Wednesday, September 04, 2019

Flowers

Some leaves (pine needles, holly leaves) are quite stiff and hard, a few (like buds, but that's not a fair comparison) are soft, and most are in between. Flower petals seem like a kind of leaf--are they ever hard? It was pointed out that on some plants they fold up, so those would have to be pretty flexible. My botanical knowledge is limited, and I can't think of a flower with hard petals. Are there any?

2 comments:

jlbussey said...

There are flowers that are very dry and papery. Although they aren't soft, I wouldn't call them hard; more rigid and somewhat brittle. Strawflowers and pearly everlasting are the most common.

james said...

I hadn't thought of strawflowers--I didn't know what they were called. I looked up pearly everlasting, and it said they had yellow flowers with "white papery bracts, often mistaken for petals." Could have fooled me.
So yes, there are some stiff-leaved flowers. Thanks!