The tight bud is in the far background, left. The foreground shows the protective covering split and the flower starting to emerge.
The Magnolia bud is now ready to start opening.
The bud has just opened and the Magnolia flower looks more like a tulip at this point.
This Magnolia flower is past it's truly beautiful, open stage and has started to go into decline. The newly opened flowers were a little too high up in the tree for me to photograph.
The end of the Magnolia flower. All that's left is the very center. I'd have explained all of the parts and pieces to the flower, but I couldn't find a diagram and I didn't want to mislead anyone into thinking I knew what I was talking about!
My knowledge of Magnolia trees and their flowers come from having a tree in my backyard in Michigan, seeing them everywhere here in Florida and observing and photographing them when they are in bloom.
I welcome all comments, even those on parts identification :)
Enjoy!
Kristin
8 comments:
We had a magnolia tree next to our house in Larchmont. I loved to touch the soft fuzzy buds that would become flowers. I loved them so much that one year my brother and I plucked them off the tree so we could keep them forever. My mother was furious when she discovered what we had done. The tree bloomed in al of its glory that year, but only the top half, as all buds from the ground up to about four/five feet were removed by the reach of myself and my brother...a half blooming tree!
I miss that tree.
Thanks for that wonderful photo lesson...I couldn't name any of the parts...and I am not going to try!!!
Great pictures. I think I know who can fill us in on the flower parts. Mrs. Sex in the Garden.....
I'm sure that Keetha can fill us in on that! Love that first picture, great shot. We had a magnolia tree at our last house.
They are so pretty.
The next to last photo shows stamens that have fallen off the reproductive structure (stamens are the male portion of the flower, that produce pollen). The last photo features the female portion of the flower after pollination. The female reproductive part of a flower (the stigma style and ovary) is collectively called a pistil. Magnolias have multiple pistals, even more than stamens. After pollination, the structure you now see in your photo is called an aggregate fruit, which is pretty much a giant blackberry : )
You didn't SHOW the sexy parts - - - they are hidden inside those petals that are ALMOST ready to open.
THIS is what I think of when I hear "magnolia" - - - I googled it and it is a southern magnolia.
Gorgeous, gorgeous, GORGEOUS.
BTW - - - that "end of the flower" as you call it is the fruit. That is what the fertilized ovary develops into and the seeds will be inside.
Great sequence in the life of a magnolia blossom.
I'm a sucker for Magnolias.
wow. The magnolia is really a thing of beauty (at all stages), huh? Very nice.
I have pictures of the next stage with the berries. What happens to the berries?
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