These are giant Zinnias. I'm not even sure if giant does them justice.

The zinnia’s namesake is Johann Gottfried Zinn, a German botanist and anatomist, famous for describing the anatomy of the human eye. He was also very fascinated with botany, and when Carolus Linnaeus was handing out genus names, he named the Zinnia in honor of Zinn. It must have been nice for Carolus Linnaeus to like you. If he did, there was a good chance that he’d name an entire genus of flowers after you, and 250 years later, people would still know your name.

-Chris

Thanks to Botanica for some facts about the origin of the zinnia. Botanica is probably in my car on its way back to Santa Ana.
As always, thanks to Wikipedia, this time for information about Johann Gottfried Zinn, and a check in with our friend Carolus Linnaeus.

• Tyrannosaurs Rex
• Ice Age
• Bees

If you're older than bees, you're old

When the Tyrannosaurus Rex showed up around 68 million years ago and started terrorizing children at amusement parks, magnolias had already been around for 30 MILLION years! And since there were no bees around to pollinate them, they had to count on beetles for pollination. Beetles are a bit bigger and rowdier than bees, so magnolia flowers are a little more sturdy than others.

Magnolias grow on deciduous and evergreen trees, and come in over 100 varieties. I believe the magnolia that most people are familiar with is magnolia grandiflora, also known as the Southern Magnolia. It’s the official state flower of Louisiana and Mississippi, although Mississippi had to do Louisiana one better by making it the official state tree as well (it looks like my brother and I aren’t the only ones who fight over flowers).

The name magnolia comes from Pierre Magnol, a French botanist. Magnol is a pretty important guy when it comes to plants and flowers. He came up with the idea of plant families, a way of identifying plants that shared certain characteristics. To honor him, Charles Plumier, another French botanist with an impressive resume, coined the genus name Magnolia in 1703.

I think magnolias are my early favorite for most impressive history. Anything that has survived ice ages, dinosaurs, extinction of dinosaurs, not having bees around, and people is OK in my book.

-Chris

Thanks to Botanica and New Western Garden Book for lots of good information about all the different flavors of magnolias.
And thanks to Wikipedia for it’s repository of trivial information, like when the Tyrannosaurs Rex and honey bees came to be. Wikipedia can be found on the internet at www.wikipeida.org ]]> http://www.shinodadesigncenter.net/2011/06/04/magnolia-silk-flower-stem-of-the-day/feed/ 0