Is the flower simply or oddly shaped?
Doesn't matter (select both).
Flowers are simply shaped.
Flowers are oddly shaped.
Here we define simply shaped to mean the flower has a rotational symmetry.
This describes flowers with an over-all shape which is round, wheel, tubular,
urn, cup, or bell like.
Here we define oddly shaped to mean the flower has a mirror symmetry
or no obvious symmetry at all.
Some flowers may look superficially
simple but a closer examination would reveal that they actually have
a mirror symmetry rather than a rotational symmetry.
These borderline cases will appear in the results for both types of search.
For the purpose of this search consider the head of a member of the sunflower
family a single flower (more about this .)
Show me some examples of this
Is the plant woody or herbaceous?
Doesn't matter (select both).
The plants are herbaceous.
The plants are woody.
The woody plants are trees, shrubs, and some vines. Woody plants are always perennial.
A herbaceous plant does not produce woody, persistent tissue and generally
dies back at the end of each growing season. Annual plants are
always herbaceous. However, herbaceous plants can be either perennial or annual.
The first year's growth of a woody plant is often herbaceous.
What season does it typically bloom?
Doesn't matter (select all).
Winter.
Early Spring.
Late Spring.
Summer.
Fall.
In Southern California we tend to think of a year as broken into five general overlapping blooming seasons. They are:
Winter:
Early Spring:
Late Spring:
Summer:
Fall:
January to February
February to May
May to July
July to November
November to January
These “Seasons” should be thought of as vague guidelines rather than precise definitions of blooming times. There are many reasons for this vagueness. The dates of a blooming season can shift greatly from year to year depending on weather patterns. Plant habitat plays a big role in determining the time blooming as well. For example, a plant growing on an exposed south face generally begins blooming and finishes much earlier than the same plant growing on a shaded north face. Indeed, plants growing in a riparian area with a dependable water source may bloom year round. If conditions are correct some plants may experience a second blooming season later in the year. Many plants bloom for a relatively brief period of time and consequently one should not expect any given species to be blooming throughout the duration of the season in which it is listed. Finally, we often do not have reliable data about the typical flowering season here in the Santa Monica Mountains. In many cases we have consulted multiple conflicting sources and in the end made an informed best guess of a “typical” blooming season.
The philosophy we have employed here it to be restrictive rather than be expansive in defining the typical blooming season. For example, a plant that generally blooms from May to July we have listed as blooming in Late Spring and have not listed it as blooming in Summer, even though July is also a summer month. Therefore, one needs to keep in mind that any “Late Spring” flower might well be found blooming in early Summer, especially during a cool wet year.