| Photo Information |
Copyright: Umar Ulyn (goatman04)
![Silver Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 43 W: 0 N: 79]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/s-n-g.gif) (311) |
| Genre: Plants |
| Medium: Color |
| Date Taken: 2008-04 |
| Categories: Flowers |
| Exposure: f/2.8, 1/800 seconds |
| More Photo Info: [view] |
| Photo Version: Original Version |
| Date Submitted: 2008-07-07 17:09 |
| Viewed: 326 |
| Points: 0 |
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Antirrhinum Majus (Greater Snapdragon)
This short-lived perennial plant consists basically of erect stems of about 40-80cm in length (sometimes even up to 100cm) with simple stipuled leaf branches, and conspicuous purple inflorescence at the apex. The plant (or collective plants) tend to form many stems near each other and may look like a small shrub topped with several flowering stalks. The stem is usually woody at its base and possess short glandular hair only at the upper flowering part.
The hairless leaves, which are about 40-60mm long and 5-10mm wide, have a fusiform (spindle) shape. They have an entire outline and usually have a pale central vein. The leaves are found either on the stem as stipules (hence each supports a branch outgrowth) or on simple leaf branches, present at the middle and lower part of the main stem. They are arranged either as 3-leaf whorls or as decussate pairs. The leaf branches have an interesting characteristic of being twisted, bent or as the species name describes - tortuous.
The sweet scented flowers grows from the stem apex as short-stalked racemes. The 5mm long pedicel (stalklet) is found parallel and close to the stem and so it may be unobservable. The flower is made of 5 short, oval, hairy, overlapping sepals. a bilaterally symmetrical purple corolla, 4 stamens and a simple pistil. The corolla is a tube-like structure made up from 2 complex-structured, purple-red, lip-like petals resting on each other. The upper lip has 2 lobes, and the lower and smaller one has 3 lobes. The lower lip has its palate (bulging central portion) dipped with a small white-bordered yellow patch. The lips are fused in such a way that they can open up, namely by pollinating insects such as bees, so that they can enter the flower to reach the nectar inside and so doing, pollinate the flower.
The tube inside the flower is purple and white striped with yellow hairy brushes at the lower lip. Also there are 4 stamens, arranged in 2 pairs, one being shorter than the other by few millimeters. They are composed of bulging, yellow anthers and purple-white filaments. There is also the style+stigma, about the same length of the longer stamens which leads to the ovary deep inside the flower at the sepals region. The style and stamens are grouped close together at the roof of the upper lip.
When the flower is old, the corolla and stamens fall off, leaving the ovary and style. The latter dries off within few days. The ovary develops into a fruit which is a poricidal, dehiscent capsule which stores hundreds of tiny seeds. When mature, the fruit dries up and the seeds escape from pore-like openings in the fruit wall by movement of the long stems with the wind. The irregularly shaped cylindrical / oval seeds are just about 1mm and are dark reddish-brown in color. They have several ridges in their seed coat. |
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