Sunday, May 1, 2016

By Any Other Name

The first day of May and all those "May Flowers" can officially arrive.  Here's some...


"May" by any other name would still be "May"...or was it the flowers shown above. [Old Wil sure had a way with words some 400 years ago.]  At any rate, the rose family (Rosaceae) consist of about 3000 species.  This species of flowers ranks high among those whose members contribute to the welfare and pleasure of mankind.  Various size, shapes, and colors all thrown about to stimulate our senses of sight, smell, and touch. 

Now my college Botany text states:

"The flower is a part of a method of sexual reproduction that give rise to seeds, from which new plants eventually arise."

"Seed formation is essential to the survival of most kinds of plants, and also for many species of animals that depend upon seeds for food."

Hum...not the usual way to think about May flowers.  But hey, it is the first day of May and seed production begins.  Our survival continues.

From: Botany, Fourth Edition, by Wilson and Loomis.  Published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, NY,  1967. (p. 259)