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WELCOME TO FLORESSENCE
Our inspired selection of exotic and unusual floral arrangements can be created especially for you to suit any occasion. We care about the flowers you give and we guarantee value every time.
Our qualified florists will provide expert advice, prompt service and will gladly organise delivery within Sydney, Australia wide & internationally.
Floressence is a successful florist shop in North Sydney, NSW.Open since Jan 2002, Floressence is located on the corner of Mount and Walker Steets in North Sydney.
Floressence caters for corporate and private clientele and for all occasions such as corporate reception arrangements and events, weddings, the birth of a new baby & romance. The professional design team at Floressence customises its works to suit individual customer needs for best value.
Floressence Services
We concentrate on the design and supply of flowers for pick-up and delivery from our North Sydney store. These include weekly deliveries to corporate offices and small to medium enterprises in the surrounding areas; as well as weddings, special events and functions.
Customer References: Pacific Publications, Weight Watchers, YSL Beaute & Chanel.
Customer Service:TEL: 02 9460 2010FAX: 02 9460 2012E-MAIL: flowers@floressence.com.au
Our Mission
Our design philosophy is oriented toward the unusual, the delightful, and most beautiful, ensuring that we create a unique product with the utmost of care and thought behind everything we do.
Our team is well trained to provide a concerned, caring and professional attitude at all times reflecting a desire to provide an excellent product delivered with the recipient in mind. Our reputation is solid and we are regarded in the North Sydney business community as a florist with a difference. Every customer is important to us and it shows in the accolades, thank-you calls and appreciation for the service we are providing.
We look forward to serving you and helping make your world a more beautiful place!
•Online Services www.floressence.com.au
•Local Florist Shop, Cnr Mount & Walker Street, North Sydney
•Australia wide delivery service
•International wide delivery service
Corporate Services with Floressence
Arrangement will be supplied with Free Vase.
Quick Delivery Service & High quality flowers.
Easy Invoicing, one monthly statement.
We fully guarantee our floral arrangements, if dissatisfied we will redo your arrangement at no charge.
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DELIVERY
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Location:
Cnr Mount and Walker St Shop 3.6, 99 Mount St North Sydney NSW2060
PHONE ORDERS +61 2 9460 2010
FAX ORDERS +61 2 9460 2012
EMAIL flowers@floressence.com.au
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Poems about Flowers:
The modest Rose puts forth a thorn,
The humble sheep a threat'ning horn:
While the Lily white shall in love delight,
Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright.
- William Blake
I am a kind word uttered and repeated
By the voice of Nature;
I am a star fallen from the
Blue tent upon the green carpet.
I am the daughter of the elements
With whom Winter conceived;
To whom Spring gave birth; I was
Reared in the lap of Summer and I
Slept in the bed of Autumn.
At dawn I unite with the breeze
To announce the coming of light;
At eventide I join the birds
In bidding the light farewell.
The plains are decorated with
My beautiful colors, and the air
Is scented with my fragrance.
As I embrace Slumber the eyes of
Night watch over me, and as I
Awaken I stare at the sun, which is
The only eye of the day.
I drink dew for wine, and hearken to
The voices of the birds, and dance
To the rhythmic swaying of the grass.
I am the lover's gift; I am the wedding wreath;
I am the memory of a moment of happiness;
I am the last gift of the living to the dead;
I am a part of joy and a part of sorrow.
But I look up high to see only the light,
And never look down to see my shadow.
This is wisdom which man must learn.
- Khalil Gibran
The Flower School
"When storm-clouds rumble in the sky and
June showers come down,
The moist east wind comes marching over the heath
to blow its bagpipes amongst the bamboos.
The crowds of flowers come out of a sudden,
from nobody knows where,
and dance upon the grass in wild glee.
Mother, I really think the flowers go to school underground.
They do their lessons with doors shut,
and if they want to come out to play before it is time,
their master makes them stand in a corner.
When the rains come they have their holidays.
Branches clash together in the forest,
and the leaves rustle in the wild wind,
the thunder-clouds clap their giant hands and
the flower children rush out in dresses of
pink, yellow and white.
Do you know, mother, their home is in the sky,
where the stars are.
Haven't you seen how eager they are to get there?
Don't you know why they are in such a hurry?
Of course, I can guess to whom they raise their arms,
they have their mother as I have my own."
from 'The Crescent Moon' by Tagore)
The First Jasmines
Ah, these jasmines, these white jasmines!
I seem to remember the first day when I filled my hands
with these jasmines, these white jasmines.
I have loved the sunlight, the sky and the green earth;
I have heard the liquid murmur of the river
through the darkness of midnight;
Autumn sunsets have come to me at the bend of the road
in the lonely waste, like a bride raising her veil
to accept her lover.
Yet my memory is still sweet with the first white jasmines
that I held in my hands when I was a child.
Many a glad day has come in my life,
and I have laughed with merrymakers on festival nights.
On grey mornings of rain
I have crooned many an idle song.
I have worn round my neck the evening wreath of
BAKULAS woven by the hand of love.
Yet my heart is sweet with the memory of the first fresh jasmines
that filled my hands when I was a child.
(This poem is from 'The Crescent Moon' by Tagore)
Flower In The Crannied Wall
Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower -but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.
-Alfred Tennyson
Do not go to the garden of flowers
Do not go to the garden of flowers!
Do not go to the garden of flowers!
O Friend ! go not there;
In your body is the garden of flowers.
Take your seat on the thousand petals of the lotus,
and there gaze on the Infinite Beauty.
- Kabir
"To see ... Heaven in a Wild Flower....": Botany in the 21st century
The poet Gary Snyder (1974) spoke eloquently and simply to the heart of our need to know about plants in his poem "For the Children":
The rising hills, the slopes,
of statistics
lie before us.
the steep climb
of everything, going up,
up, as we all
go down.
In the next century
or the one beyond that,
they say,
are valleys, pastures,
we can meet there in peace
if we make it.
