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January 28, 2006 : Centaurea cyanus
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Keywords: Asteraceae | Centaurea cyanus L. | John Davidson Seed Collection 214
Guestblogging today is UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research's data technician, Eric La Fountaine. Eric also scanned these seeds. – Daniel.
Although they look somewhat like deep sea creatures, the objects in this scan from the John Davidson Seed Collection at UBC Botanical Garden are the seeds of a popular garden annual, Centaurea cyanus. Its common names include bachelor's button and cornflower. This species easily escapes from gardens and is a widely spread naturalized weed in North America, to the point of being classified as an invasive in some jurisdictions. However, in the United Kingdom where it reaches the northern limits of its native distribution, the species is considered endangered!
For photographs of the flower, see Centaurea via the site of Andrea and Friedrich A. Lohmüller.
Photography resource link (by Daniel): For inspiration, the landscape photography of Leping Zha. Of his several galleries, my favourite is Nature's Melody. Discovered via Metafilter.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at January 28, 2006 2:05 AM
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Posted by: Knox M. Henry at January 28, 2006 4:16 AM
The seeds are wonderful and a beautiful picture Eric. Gerald Straley was always facinated with the beauty of seeds under the microscope and enjoyed sharing them. He frequently stuck his head around my office door to come and have look.
Posted by: judy newton at January 28, 2006 7:24 AM
Is this plant related to chicory?
As an ex-pat from England my first reaction on seeing chicory growing along the road side in upper New York state was to believe it was the cornflower I knew in England.
The flowers,foliage and habit resemble one another quite closely.
Posted by: Bill Ravenscroft at January 28, 2006 10:21 AM
Yes, those are millimetres. The achenes are roughly 3 to 4 mm long x 2 mm wide, the crown of hair-like appendages that aid the dispersal of the seeds add a few mm to the overall dimensions of the seeds.
Chicorium spp. (chicory) and Centaurea cyanus are in the same family, Asteraceae, but are in different subfamilies.
Posted by: Eric La Fountaine at January 28, 2006 12:12 PM
Please share your comments about the photograph(s) and accompanying write-up. Telling a story about the subject of the photograph(s) is also much appreciated! If you have a gardening question, the best place to ask is on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Thank you!
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Botany Photo of the Day is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems within The University of British Columbia.
Do I assume correctly that the rule marks are in millimetres? Congratulations to Eric for a striking photo of Centaurea cyanus.