Excellent Ixora: The Humble Umbel

Ixora casei--in bloom now all over Southern Florida

As I was driving into the parking lot of one of my doctor's, I came around the long driveway--and was ushered towards the office entrance by this expansive line of Ixora bushes.  Even though I've lived here for the last 8 years, the sight took my breath away.

 

These are like a handful of firecrackers to my eyes.

I love the almost waxy look of the flowers and the leaves.  In a hot humidity that makes most flowers wilt just a few minutes after they are picked--these flower-lets are the same pristine shape for days after I pull them off the stem.  

Years ago, before I knew the name of the Ixora, (I love that name!) I pulled handfuls of the four-petaled florets and slipped them inside a book.  A month later I found the book (having forgotten the flowers I'd pressed between the pages), and opened it.  A shower of salmon-red, "four leaf clovers" rained down into my lap.

The flower is part of the Rubiaceae family.  I was reading another blog and discovered that they are one of the plants known as "umbelifers."  Each individual flower is held together with others on a single stem.

The individual florets before they bloom.

Side view of a full-blown umbel.

I got this from the notes of an on-line Botany 115 class. The next photo refers to the flower stalk--the pedicel. 

Individual floret:  in my clumsy way, I've knocked one of the stamens loose to sit below the ring on my hand.

Sometimes when I try to pull just one of the florets away from the bunch, I can feel the pistil slip out of the pedicel so all that's left is a long, hollow tube.

Closed flowers spike above open ones--almost like a tiara atop the head of a prom queen.

One of my professors once commented that when I take pictures of plants, I do so showing all the parts that I can.  Usually my aim in photographing plants "in the field" is to find an image that will help me to identify it even when there are no flowers or fruits showing.  Most plants bloom only during one season of the year.  When I am waundering about with a horticulture class, the purpose is to be able to ID the plants we see.  Most often, we're looking when blooms have already fallen or haven't yet come out.  Leaves are all there is to see . . . and ornamental (or "landscape") bushes or shrubs are kept so closely trimmed that they don't get a chance to produce blooms.

Leaves!  Look at the leaves!  Take what you can get . . . still got to figure out what plant's in front of me.

For me, this would be a great ID photo to have:  leaves, undeveloped and full-blown umbels. 

I leave you with this last image:  a handful of Ixora casei:  soft, effulgent pink-red florets.

DELICIOUS!