Red Gerber Delight
by Bruce Bley
Title
Red Gerber Delight
Artist
Bruce Bley
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
I have a fascination with detail when I photograph objects in this case I love flowers and capturing some of the most intricate detail of flowers. Often times we are not aware of the little things that make up an object or in this case a flower.
This is a little history of the Gerber Daisy. Gerbera is a genus of ornamental plants from the sunflower family (Asteraceae). It was named in honour of the German botanist and naturalist Traugott Gerber (1743) who travelled extensively in Russia and was a friend of Carolus Linnaeus.
It has approximately 30 species in the wild, extending to South America, Africa and tropical Asia. The first scientific description of a Gerbera was made by J.D. Hooker in Curtis's Botanical Magazine in 1889 when he described Gerbera jamesonii, a South African species also known as Transvaal daisy or Barberton Daisy. Gerbera is also commonly known as the African Daisy.
Gerbera species bear a large capitulum with striking, two-lipped ray florets in yellow, orange, white, pink or red colours. The capitulum, which has the appearance of a single flower, is actually composed of hundreds of individual flowers. The morphology of the flowers varies depending on their position in the capitulum. The flower heads can be as small as 7 cm (Gerbera mini 'Harley') in diameter or up to 12 cm (Gerbera Golden Serena).
Gerbera is very popular and widely used as a decorative garden plant or as cut flowers. The domesticated cultivars are mostly a result of a cross between Gerbera jamesonii and another South African species Gerbera viridifolia. The cross is known as Gerbera hybrida. Thousands of cultivars exist. They vary greatly in shape and size. Colours include white, yellow, orange, red, and pink. The center of the flower is sometimes black. Often the same flower can have petals of several different colours.
Gerbera is also important commercially. It is the fifth most used cut flower in the world (after rose, carnation, chrysanthemum, and tulip). It is also used as a model organism in studying flower formation. Gerbera contains naturally occurring coumarin derivatives. Gerbera is a tender perennial plant. It is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds, but resistant to deer. Their soil should be kept moist but not soaked.
I hope you have enjoyed this photograph and will share it with others. You can see more of my work on my homepage in the various galleries, I have created. Thank you for visiting and please come back
Uploaded
November 13th, 2014
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Viewed 205 Times - Last Visitor from White Plains, NY on 03/28/2024 at 5:16 PM
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Comments (9)
Marsha Heiken
Bruce,This is a Beauty! The details are so distinct!!! The red is a fabulous red. FV Friend Marsha
Bruce Bley
Julie, Thank you so much for the feature in the group "Flower Box". I really appreciate the honor.
Bruce Bley
Chuck, I want to thank you for the feature in the group "3 a day AAA images". I sincerely appreciate the honor and your support of my work.
Bruce Bley
Shirley, I want to thank you for the feature in the group "Gerbera Daisies". I truly appreciate the honor.
Claudia Mottram
Wow, Bruce! So beautiful, I love gerberas, they are so elegant! l/f :)
Bruce Bley replied:
Thank you for the kind and gracious compliment, Claudia. I am glad you enjoyed this work. Thank you for the L.