crop rotations dominated by winter cereals and rapeseed and the use of more selective herbicides with a low effectiveness against Centaurea cyanus. In addition, the emergence of resistance against the herbicide class of sulfonylureas has been reported recently. Due to its strong roots, Centaurea cyanus is difficult to control mechanically in spring.
Centaurea cyanus is a member of the Asteracea or Compositae family, which is a large and widespread group of plants that includes sunflowers, daisies, and asters. The genus is Centaurea, which includes both annual and perennial varieties.The following description focuses on C. cyanus, which is the annual flower, grown easily from seed and popular as a bedding plant or cut flower for home gardeners and florists.
Centaurea cyanus readily grow from seed and will thrive when sown indoors in pots 4 weeks before a frost-free date, then transplanted, or outdoors directly in the garden.
Centaurea cyanus is often used as a boutonniere in weddings, and because of their popularity, have been bred to produce plants for a wider range of blossom colors, including white, pink, red-purple, deep burgundy (sometimes called black) and the crisp blue which is the only true natural color.
Centaurea cyanus is called ‘Bluet’ in England and ‘Bluebonnet’ in Scotland, in North America they are sometimes called Ragged Robin, or Ragged Sailor because of the shaggy petals. They are one of the few true blue flowers that are also edible, imparting a sweet cucumber like taste. In the garden, they are visually stunning planted with brightly colored Nasturtiums, Marigold and California Poppies. In a vase, they blend well with Snapdragons, Sweet William and Love-in-a-Mist (or Nigella)
The Centaurea cyanus shape and brilliant blue color is similar to chicories, and has many associations throughout the world; it is the national flower of Estonia, representing the Estonian political party, and a symbol for social liberalism with the Swedish National Party. The blue cornflower also plays a role in German history, thanks to Queen Luis of Prussia who purportedly hid her children in a field of cornflowers.
Centaurea cyanus blue was adopted for the uniforms of the Prussian army. In France, the cornflower is a common symbol for veterans of World War to wear, as a reminder of the 1918 Armistice, similar to the remembrance of poppies worn in the UK and Canada.
Bird Of Paradise. Fractal created by Alida. She used Apophysis.
The species S. nicolai is the largest in the genus, reaching 10 m tall, with stately white and blue flowers;[4] the other species typically reach 2 to 3.5 m tall, except S. caudata which is a tree of a typically smaller size than S. nicolai. The leaves are large, 30–200 cm long and 10–80 cm broad, similar to a banana leaf in appearance but with a longer petiole, and arranged strictly in two ranks to form a fan-like crown of evergreen foliage. The flowers are produced in a horizontal inflorescence emerging from a stout spathe.
Sarracenia purpurea, commonly known as the purple pitcher plant, northern pitcher plant, turtle socks or side-saddle flower, is a carnivorous plant in the family Sarraceniaceae
It is an introduced and naturalized species in Europe and northern California. It is found in habitats of the native carnivorous species Darlingtonia californica, in the Klamath Mountains and northern Sierra Nevada. The plant has been recorded in western Europe and Sweden. In Britain and Ireland purple pitcher plant have invaded heather-rich peatbogs in Britain and Ireland and with the mild climate can grow in large numbers at the expense of local flora. Peatbogs are also under threat as the Sphagnum mosses do not grow near the pitcher plant.
Sarracenia purpurea was used as a medicinal plant by Native American and First Nation tribes in its northeastern and Great Lakes distribution ranges, including the Algonquin, Cree, Iroquois, Mi'kmaq (Micmac) peoples, primarily for use in treating smallpox by means of a root infusion. A 2012 study suggests Sarracenia purpurea is effective as a treatment for viruses in the Orthopoxvirus family, including the smallpox virus, through inhibition of early virus transcription.
Rosa canina
Fractal created by Alida
She used Fractal Explorer
commonly known as thedog rose,is a variable climbing, wildrosespecies native toEurope, northwestAfrica, and westernAsia.
It is a deciduousshrub normally ranging in height from 1–5 metres, though sometimes it can scramble higher into the crowns of taller trees. Its stems are covered with small, sharp, hooked prickles, which aid it in climbing. The leaves are pinnate, with 5–7 leaflets. The flowers are usually pale pink, but can vary between a deep pink and white. They are 4–6 centimetres in diameter with five petals, and mature into an oval, 1.5–2-centimetre, red-orange fruit, or hip.
Kitchen
The fruit is used in the making of pies, stews, and wine. The flowers can be made into a syrup, or can be eaten in salads, or candied or preserved in vinegar, honey and brandy.
Culture
The dog rose was the stylised rose of medieval European heraldry.It is thecounty flowerofHampshire,and Ireland'sCounty Leitrimis nicknamed"The Wild Rose County"due to the prevalence of the dog rose in the area. Legend states theThousand-year Roseor Hildesheim Rose, which climbs against a wall ofHildesheim Cathedral, dates back to the establishment of the diocese in 815.
The first recorded significance of the flower dates back hundreds of years ago to The Academy of Floral Games (founded in 1323), which gifted poets a sprig of Dog-rose to reward them for their literary excellence. Due to this ritual, the branches became increasingly popular and can be found frequently mentioned in several famous poems. Most prevalent in the United Kingdom, William Shakespeare wrote about the flower in "A Mid-Summer Night's Dream", which in his time was called eglantine, though it can now also refer to Rosa rubiginosa (Sweet brier)
Oberon, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II, Scene I quoting his words:"With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine."
Symbolically, the meaning of this shrub is quite extensive since the two dominating themes surrounding the flower are pain and pleasure.
An old riddle, 'The Five Brethren of the Rose',
On a summer's day, in sultry weather
Five Brethren were born together
Two had beards and two had none
And the other had but half a one."
The riddle contains an effective way of identifying the differing roses of the canina group, where the brethren' refers to the five sepals of the dog-rose, two of which are whiskered on both sides, two quite smooth and the last one whiskered on one side only.
