https://polypompholyx.github.io/tag/euphorbia/Recent content in Euphorbia on PolypompholyxHugoen-GBExcept where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-SA-3.0 licence, Steve CookFri, 07 Jul 2017 15:16:31 +0000https://polypompholyx.github.io/2017/07/stems-all-the-way-down/Fri, 07 Jul 2017 15:14:03 +0000https://polypompholyx.github.io/2017/07/stems-all-the-way-down/<p>In the days when potted plants were more than just disposable land-filler, my Nan would try to force her wizened poinsettia to flower by sticking it into a bin-liner <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylene#Ethylene_as_a_plant_hormone">with some apples</a> every night from October until December. Sum total of flowers she ever saw: zero. Ho hum. But how many poinsettia flowers can <em>you</em> see in the picture below?</p> <figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width:300px"><a href="https://polypompholyx.github.io/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/euphorbia_pulcherrima.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="https://polypompholyx.github.io/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/euphorbia_pulcherrima-300x197.jpg" alt="Euphorbia pulcherrima [PD, USDA Scott Bauer]" /></a><figcaption>Poinsettia (<em>Euphorbia pulcherrima</em>)</figcaption></figure> <p>If you&rsquo;re wondering whether you can include the ones that are partly off-screen, you are asking the wrong question. There are many hundreds of flowers here, not six or ten. The red leafy-looking things you might have been cruelly mislead into thinking were petals are actually brightly coloured leaves. The flowers themselves are found in the tiny yellow-green blobs in the middle&hellip;</p>