To climb these coming crests
one word to you, to
you and your children:
stay together
learn the flowers
go light
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Magnoliophyta, also called angiosperms). The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds. The process begins with pollination, is followed by fertilization, leading to the formation and dispersal of the seeds. For the higher plants, seeds are the next generation, and serve as the primary means by which individuals of a species are dispersed across the landscape. The grouping of flowers on a plant is called the inflorescence.
In addition to serving as the reproductive organs of flowering plants, flowers have long been admired and used by humans, mainly to beautify their environment but also as a source of food.
Further information: Pollination syndrome
Flowering plants usually face selective pressure to optimise the transfer of their pollen, and this is typically reflected in the morphology of the flowers and the behaviour of the plants. Pollen may be transferred between plants via a number of 'vectors'. Some plants make use of abiotic vectors - namely wind (anemophily) or, much less commonly, water (hydrophily). Others use biotic vectors including insects (entomophily), birds (ornithophily), bats (chiropterophily) or other animals. Some plants make use of multiple vectors, but many are highly specialised.
Cleistogamous flowers are self pollinated, after which they may or may not open. Many Viola and some Salvia species are known to have these types of flowers.
The flowers of plants that make use of biotic pollen vectors commonly have glands called nectaries that act as an incentive for animals to visit the flower. Some flowers have patterns, called nectar guides, that show pollinators where to look for nectar. Flowers also attract pollinators by scent and color. Still other flowers use mimicry to attract pollinators. Some species of orchids, for example, produce flowers resembling female bees in color, shape, and scent. Flowers are also specialized in shape and have an arrangement of the stamens that ensures that pollen grains are transferred to the bodies of the pollinator when it lands in search of its attractant (such as nectar, pollen, or a mate). In pursuing this attractant from many flowers of the same species, the pollinator transfers pollen to the stigmas—arranged with equally pointed precision—of all of the flowers it visits.
Callistemon citrinus flowers.
Anemophilous flowers use the wind to move pollen from one flower to the next. Examples include grasses, birch trees, ragweed and maples. They have no need to attract pollinators and therefore tend not to be "showy" flowers. Male and female reproductive organs are generally found in separate flowers, the male flowers having a number of long filaments terminating in exposed stamens, and the female flowers having long, feather-like stigmas. Whereas the pollen of animal-pollinated flowers tends to be large-grained, sticky, and rich in protein (another "reward" for pollinators), anemophilous flower pollen is usually small-grained, very light, and of little nutritional value to animals.
Morphology
Flowering plants are heterosporangiate, producing two types of reproductive spores. The pollen (male spores) and ovules (female spores) are produced in different organs, but the typical flower is a bisporangiate strobilus in that it contains both organs.
A flower is regarded as a modified stem with shortened internodes and bearing, at its nodes, structures that may be highly modified leaves.[1] In essence, a flower structure forms on a modified shoot or axis with an apical meristem that does not grow continuously (growth is determinate). Flowers may be attached to the plant in a few ways. If the flower has no stem but forms in the axil of a leaf, it is called sessile. When one flower is produced, the stem holding the flower is called a peduncle. If the peduncle ends with groups of flowers, each stem that holds a flower is called a pedicel. The flowering stem forms a terminal end which is called the torus or receptacle. The parts of a flower are arranged in whorls on the torus. The four main parts or whorls (starting from the base of the flower or lowest node and working upwards) are as follows:
Diagram showing the main parts of a mature flower
An example of a "perfect flower", this Crateva religiosa flower has both stamens (outer ring) and a pistil (center).
Calyx: the outer whorl of sepals; typically these are green, but are petal-like in some species.
Corolla: the whorl of petals, which are usually thin, soft and colored to attract animals that help the process of pollination. The coloration may extend into the ultraviolet, which is visible to the compound eyes of insects, but not to the eyes of birds.
Androecium (from Greek andros oikia: man's house): one or two whorls of stamens, each a filament topped by an anther where pollen is produced. Pollen contains the male gametes.
Gynoecium (from Greek gynaikos oikia: woman's house): one or more pistils. The female reproductive organ is the carpel: this contains an ovary with ovules (which contain female gametes). A pistil may consist of a number of carpels merged together, in which case there is only one pistil to each flower, or of a single individual carpel (the flower is then called apocarpous). The sticky tip of the pistil, the stigma, is the receptor of pollen. The supportive stalk, the style becomes the pathway for pollen tubes to grow from pollen grains adhering to the stigma, to the ovules, carrying the reproductive material.
Although the floral structure described above is considered the "typical" structural plan, plant species show a wide variety of modifications from this plan. These modifications have significance in the evolution of flowering plants and are used extensively by botanists to establish relationships among plant species. For example, the two subclasses of flowering plants may be distinguished by the number of floral organs in each whorl: dicotyledons typically having 4 or 5 organs (or a multiple of 4 or 5) in each whorl and monocotyledons having three or some multiple of three. The number of carpels in a compound pistil may be only two, or otherwise not related to the above generalization for monocots and dicots.
In the majority of species individual flowers have both pistils and stamens as described above. These flowers are described by botanists as being perfect, bisexual, or hermaphrodite. However, in some species of plants the flowers are imperfect or unisexual: having only either male (stamens) or female (pistil) parts. In the latter case, if an individual plant is either female or male the species is regarded as dioecious. However, where unisexual male and female flowers appear on the same plant, the species is considered monoecious.
Additional discussions on floral modifications from the basic plan are presented in the articles on each of the basic parts of the flower. In those species that have more than one flower on an axis—so-called composite flowers—the collection of flowers is termed an inflorescence; this term can also refer to the specific arrangements of flowers on a stem. In this regard, care must be exercised in considering what a ‘‘flower’’ is. In botanical terminology, a single daisy or sunflower for example, is not a flower but a flower head—an inflorescence composed of numerous tiny flowers (sometimes called florets). Each of these flowers may be anatomically as described above. Many flowers have a symmetry, if the perianth is bisected through the central axis from any point, symmetrical halves are produced—the flower is called regular or actinomorphic, e.g. rose or trillium. When flowers are bisected and produce only one line that produces symmetrical halves the flower is said to be irregular or zygomorphic. e.g. snapdragon or most orchids.
