Pink Ruffles

by Bruce Bley

Title

Pink Ruffles

Artist

Bruce Bley

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

This macro shot of a pink fringed popy was taken while visiting a local greenhouse in my area. I like visiting the greenhouses for new and interesting plants to add to my floral gardens.

Poppies are herbaceous annual, biennial or short-lived perennial plants. Some species are monocarpic, dying after flowering. Poppies can be over 4 feet tall with flowers up to six inches across. The flowers have 4 to 6 petals, many stamens forming a conspicuous whorl in the centre of the flower and an ovary consisting of from 2 to many fused carpels. The petals are showy, may be of almost any color and some have markings. The petals are crumpled in the bud and as blooming finishes, the petals often lie flat before falling away. Poppies are in full bloom late spring to early summer. Most species secrete latex when injured. The pollen of the oriental poppy, Papaver orientale, is dark blue. The opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is mainly grown in eastern and southern Asia, and South Eastern Europe. It is believed that it originated in the Mediterranean region. The pollen of the field poppy or corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) is dark green to grey. Bees use poppies as a pollen source.

Poppies have long been used as a symbol of sleep, peace, and death: Sleep because of the opium extracted from them, and death because of the common blood-red color of the red poppy in particular. In Greek and Roman myths, poppies were used as offerings to the dead. Poppies used as emblems on tombstones symbolize eternal sleep. This symbolism was evoked in the children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in which a magical poppy field threatened to make the protagonists sleep forever

I hope you have enjoyed this photograph and will share it with others. You can see more of my work for sale on my homepage in the various galleries I have created.. Thank you for visiting and please come back.

Uploaded

May 19th, 2014

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