While filing my photos from yesterday's blog, I took a closer look at one of my shots of Centaury, homing in on this tiny flower's "naughty bits." What an unusual arrangement! Usually the pistillate (female) part is in the center, with the staminate (male) parts arranged around the pistil. (That is, in "perfect" flowers: those that contain both male and female sexual parts. Some species produce flowers that are either male or female, in separate plants.)
Here, the stamens are shoved off to one side, where they tower over the shorter, chubbier pistils. Since they share the same nuptial bed side-by-side, I wonder if they, like us human mates, ever fight over who hogs the bed?
It looks like they are forever fixed where they are. Still most people who share a bed prefer one side to the other and forever stay there.
ReplyDeleteThis series of plant naughty bits n your blog is inspiring me to look for unusual arrangements now... this one is wonderfully quirky!
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