The four main parts of a flower are generally defined by their positions on the receptacle and not by their function. Many flowers lack some parts or parts may be modified into other functions and/or look like what is typically another part. In some families, like Ranunculaceae, the petals are greatly reduced and in many species the sepals are colorful and petal-like. Other flowers have modified stamens that are petal-like, the double flowers of Peonies and Roses are mostly petaloid stamens.[2] Flowers show great variation and plant scientists describe this variation in a systematic way to identify and distinguish species.
Specific terminology is used to descried flowers and their parts. Many flower parts are fused together; fused parts originating from the same whorl are connate, while fused parts originating from different whorls are adnate, parts that are not fused are free. When petals are fused into a tube or ring that falls away as a single unit, they are sympetalous (also called gamopetelous.} Petals that are connate may have distinctive regions: the cylindrical base is the tube, the expanding region is the throat and the flaring outer region is the limb. A sympetalous flower, with bilateral symmetry with an upper and lower lip, is bilabiate. Flowers with connate petals or sepals may have various shaped corolla or calyx including: campanulate, funnelform, tubular, urceolate, salverform or rotate.
Development
Flowering transition
The transition to flowering is one of the major phase changes that a plant makes during its life cycle. The transition must take place at a time that is favorable for fertilization and the formation of seeds, hence ensuring maximal reproductive success. To meet these needs a plant is able to interpret important endogenous and environmental cues such as changes in levels of plant hormones and seasonable temperature and photoperiod changes.[3] Many perennial and most biennial plants require vernalization to flower. The molecular interpretation of these signals is through the transmission of a complex signal known as florigen, which involves a variety of genes, including CONSTANS, FLOWERING LOCUS C and FLOWERING LOCUS T. Florigen is produced in the leaves in reproductively favorable conditions and acts in buds and growing tips to induce a number of different physiological and morphological changes.[4] The first step is the transformation of the vegetative stem primordia into floral primordia. This occurs as biochemical changes take place to change cellular differentiation of leaf, bud and stem tissues into tissue that will grow into the reproductive organs. Growth of the central part of the stem tip stops or flattens out and the sides develop protuberances in a whorled or spiral fashion around the outside of the stem end. These protuberances develop into the sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels. Once this process begins, in most plants, it cannot be reversed and the stems develop flowers, even if the initial start of the flower formation event was dependent of some environmental cue.[5] Once the process begins, even if that cue is removed the stem will continue to develop a flower.
Organ Development
The ABC model of flower development.
The molecular control of floral organ identity determination is fairly well understood. In a simple model, three gene activities interact in a combinatorial manner to determine the developmental identities of the organ primordia within the floral meristem. These gene functions are called A, B and C-gene functions. In the first floral whorl only A-genes are expressed, leading to the formation of sepals. In the second whorl both A- and B-genes are expressed, leading to the formation of petals. In the third whorl, B and C genes interact to form stamens and in the center of the flower C-genes alone give rise to carpels. The model is based upon studies of homeotic mutants in Arabidopsis thaliana and snapdragon, Antirrhinum majus. For example, when there is a loss of B-gene function, mutant flowers are produced with sepals in the first whorl as usual, but also in the second whorl instead of the normal petal formation. In the third whorl the lack of B function but presence of C-function mimics the fourth whorl, leading to the formation of carpels also in the third whorl. See also The ABC Model of Flower Development.
Most genes central in this model belong to the MADS-box genes and are transcription factors that regulate the expression of the genes specific for each floral organ.
Pollination
Grains of pollen sticking to this bee will be transferred to the next flower it visits
Main article: pollination
The primary purpose of a flower is reproduction. Since the flowers are the reproductive organs of plant, they mediate the joining of the sperm, contained within pollen, to the ovules - contained in the ovary. Pollination is the movement of pollen from the anthers to the stigma. The joining of the sperm to the ovules is called fertilization. Normally pollen is moved from one plant to another, but many plants are able to self pollinate. The fertilized ovules produce seeds that are the next generation. Sexual reproduction produces genetically unique offspring, allowing for adaptation. Flowers have specific designs which encourages the transfer of pollen from one plant to another of the same species. Many plants are dependent upon external factors for pollination, including: wind and animals, and especially insects. Even large animals such as birds, bats, and pygmy possums can be employed. The period of time during which this process can take place (the flower is fully expanded and functional) is called anthesis.
Attraction methods
A Bee orchid has evolved over many generations to better mimic a female bee to attract male bees as pollinators.
Plants can not move from one location to another, thus many flowers have evolved to attract animals to transfer pollen between individuals in dispersed populations. Flowers that are insect-pollinated are called entomophilous; literally "insect-loving" in Latin. They can be highly modified along with the pollinating insects by co-evolution. Flowers commonly have glands called nectaries on various parts that attract animals looking for nutritious nectar. Birds and bees have color vision, enabling them to seek out "colorful" flowers. Some flowers have patterns, called nectar guides, that show pollinators where to look for nectar; they may be visible only under ultraviolet light, which is visible to bees and some other insects. Flowers also attract pollinators by scent and some of those scents are pleasant to our sense of smell. Not all flower scents are appealing to humans, a number of flowers are pollinated by insects that are attracted to rotten flesh and have flowers that smell like dead animals, often called Carrion flowers including Rafflesia, the titan arum, and the North American pawpaw (Asimina triloba). Flowers pollinated by night visitors, including bats and moths, are likely to concentrate on scent to attract pollinators and most such flowers are white.
Still other flowers use mimicry to attract pollinators. Some species of orchids, for example, produce flowers resembling female bees in color, shape, and scent. Male bees move from one such flower to another in search of a mate.
