The magnolias and tulips are now at their very best. These blossoms have arrived a bit later in the year than normal; but breathtakingly beautiful just the same and well worth the wait.
The showy, generally cup-shaped or star-shaped tulip flower has three petals and three sepals which are often termed tepals because they are nearly identical. These six tepals are often marked near the bases with darker colourings. Tulip flowers come in a wide variety of colors, except pure blue.
Magnolia is an ancient genus. Having evolved before bees appeared, the flowers developed to encourage pollination by beetles As a result, the carpels of Magnolia flowers are tough, to avoid damage by eating and crawling beetles. Fossilized specimens of Magnolia acuminata have been found dating to 20 million years ago and of plants identifiably belonging to the Magnoliaceae dating to 95 million years ago. Sometimes OLDER is better.
Magnolia song: http://www.youtube.com/embed/h6FnMKx5crs
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