Month: January 2017

I wanted to understand just what the yellow parts of this zinnia were. Pistil? Stamen? Well, it turns out that a zinnia is a rather complex flower and what we see is a cluster of smaller flowers which are called disks and ray florets.. The pink petals are called “ray florets” and the yellow are disk florets, which are either called open disk florets or unopened. The bright yellow little flowers are the open and the dark center you can barely see are the unopened. The long yellow inchworm looking yellow things (I’m so scientific, yes?) are the stigma.

Pink & Yellow Zinnia, 9.13.16