Pollination mechanism
The pollination mechanism employed by a plant depends on what method of pollination is utilized.
Most flowers can be divided between two broad groups of pollination methods:
Entomophilous: flowers attract and use insects, bats, birds or other animals to transfer pollen from one flower to the next. Often they are specialized in shape and have an arrangement of the stamens that ensures that pollen grains are transferred to the bodies of the pollinator when it lands in search of its attractant (such as nectar, pollen, or a mate). In pursuing this attractant from many flowers of the same species, the pollinator transfers pollen to the stigmas—arranged with equally pointed precision—of all of the flowers it visits. Many flowers rely on simple proximity between flower parts to ensure pollination. Others, such as the Sarracenia or lady-slipper orchids, have elaborate designs to ensure pollination while preventing self-pollination.
Anthers detached from a Meadow Foxtail flower.
A grass flower head (Meadow Foxtail) showing the plain coloured flowers with large anthers.
Anemophilous: flowers use the wind to move pollen from one flower to the next, examples include the grasses, Birch trees, Ragweed and Maples. They have no need to attract pollinators and therefore tend not to be "showy" flowers. Whereas the pollen of entomophilous flowers tends to be large-grained, sticky, and rich in protein (another "reward" for pollinators), anemophilous flower pollen is usually small-grained, very light, and of little nutritional value to insects, though it may still be gathered in times of dearth. Honeybees and bumblebees actively gather anemophilous corn (maize) pollen, though it is of little value to them.
Some flowers are self pollinated and use flowers that never open or are self pollinated before the flowers open, these flowers are called cleistogamous. Many Viola species and some Salvia have these types of flowers.
Flower-pollinator relationships
Many flowers have close relationships with one or a few specific pollinating organisms. Many flowers, for example, attract only one specific species of insect, and therefore rely on that insect for successful reproduction. This close relationship is often given as an example of coevolution, as the flower and pollinator are thought to have developed together over a long period of time to match each other's needs.
This close relationship compounds the negative effects of extinction. The extinction of either member in such a relationship would mean almost certain extinction of the other member as well. Some endangered plant species are so because of shrinking pollinator populations.
Fertilization and dispersal
Main article: biological dispersal
Some flowers with both stamens and a pistil are capable of self-fertilization, which does increase the chance of producing seeds but limits genetic variation. The extreme case of self-fertilization occurs in flowers that always self-fertilize, such as many dandelions. Conversely, many species of plants have ways of preventing self-fertilization. Unisexual male and female flowers on the same plant may not appear or mature at the same time, or pollen from the same plant may be incapable of fertilizing its ovules. The latter flower types, which have chemical barriers to their own pollen, are referred to as self-sterile or self-incompatible (see also: Plant sexuality).
Evolution
Further information: Evolutionary history of plants#Evolution of flowers
Archaefructus liaoningensis, one of the earliest known flowering plants
While land plants have existed for about 425 million years, the first ones reproduced by a simple adaptation of their aquatic counterparts: spores. In the sea, plants—and some animals—can simply scatter out genetic clones of themselves to float away and grow elsewhere. This is how early plants reproduced. But plants soon evolved methods of protecting these copies to deal with drying out and other abuse which is even more likely on land than in the sea. The protection became the seed, though it had not yet evolved the flower. Early seed-bearing plants include the ginkgo and conifers. The earliest fossil of a flowering plant, Archaefructus liaoningensis, is dated about 125 million years old.[6] Several groups of extinct gymnosperms, particularly seed ferns, have been proposed as the ancestors of flowering plants but there is no continuous fossil evidence showing exactly how flowers evolved. The apparently sudden appearance of relatively modern flowers in the fossil record posed such a problem for the theory of evolution that it was called an "abominable mystery" by Charles Darwin. Recently discovered angiosperm fossils such as Archaefructus, along with further discoveries of fossil gymnosperms, suggest how angiosperm characteristics may have been acquired in a series of steps.
Recent DNA analysis (molecular systematics)[7][8] show that Amborella trichopoda, found on the Pacific island of New Caledonia, is the sister group to the rest of the flowering plants, and morphological studies[9] suggest that it has features which may have been characteristic of the earliest flowering plants.
Amborella buds
The general assumption is that the function of flowers, from the start, was to involve other animals in the reproduction process. Pollen can be scattered without bright colors and obvious shapes, which would therefore be a liability, using the plant's resources, unless they provide some other benefit. One proposed reason for the sudden, fully developed appearance of flowers is that they evolved in an isolated setting like an island, or chain of islands, where the plants bearing them were able to develop a highly specialized relationship with some specific animal (a wasp, for example), the way many island species develop today. This symbiotic relationship, with a hypothetical wasp bearing pollen from one plant to another much the way fig wasps do today, could have eventually resulted in both the plant(s) and their partners developing a high degree of specialization. Island genetics is believed to be a common source of speciation, especially when it comes to radical adaptations which seem to have required inferior transitional forms. Note that the wasp example is not incidental; bees, apparently evolved specifically for symbiotic plant relationships, are descended from wasps.
Likewise, most fruit used in plant reproduction comes from the enlargement of parts of the flower. This fruit is frequently a tool which depends upon animals wishing to eat it, and thus scattering the seeds it contains.
While many such symbiotic relationships remain too fragile to survive competition with mainland animals and spread, flowers proved to be an unusually effective means of production, spreading (whatever their actual origin) to become the dominant form of land plant life.
Lomatium parryi, a plant that used to be consumed by early Native Americans
While there is only hard proof of such flowers existing about 130 million years ago, there is some circumstantial evidence that they did exist up to 250 million years ago. A chemical used by plants to defend their flowers, oleanane, has been detected in fossil plants that old, including gigantopterids[10], which evolved at that time and bear many of the traits of modern, flowering plants, though they are not known to be flowering plants themselves, because only their stems and prickles have been found preserved in detail; one of the earliest examples of petrification.
