Flowers Gallery

Bee Orchid, Ophrys apifera

Bee Orchid, Ophrys apifera - close up of flowerhead showing hanging pollinia, Monkton Chalkpit Nature Reserve, Kent
flower shape and colour thought to mimic shape and colour of the solitary bee to attract this pollinator but mostly
self pollinating in UK, perennial, favours dry grassland, usually on chalky soils, Pollenia held above flower with packets of pollen, drop down to pollinate stigma of own flower

Meadow Clary, Salvia pratensis

Meadow Clary (Salvia pratensis) - Queendown Warren, Kent Wildlife Trust, Rare Family Labiatae, downland, distributed in Southern England, perennial, bilabiate, sage, classified as Near Threatened and protected by Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, violet blue, wild flower
Tubular flower, spike stamen and stigma style specialised pollination, insect sqeezes into tube and the anthers drop down on back leaving packet of pollen

Soaptree Yucca, Yucca elata

Soaptree Yucca (Yucca elata) & the Belt of Venus - Tularosa Basin, Chihuahuan Desert, White Sands National Monument, New Mexico, flowers.Agave has succulent, fibrous leaves, fibres used for textiles, also the sap is rich in saponins which make a lather, so traditionally used in soap making
Also visible in this photograph, a phenomenon called The Belt Of Venus seen during a cloudless twilight, just before sunrise or after sunset, part of the atmosphere above the horizon appears slightly pink, appearing as a band of pink the dark eclipsed sky and the blue sky