#Cryptandra tomentosa! This plant is in the #Rhamnaceae family, with its genus name referring to its anthers being hidden by hood-shaped petals. Unfortunetly, the specimen I had to photograph weren’t very fresh so this is a species I’ll need to come back to in the future.
A little blue flower (5 mm across) with white anthers. In the middle, three dark blue styles have a few pollen grains on their stigmas. They're surrounded by a greenish-blue nectary disk with glistening drops of nectar. The five stamens are each in front of a stalked and hooded blue petal. Five inwardly-curved blue sepals make a cup around the flower. Even the flower stalk is blue.
Ceanothus (family #Rhamnaceae) are North American shrubs cultivated world-wide for the massed floral display. Each tiny flower has a complex shape and is amazingly blue. Stereo pairs for cross-eye viewing. This one is probably a cultivar, maybe a hybrid. Description in ALT. #bloomscrolling 🇳🇿🌱
Tiny intricate stars under the forest of Jarrah trees, #Trymalium ledifolium flowering all over, this species is within the #Rhamnaceae family, found all around the southwest with 3 varieties! Super cute but also tiny flowers are very difficult to capture expecially if a breeze blows through!
Close-up of the green stems with flattened, spine-tipped, fin-like blades. In the axils are clusters of small, white flowers. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.
When leaves are liabilities (too vulnerable to herbivores, too likely to lose water)… some plants lose their leaves entirely. Colletia paradoxa has waxy, green, photosynthetic stems. #Rhamnaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
Pomaderris canescens
Rhamnaceae
Paluma-Ewan Road,
North Queensland,
May 2020
#Pomaderris canescens #Rhamnaceae #wildoz #ozflora #ozplants #Australiannature #botany #nature #biodiversity
Photo of leafless, highly branched, and thorny branches bearing many small, greenish-white flowers.
The divaricating & spiny Pseudoziziphus celata (📷: L.W. Ridge CCBYNC4) is endemic to the #Florida #Scrub. The only other species in the genus is P. parryi of California & western Mexico. A surprising number of Scrub endemics have western affinities. #Rhamnaceae #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪
Photo of a package of dried fruits. The package has a clear portion showing the contents and a label written in Chinese.
Rhamnaceae are used by humans in various ways around the world. Ziziphus jujuba might be the most commercially important member of the family. Its fruits are sweet & edible. Dried fruits are sold as “red dates” in some markets. #EconomicBotany #Rhamnaceae #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪
Photo of a stem with opposite leafy branches bearing small ovate leaves and small white 4- or 5-merous flowers.
Discaria is a small genus (6 spp) with an unusual distribution. Four spp are in s. South America, but 2 spp occur in Australia, Tasmania & New Zealand. #Gondwanaland connections! Perhaps it once occurred in Antarctica. 📷: D. chacaye of Chile & Argentina. #Rhamnaceae #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪
Photo of a leafy branch and several inflorescences with many small, white flowers.
Photo of a small-leafed shrub with many clusters of small, white flowers.
#Ceanothus occurs mostly in western N. Amer., but in the East, we have 2 spp: 1. C. americanus is widespread. 2. C. microphyllus is endemic to the SE USA. Both have nectar-producing flowers that are accessible to many insects. Great for pollinator gardens! #Rhamnaceae #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪
Close-up photo of a leafless stem with opposite decussate, spine-tipped, flattened wing-like structures protruding from the stem. Many small white flowers are emerging from the axils.
Colletia paradoxa is another leafless #Rhamnaceae. This shrub produces opposite decussate, thorn-tipped short-shoots that are flattened & photosynthetic (phylloclades). They are covered with transpiration-reducing wax, giving them a ghostly, glaucous appearance. #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪
Photo of a shrub with many leafless green stems. Clusters of small white flowers are erupting from the nodes.
Retanilla ephedra grows in dry subtropical regions of western S. America. This large shrub has photosynthetic stems (leaves are vestigial & quickly shrivel). The species epithet highlights this plant’s resemblance to Ephedra (#Ephedraceae). #Rhamnaceae #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪
Close-up photo of a leaf axil and a small cluster of green flowers. They are 5-merous and have triangular sepals and a very large nectar disc.
This flower of Colubrina asiatica shows 2 other characteristics of #Rhamnaceae flowers: 1. Sepals larger than petals & with a midline ridge. 2. Prominent nectar disc surrounding the gynoecium. Also note the spoon-shaped petals cradling the stamens. #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪
Close-photo of a cluster of small, greenish yellow flowers. They have 5 sepals and 5 petals. The petals are spoon-shaped and envelope the stamens.
#Rhamnaceae, the subject this week, are cosmopolitan in distribution & highly diverse vegetatively but typically have spoon-shaped petals that cradle the antipetalous stamens. This is Frangula californica ssp. crassifolia, a denizen of the California Floristic Province. #CFP #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪
Day 84 of #JRBPVirtualtour: The #spiny #redberry, (#Rhamnus #crocea), is a species of plant in the family #Rhamnaceae. #Evergreen shrub, native to #California, used as food by #NativeAmericans. Small bright red berries in fall.