The similarity in leaf and stem structure can be very important, because flowers are genetically just an adaptation of normal leaf and stem components on plants, a combination of genes normally responsible for forming new shoots.[11] The most primitive flowers are thought to have had a variable number of flower parts, often separate from (but in contact with) each other. The flowers would have tended to grow in a spiral pattern, to be bisexual (in plants, this means both male and female parts on the same flower), and to be dominated by the ovary (female part). As flowers grew more advanced, some variations developed parts fused together, with a much more specific number and design, and with either specific sexes per flower or plant, or at least "ovary inferior".
Flower evolution continues to the present day; modern flowers have been so profoundly influenced by humans that many of them cannot be pollinated in nature. Many modern, domesticated flowers used to be simple weeds, which only sprouted when the ground was disturbed. Some of them tended to grow with human crops, and the prettiest did not get plucked because of their beauty, developing a dependence upon and special adaptation to human affection.[12]
Symbolism
Lilies are often used to denote life or resurrection
Flowers are common subjects of still life paintings, such as this one by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder
Chinese Jade ornament with flower design, Jin Dynasty (1115-1234 AD), Shanghai Museum.
Many flowers have important symbolic meanings in Western culture. The practice of assigning meanings to flowers is known as floriography. Some of the more common examples include:
Red roses are given as a symbol of love, beauty, and passion.
Poppies are a symbol of consolation in time of death. In the UK, New Zealand, Australia and Canada, red poppies are worn to commemorate soldiers who have died in times of war.
Irises/Lily are used in burials as a symbol referring to "resurrection/life". It is also associated with stars (sun) and its petals blooming/shining.
Daisies are a symbol of innocence.
Flowers within art are also representative of the female genitalia, as seen in the works of artists such as Georgia O'Keeffe, Imogen Cunningham, Veronica Ruiz de Velasco, and Judy Chicago, and in fact in Asian and western classical art. Many cultures around the world have a marked tendency to associate flowers with femininity.
The great variety of delicate and beautiful flowers has inspired the works of numerous poets, especially from the 18th-19th century Romantic era. Famous examples include William Wordsworth's I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud and William Blake's Ah! Sun-Flower.
Because of their varied and colorful appearance, flowers have long been a favorite subject of visual artists as well. Some of the most celebrated paintings from well-known painters are of flowers, such as Van Gogh's sunflowers series or Monet's water lilies. Flowers are also dried, freeze dried and pressed in order to create permanent, three-dimensional pieces of flower art.
The Roman goddess of flowers, gardens, and the season of Spring is Flora. The Greek goddess of spring, flowers and nature is Chloris.
In Hindu mythology, flowers have a significant status. Vishnu, one of the three major gods in the Hindu system, is often depicted standing straight on a lotus flower.[13] Apart from the association with Vishnu, the Hindu tradition also considers the lotus to have spiritual significance.[14] For example, it figures in the Hindu stories of creation.[15]
Usage
female hand spreading flowers over a Lingam temple in Varanasi
In modern times, people have sought ways to cultivate, buy, wear, or otherwise be around flowers and blooming plants, partly because of their agreeable appearance and smell. Around the world, people use flowers for a wide range of events and functions that, cumulatively, encompass one's lifetime:
For new births or Christenings
As a corsage or boutonniere to be worn at social functions or for holidays
As tokens of love or esteem
For wedding flowers for the bridal party, and decorations for the hall
As brightening decorations within the home
As a gift of remembrance for bon voyage parties, welcome home parties, and "thinking of you" gifts
For funeral flowers and expressions of sympathy for the grieving
For worshiping goddesses. in Hindu culture it is very common to bring flowers as a gift to temples.
People therefore grow flowers around their homes, dedicate entire parts of their living space to flower gardens, pick wildflowers, or buy flowers from florists who depend on an entire network of commercial growers and shippers to support their trade.
Flowers provide less food than other major plants parts (seeds, fruits, roots, stems and leaves) but they provide several important foods and spices. Flower vegetables include broccoli, cauliflower and artichoke. The most expensive spice, saffron, consists of dried stigmas of a crocus. Other flower spices are cloves and capers. Hops flowers are used to flavor beer. Marigold flowers are fed to chickens to give their egg yolks a golden yellow color, which consumers find more desirable. Dandelion flowers are often made into wine. Bee Pollen, pollen collected from bees, is considered a health food by some people. Honey consists of bee-processed flower nectar and is often named for the type of flower, e.g. orange blossom honey, clover honey and tupelo honey.
Hundreds of fresh flowers are edible but few are widely marketed as food. They are often used to add color and flavor to salads. Squash flowers are dipped in breadcrumbs and fried. Edible flowers include nasturtium, chrysanthemum, carnation, cattail, honeysuckle, chicory, cornflower, Canna, and sunflower. Some edible flowers are sometimes candied such as daisy and rose (you may also come across a candied pansy).
Flowers can also be made into herbal teas. Dried flowers such as chrysanthemum, rose, jasmine, camomile are infused into tea both for their fragrance and medical properties. Sometimes, they are also mixed with tea leaves for the added fragrance.
Crocus angustifolius
Australian Flora
Australia has been isolated for thousands of years and thus plants have been able to develop independently to suit the often harsh natural conditions. Due to the wide range of different environments and plant communities, the native flora of Australia is the most diverse and varied in the world, growing in tropical, rainforest, stony inland deserts, alpine meadows and sandy heathlands. It has been estimated there are about 20,000 to 25,000 different plants native to Australia.
Bottlebrush
BOTTLE BRUSH Callistemon
The largest family of flowering plants with over 1000 varieties, the Myrtaceae (myrtles). Possibly the best known and widely grown of Australian shrubs. Hardy with tough leaves, often with paper bark, Flowers produced in dense spikes at the end of the branches. The stamens are the most conspicuous part of the flower and are in colours of green, yellow, white and various shades of red and violet. Varying in size from 5 feet shrubs to small trees.
