Field of Science

Friday Fabulous Flower - Strange & Exotic




The fabulous thing about today's flower is that you don't see this particular plant very often, unless one is growing in your glasshouse, and it flowers even more uncommonly.  The flowers open in a most curious fashion, and the flowers are such that mostly people don't notice, and there is a reason for this.  So this is a quiz for all the plant ID sharpies out there.  What is this Neotropical (see, a hint!) plant?  You want a bit more help?  OK, it's a vine.  

3 comments:

Kenneth Moore said...

Well, initially, it looked like a funky magnolia to me. Then I noticed that those were anthers, not funky petals--where are the petals?

It looked a bit like lychee flowers. But that's as far as I got!

Lee said...

It seems to be a Marcgravia, though I don't know well enough about that genus to recognize exactly what species it is....

The Phytophactor said...

Oh, Lee, the Phactor is impressed!