Flowers within flowers

A new word (to me, anyhow): pseudanthium. "False flower": an inflorescence that resembles a flower. And an inflorescence is a cluster of flowers. Which may be pseudanthia themselves, clusters of smaller flowers. With the true flowers down at the third level.

Confusing?

The pseudanthium or inflorescence of Queen Anne's Lace, Daucus carota.

Ok, not so confusing. We see these everywhere, on parsley, on cow parsnip, angelica, Pacific ninebark, yarrow ... But then, look at the individual "flowers".

Yarrow, Achillea millefolium. This is a pseudanthium.

Each one is actually a cluster of flowers. Two types of flowers. What looks like petals are the ray flowers; on yarrow, there are from 3 to 8. The ray flowers are "imperfect" flowers, with anthers but no stamens. If you look closely, in the ray flower in the centre of the photo, you can see the tiny anther.

The flowers in the centre, the disk flowers, have both male and female parts. And those ever-so-tiny white petals.

 

Ma Nature; the more you look ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Encontré otra palabra nueva, nueva para mi, por lo menos: seudantio. Se define como "un grupo de flores pequeñas (una inflorescencia) que parecen ser una flor". Y esas flores pequeñas pueden también ser seudantios. Y por fin, en el tercer nivel, encontramos las verdaderas flores.

Foto #1: Una inflorescencia de Daucus carota, la zanahoria silvestre. Es un seudantio.

Vemos este tipo de seudantio en todas partes: en el perejil, en las angélicas, en la pastinaca de vaca, en la milenrama ... Pero hay que examinar las "flores" individuales; que resultan ser también seudantios.

Foto #2: "Flores" de milenrama, Achillea millefolium.

Cada "flor" es en realidad un grupo de flores, una inflorescencia. Hay dos tipos de flores incluidas. Las que parecen ser pétalos son flores imperfectas, llevando unicamente las partes femeninas, las anteras. No tienen estambres. Si miras la foto, se ve una de las anteras a la base de una de estas flores.

Las flores del centro son flores perfectas; tienen tanto anteras como estambres. Y cada flor tiene 5 pétalos diminutos.

A thousand leaves, a thousand uses

Yarrow, still blooming, between rainstorms:

Achillea millefolium; aka Thousand-leaved clover, Angel Flower, Squirrel Tail, etc.

My guide, Plants of Coastal BC, has the usual brief description, then a long section on the BC First Nations medicinal uses of the plant, broken down by tribal groups. Each one used yarrow for a different purpose: "... as a poultice; ... a sore throat gargle;" for childbirth, to purifiy the blood, for headaches and as an eyewash, for diarrhea and as a bath for invalids. "The Squamish used it to cure measles." Elsewhere, it also repelled mosquitoes and prevented baldness, cured toothache, angina, and flatulence, and drew the venom out of spider bites. And so on and so on ...

My opinion, offered tentatively, is that the plant is so common, so attractive, so pleasantly aromatic, that people everywhere decided it must be good for something. And when they tried it and got better from what ailed them, as people generally do, they attributed it to the yarrow. Either that, or the plant is miraculous, which I doubt.

And it's edible, as well. I found a recipe for pasta with a yarrow dressing, which sounds interesting enough to try some day.

And then, it's just beautiful.

Each "flower" is a cluster of about 5 ray flowers, with the tiny, cream, disk flowers in the centre.

Zooming in. Sometimes the ray flowers are pinkish; these are waxy white.

This specimen found on Tyee Spit.