Flannel Flower
FLANNEL FLOWER Actinotus helianthi
The Flannel Flower, belonging to the carrot family, commonly found on the coastal sandstone country of New South Wales and Queensland. Flowers in spring and summer.
Kangaroo Paw
RED AND GREEN KANGAROO PAW
Anigozanthos manglesii
The Red and Green Kangaroo Paw, the plant grows to 2 feet, the flowers on stems up to 4 feet.
The floral emblem of Western Australia.
Sturts Desert Pea
STURTS DESERT PEA Clianthus formosus
The Sturts Desert Pea is a trailing plant, a creeping annual, with bright red flowers, up to 10cm long, carried in clusters on short erect stems. Stalks and leaves are clad in silky grey hairs.
The floral emblem of South Australia.
for more info
Waratah
WARATAH Telopea speciosissima
Found mainly on the coastal plains and tablelands of the State of New South Wales. There are four kinds of waratah, one of which grows into a tree.
These shrubs and trees have tough, dark green leaves, often toothed edged. The waratah is really hundreds of individual flowers crowded together into a dense head. The bright crimson petals are really modified leaves called bracts. They flower from September to November in rocky and sandy soils from the Blue Mountains of New South Wales to the north in Queensland.
The floral emblem of New South Wales.
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Wattle
WATTLE
(Golden Wattle Acacia pycnantha)
Australia's official national floral emblem, featured on the coat-of-arms. Possibly the best known amongst the Australian plants. With 600 or more kinds of wattles, they can be found in every part of the country, from well-watered areas to the arid Centre to the cold mountain regions. They are usually the first to appear after bush-fires. They can be found growing in the most remote areas, from low, spreading shrubs to large, upright growing trees. The individual flowers are always very small and massed together in pom-pom heads or rod-like spikes.
1st September is Australia's Wattle Day. Whilst most wattles are spring-flowering, there are some that bloom all year round.
for more info
Wax Flower
WAX FLOWER Eriostemon
Shown here is the Long-leaf Wax Flower (Eristemon myoporoides). There are about forty species of waxflowers, having five petals and five sepals. The petals spread in a star-like pattern and they are usually a shade of pink to almost white.
They grow along the east coast of Australia.
About Sydney, Austraia:
Sydney is Australia's most populous city, and is also the most populous city in Oceania. In the 2006 census 4,119,190 persons declared themselves as residents of the Sydney Statistical Division - about one-fifth (19.38%) of Australia's total population. If contiguous urban areas are considered, Sydney's population was 3,641,421 persons. Sydney is also the most densely populated city in Australia, and has the greatest proportion (60.3%) of its population overseas born compared with all other major urban areas in Australia.
The median age of Sydney residents was 35 years, and households comprised an average of 2.7 members.
History
European settlement in Sydney began in 1788, and in 1800 Sydney had around 3,000 inhabitants. It took time for its population to grow - in 1851 its population was only 39,000, compared with 77,000 in Melbourne, however subsequent gold rushes in Victoria and, to a lesser extent, Bathurst, made the population of both cities dramatically rise.
Sydney overtook Melbourne as Australia's most populous city in the early twentieth century, and reached the million inhabitants milestone around 1925. The opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge helped pave the way (literally) for urban development north of Sydney Harbour. Post-war immigration and a baby boom helped the population reach two million by 1962.
[edit] Historical population
* 1800: 3 000 inhabitants
* 1820: 12 000
* 1851: 39 000
* 1871: 200 000
* 1901: 500 000
* 1925: 1 million
* 2003: 4.3 million
* 2050: 5.1 million (projected)
[edit] Ethnic groups
Each dot indicates 100 persons born in Britain (dark blue), Greece (light blue), China (red), India (brown), Vietnam (yellow), Philippines (pink), Italy (light green) and Lebanon (dark green). Based on 2006 Census
Significant overseas born populations[1]
Country of Birth Population (2006)
United Kingdom 175,166
People's Republic of China 109,142
New Zealand 81,064
Vietnam 62,144
Lebanon 54,502
India 52,975
Philippines 52,087
Italy 44,563
Hong Kong 36,866
South Korea 32,124
Greece 32,021
Ireland 29,013
South Africa 28,427
Fiji 26,928
Croatia 25,874
Japan 22,000
Malaysia 21,211
Indonesia 20,562
Iraq 20,216
Germany 19,364
Sri Lanka 17,917
Hungary 17,000
United States 16,900
Egypt 16,238
Bosnia-Herzegovina 15,000
Zimbabwe 15,000
Samoa 13,991
At the 2006 census 39.4% of Sydney residents declared themselves to have been born overseas. The most common countries of birth outside Australia declared were the United Kingdom (4.3%), China (3.5%), New Zealand (2.0%), Vietnam (1.5%), India, The Philippines, Lebanon (about 1.3% each) and Italy (1.1%). Indigenous Australians were about 2% of all Sydney residents.
At the 2006 census respondants could nominate up to two ancestries they identified themselves. Common responses included Australian (23.6% of all responses), English (19.7%), Irish (6.3%), Chinese (5.7%), Scottish (4.7%), Italian (3.4%), Lebanese (2.5%) and Greek (2.1%)[2]
The most common languages spoken at home are English (64.0%), Chinese (5.3%), Arabic (3.9%), Greek (1.9%), Vietnamese (1.8%), Italian (1.7%) and Spanish (1.1%).
Some suburbs are associated with particular ethnic groups:
* Indigenous Australians with Redfern
* Assyrians with City of Fairfield
* Bangladeshi with Hillsdale, Ingleburn, Minto and Rockdale
* Brazilians with Bondi, Manly and Petersham [3]
* Chinese with Haymarket, Cabramatta, Ashfield, Hurstville, Campsie, Chatswood, Eastwood, Epping, Carlingford, Parramatta, Burwood
* Filipino with Blacktown
* Greeks with Earlwood
* Indians with Westmead, Parramatta, Glenwood, Kellyville, Harris Park and Blacktown.
