Pachystachys lutea, known by the common names “Lollipop plant” and “Golden shrimp plant”, is a subtropical, soft-stemmed evergreen shrub 36–48" (90–120 cm) tall from the family Acanthaceae. The short-lived white flowers emerge sequentially from overlapping bright yellow bracts on racemes that are produced throughout the warm months. It is a popular landscape plant in tropical and subtropical areas of the world.
Today I had a wonderful “tour” of a few plants from Richard. This plant was particularly interesting to me because the gold color you see in the image are not flower petals; these are the “bracts” mentioned above. Stealing shamelessly from wikipedia — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bract [again]: “In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often (but not always) different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture. Typically, they also look different from the parts of the flower, such as the petals and/or sepals.” So in the image above, the “bracts” are gold or yellow and the actual “flowers” are white.
So I learned something today having nothing to do with mathematics or economics.
Retired economics professor (“dismal scientist”). Married 40+ years to the love of my life; we have two grown daughters, both married, two granddaughters and a...
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