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Thursday 28 April 2016

A-Z 2016 - Wildflowers 'X'

My theme this year is wild flowers. Most of us will be aware of the flowers that grow in our gardens but what surprises me is how few of the wild flowers that I know.

I pass them every day but rarely look at them. Well this year will be different - even if many of them fall under the letter 'X' for unknown.

'X' - Xique-Xique, X = Unknown

Not to be beaten I searched the net for a flower beginning with X. It would certainly be a sore point if you tangled with this Brazilian specimen,


Xique-Xique cactus
Can you make out that pink spot on one of the arms in the centre of the photo?

A close-up that I found elsewhere shows the flower and the cactus spikes you have to content with.


Xique-Xique flower
In the last year I have taken hundreds of photos of wildflowers, a vast number of which I've failed to identify. That's why I classified them 'X' - Unknown.

X1
Its stem is less than 3 inches long and its leaves give no clue to its name - a day later and it had gone.

X2
Here the leaves and the two buds at the right may give some help. If those buds resemble a bird's beak then this may be a Wood Crane's Bill.

Some flowers are just a pleasure to see even if they have finished up in my 'X' files.

X3 & X4
Please feel free to help me out if you are able to name any of these few examples.

Attributions:

  • Xique-Xique Cactus - 6 Oct 2013, Acilondiolivera, CC-BY-SA 3.0
  • Xique-Xique flower - 6 March 2014, Jose Pinlolo da Nobrega Alencar, CC BY-SA 3.0

10 comments:

Billy Blue Eyes said...

You did a lit better than I did on X. I ended up using X-ray bet then we do use the at work

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Bob - love the cactus - and well done for trawling the net to find and "X" flower .. then your filing system for X flowers ... I can't help I'm afraid .. though I'd like to - cheers Hilary

21 Wits said...

Bravo Bob on pulling off this x wildflower post! I especially like cactus of any kind!

Wendy said...

Oh yeah that Xique-Xique is definitely HANDS OFF. I'm not a fan of cacti regardless of the variety, but I must say when I visited Arizona, I was surprised at how beautiful the flowers are.

Clever to mark the "unknown" as "X." That makes it convenient for A-Z challenges.

Bish Denham said...

The picture of the cactus flower looks more a like fruit! Very interesting and spiny.

Nilanjana Bose said...

Well done on X. Don't have the slightest idea about their i.d.s but they are beautiful! Only know that the cactus itself can be an X word - a Xerophyte.

Nilanjana.
Ninja Minion, A-Z 2016
Madly-in-Verse

Jo said...

Glad you found an X. Difficult to do. I used a South American word after all.

Kristin said...

Congrats on finding an actual X flower for X. I'm going to start looking for an X name I can use next year next week.

Finding Eliza

Guilie Castillo said...

I wish I could be of some help, Bob... I'm limited to enjoying these photos :) Gorgeous flowers—and that Xique-Xique looks mean (if gorgeous)!

Thanks for stopping over at Life In Dogs earlier this week... Sorry it's taken me this long to come visit you back. I have a lot of catching up to do in May :)

aw said...

Perplexing images for unknown, Bob. The flowers in the X3 & 4 iamge look like red campion to me but the leaves I think are from a different plant.
Ann