* Israelis with Bondi, Rose Bay and St Ives
* Italians with Leichhardt
* Koreans with Strathfield, Campsie, Chatswood, and Eastwood
* Lebanese with Lakemba, Campsie, Merrylands and Bankstown. Sydney has around 75% of Australia's Lebanese population.
* Macedonians with Rockdale, Kogarah
* Maltese with Greystanes
* Portuguese with Petersham
* Serbians with Liverpool
* Vietnamese with Cabramatta and Bankstown
The adjacent show concentrations of persons born in different regions of the world residing in particular parts of Sydney.
[edit] Religion
At the 2006 Census, the most common responses for religion were Catholic (29.1%), Anglican (17.9%), Eastern Orthodox (4.3%), Islam (3.9%), Buddhist (3.7%) and Uniting Church (3.4%). 14.1% declared no religious affliation. In total 64% of respondents declared themselves to be Christian. [4]
An observer of English society today would likely notice the cultivation of gardens, an activity for which the Medieval tradition is also evident. With gardening, it is not always easy to distinguish between pleasure and utility. Any space in which people were deliberately cultivating plants we can call a garden, and we might go on to categorize the kitchen garden, where some vegetables and herbs might be grown for their edible produce as well as for building and fuel or as habitat for animals which could be hunted; the physic garden, wherein would be planted various medicinal herbs; or the aesthetic garden, developed largely for ornament and pleasure. Yet we must not be overly rigid about categories, because to the gardener a plot of ground might blissfully intermingle recreational, aesthetic, and practical purposes. One of the things most appreciated about the flowers in a garden was their sweet fragrance. Because Medieval gardens were frequently enclosed, the fragrances of flowers and herbs were confined and concentrated.
A description of an enclosed garden comes from the pen of Reginald, a monk of Durham, who wrote the Life and Miracles of St. Godric. Godric, who died in 1170, was a hermit at Finchale a few miles from Durham. In the Life, a square garden is described surrounded on all sides by a hedge. At the centre of the garden (where in other gardens one might expect to find a fountain, pool, or special tree or plant) there was a desk upon which rested a book from which a man was reading. The garden is described as being laid out on a quadrangular plan, suggesting that it was divided into four quarters, each of which was an area of planting, and that the quarters were marked off with some sort of dividing boundaries. Such qualities as aroma, especially if concentrated in an enclosure, together with visual beauty and practical use, gave value to garden plants.
USEFUL GARDEN PLANTS
Among the useful garden flowers might be mentioned those of the artemisia family. Southernwood's (Artemisia abrotanum) hair-like leaves were used to relieve fevers and wounds and, when dried, the plant was valued for its aroma. The ability to purge a person of worms and poisons was attributed to wormwood (Artemisia absinthum), which was also respected as a cure for constipation and stomach discomfort, to say nothing of its value as flea repellent (shared by pennyroyal, one of the mints, but not a garden flower). Wormwood has a bitter taste, unlike mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), which was used to add flavour to drinks. The tansy flower was thought to be an insect repellent, but the entire plant is aromatic and bitter to the taste, and all parts of the plant were variously used in cookery. Another useful flower was the marigold, named St. Mary's Gold to honour the Virgin Mary. Marigolds were used both as a medicine, against stings and pestilence, and in cooking, as a bitter spice. The blue iris, still a greatly appreciated flower, had many uses. The iris root made a decent ink and, when dried, had a sweet aroma, reminiscent of violets. Iris leaves could be used in making mats, patching thatched roofs, or like rushes in covering floors. Furthermore, the iris was not only fragrant and pleasing to the eye, but yielded a dark blue juice that was used for spot removing, as a salve for teeth and gums, and as an ingredient in a dye for cloth. Beautiful, useful, and sweet-smelling, it is no wonder that the iris was a favourite flower.
Another useful and favourite flower was the periwinkle. Periwinkle garlands and wreaths could easily be woven because of the long, supple stems, and the plant grew low, making it a useful and attractive ground cover. Medieval English people were not attracted to lawns that aspired to the appearance of the modern golf course. They liked flowery meads of scythe-mown grass, fragrant herbs, and flowers like violets, daisies, primroses, and periwinkles, which acted as a summons to walk, dance, and lie among the visual beauty and enveloping aromas. Violets were popular, but were appreciated for more than just their fragrance. They were associated symbolically with humility, freshness, purity, and innocence, and thus came to be associated with the Blessed Virgin. Products of the kitchen were sometimes garnished and coloured with violets, while the petals had a medicinal use as an emetic and purgative, and the oil could scent a bath or soothe the skin. Like periwinkles, daisies were made into garlands and crowns, and were welcomed in gardens. The bright freshness of the daisy is suggested by its name, which comes from the Old English daezeseye or eye of day. Among the varieties, the large ox-eye was the favourite. The primrose was also popular, and was appreciated in a part, as it still is, because of its early appearance in the spring. The primrose was also very useful. It could be made into wine. The leaves were used on wounds to ease pain and on the skin to avoid blemishes, and they were eaten to ease muscle aches. The petals were also eaten for pain relief, cooked into tansy cakes and pottages, and floated in comforting baths.
The gillyflower, ancestor of the carnation, was another flower respected for its usefulness and attractiveness. It was used in cooking as a spice because of its aroma and clove-like taste, and was used to cover the bitter taste of some medical potions as well as a flavouring in wine and ale. The gillyflower apparently came to England with the Normans, and by the fourteenth century was to be found in the colour of flesh pink, crimson, and white, while by the next century there was also a clove pink variety, the one with the most assertive aroma and colour. The peony, thought of today as simply an ornamental flower, had additional uses in centuries past. The seeds were used in flavouring meat, or were eaten raw to warm the tastebuds and stabilize the temperament; they were also drunk in hot wine and ale before retiring at night to avoid disturbing dreams. The pink, red, and white flowers of the Paeonia mascula can be seen today essentially as they were centuries ago on the island of Steep Holme off the north Somerset coast at the site of an Augustinian priory which existed only for a few decades in the thirteenth century. The conditions on the island were clearly better for the peonies than for the Augustinians. Less spectacular by far than the flower of the peony was that of sweet woodruff, which can conclude our sampling of useful flowers. It was frequently used for garlands, with its fresh, sweet fragrance and white summery colour, and also to add subtlety to drinks, while the leaves, so scented that they were known as "sweetgrass," were strewn when dry on floors and packed with clothes as a freshener.
