Andrea B. Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 Did I get this correctly? Every spurge seems to have a different arrangement of flower parts. There are 4 very short appendages surrounding the labeled anther. What are those?(There are 3 anthers.) What are the bracts surrounding the ovaries called? What are the two underlying bracts called? The entire "flower" structure, which contains the two female and one male flower, is called a cyathium. This is E. myrsinites, donkey tail spurge. Link to comment
nfoto Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 All the answers you seek are found here, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyathium Saves me some heavy typing Link to comment
bvf Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Here's Wood Spurge that I took in UV last year. Baader U, flash. Right image of a stereo pair. Link to comment
Andrea B. Posted March 27, 2020 Author Share Posted March 27, 2020 Nice one, Bernard. You should make an entry in the botanical section. We would love to have it. Birna, the labled cyathium in Wikipedia confuses me. I couldn't quite relate my flower parts to those flower parts. I think that the two paired bigger bracts under the 3 structures must be the involucre aka cyathophyll? But I am not sure I have correctly labeled the anthers? If the two-knobbed green thing topped by pollen is indeed an anther on a filament, then what are those small white tipped appendages which surround it? (Note there are 3 two-knobbed green things topped by pollen.) Also I am not sure whether the involucre contains one male and two female "flowers" or whether each of those structures is a single flower containing both male and female parts? Link to comment
nfoto Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 Euphorbia isn't for the uninitiated -- that's for sure Basically you are right in surmising a lot of (specialised) appendages. As Bernhard's photo shows, there can be even more complex, multi-tiered arrangements. Imagine have a pot simmering with female and male parts and reducing it over time to a stock broth to be sprinkled over the topmost leaves of a spurge plant. Nature has its own way of doing the basic thing. Link to comment
bvf Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 If you look at the two stems coming out of the lower "plate" there are some dark filaments just behind the front stem. I don't know if these are part of the plant, or the legs of a tiny insect behind the stem. There were certainly insects on the plant - I caught something that looked like a small aphid in the visible image of this flower. Link to comment
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