FLOWERS FOR PLEASURE
Flowers were not required to be useful to be appreciated. Luke (12:27) said: "Think how the flowers grow; they never have to spin or weave..." Some flowers were enjoyed for the pleasure alone which they provided. In a flowery mead, it will be recalled, we would encounter mown grass in which were periwinkles, daisies, primroses, violets, gillyflowers, or whatever else gave colour and fragrance.
Ornamental gardening was flourishing in England by the late eleventh century, and may well have been of earlier origin. The general story of a pleasure garden began, apparently, with high ecclesiastics who arrived from Normandy in the reign of William the Conqueror. The story of English royal gardens and parks begins with the Conqueror's son, Henry I (reigned 1100-35). Henry I had a pleasure garden laid out to complement the castle his father had built to control the Thames Valley at Windsor, and there were other pleasure gardens established as well, although no details about these royal pleasances have survived. Later kings continued the practice. Henry III (reigned 1216-1272) devoted considerable resources to the building of pleasure gardens at the Palace of Clarendon, his manors of Guildford (Surrey) and Kempton (Middlesex), Winchester Castle, Gloucester Castle, Nottingham Castle, and others. Henry III's patronage of things beautiful extended far beyond his rebuilding of Westminster Abbey. When kings like Henry III led the way in the creation and development of pleasure gardens, the powerful and wealthy figures of the secular and ecclesiastical aristocracy followed. There exists, for instance, an account from this era of the garden at Holbern belonging to the Earl of Lincoln.
ROSES AND LILIES
An old tradition states that the Romans named the most north-western target of their imperialism Albion because of the white roses found growing in Britannia, but it is not in fact certain whether the Rosa alba was present when the Romans arrived or if they imported it. In any case, throughout the Medieval period the white rose was available as an English garden favourite. Eleanor of Provence, who became the wife of Henry III in 1236, used a white rose as her emblem, and her son Edward I (reigned 1272-1307) took as an emblem a rose with almost gold-coloured petals and a green stem. Edmund, Earl of Lancaster (died 1296), a younger son of Eleanor and Henry, adopted a red rose, the Rosa gallica, following his marriage to Blanche of Artois (died 1302), granddaughter of Louis VIII of France, whose emblem it was; and thus the red rose became the emblem of the house of Lancaster. Red roses, like white, were to be found in England throughout the Medieval period, and were no new introduction at the time of the marriage of of Blanche of Artois and Edmund "Crouchback" in 1275. Richard, Duke of York (died 1460), used the white rose as a favourite badge, and it was taken up by his favorite son Edward IV (reigned 1461-83). The red rose was evidently not used as a badge by the Lancastrian king, Henry VI (reigned 1422-61), who was supplanted by his kinsman Edward IV. The catchy title "Wars of the Roses," for the intermittent civil and dynastic conflict of the 1450's to the 1480's between the red rose of Lancaster and the white rose of York, was not invented until the eighteenth century, but the idea went back at least to the "Crowland Chronicle," which was completed in the 1480's, and the two roses as symbols of the rival dynasties was given a wider audience in the Temple Garden scene in Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part I, Act II, scene iv. The first Tudor king, Henry VII (reigned 1485-1509), employed the propaganda symbol of a combined red and white rose to represent himself as unifier of the warring factions of Lancaster and York. The Tudor rose remains a very familiar symbolic flower.
The third rose generally cultivated in late medieval England, along with the red and white, was the damask rose. It will probably never be known if the pink rose of Damascus was brought to England by merchants, monks, pilgrims, or crusaders. Along with cultivated roses mention must be made of the native wild rose, the Rosa rubiginosa, known also as the sweet briar or eglantine, which has a lovely smell, is a good climber for walls and fences, and was used in the making of mead and various medicines. Actually, Medieval cultivated roses would look fairly wild to the modern eye, accustomed as it is to the products of scientific breeders. The flowers of Medieval cultivated roses were smaller, more open, and more fragile than today's roses, and they were more delicate of fragrance. The Medieval rose plants were more like rambling bushes than modern roses, and the thorns were longer and more plentiful, an even more noticeable presence. It was when the rose petals were dried and powdered that they had the most powerful fragrance, and it was usually the petals of the red rose that were used in the making of rose water, rose oil, rose preserves, petal garnishes, and rose sugar. It was the custom to employ roses as symbols of the Holy Spirit, and to scatter them in churches for this reason. The practice was associated with festivals when roses would have been in bloom, such as that of John the Baptist (24 June), St. Peter (29 June), and the moveable feasts of Whitsun and Corpus Christi (which fell in May or June).
The lily ranked with the rose as a special flower, and to the Medieval mind roses and lilies were the devotional flowers without rival. The lily was associated with the Virgin Mary. The Venerable Bede (died 735), the glory of Northumbrian monastic culture, knew the Madonna lily as an emblem of the Virgin Mary, the white petals representing her bodily purity and the golden anthers the light of her soul. The lily was an ancient fertility symbol, and it suited the Mother of God. An association of the Virgin Mary with The Song of Songs also suggested itself to many Medieval minds: "I am the Rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys." The Biblical Rose of Sharon may have been the crocus or the narcissus, and the lily of the valleys could have been the Palestine anemone, but that is of no importance for Medieval symbolism. The lily represented purity, innocent beauty, and chastity, a neat parallel for the virgin birth of Christ. It is worth recalling as well, that the central image of The Song of Songs is that of a garden. This means that the example of sensual literature most widely known to Medieval people was centered upon a garden.
