Fall Flowers - A Stroll In Our Yard - October 2008

Hibiscus mutabilis, also known as the Confederate rose or the cotton rosemallow, is a plant noted for its flowers.

Confederate roses tend to be shrubby or treelike in Zones 9 and 10, though it behaves more like a perennial further north. Flowers can be double or single and are 4 to 6 inches in diameter; they open white or pink, and change to deep red by evening. The 'Rubra' variety has red flowers. Single blooming flowers are generally cup-shaped. Bloom season usually lasts from summer through fall. Propagation by cuttings root easiest in early spring, but cuttings can be taken at almost any time. When it does not freeze, the Confederate rose can reach heights of 15 to 18 feet with a woody trunk; however, a much bushier, 5 or 6 feet plant is more typical and provides more flowering. These plants have a very fast growth rate. The Confederate rose was at one time very common in the area of the Confederate States of America, which is how its common name was derived. It grows well in full sun or partial shade, and prefers rich, well-drained soil.William C. Welch: "Hardy Hibiscus", Texas A&M University

Brugmansia is a genus of seven species of flowering plants in the family Solanaceae, native to subtropical regions of South America, along the Andes from Colombia to northern Chile, and also in southeastern Brazil. They are known as 'Angels Trumpets', sharing that name with the closely related genus Datura. Brugmansia are long-lived, woody trees or bushes, with pendulous, not erect, flowers, that have no spines on their fruit. Datura species are herbaceous bushes with pendulous (not erect) flowers, and most have spines on their fruit.

Ageratum ( A-gé-ra-tum),Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606?607 known as Whiteweed, is a genus of 40 to 60 tropical American herbs, annuals and perennials from the Sunflower family Asteraceae, tribe Eupatorieae.

They form tussocks or small hills. They grow to a height of 75 cm. The opposite leaves are cordate or oval, hairy or tomentose. The margins are slightly toothed or serrate. The leaves form compact clusters.

The fluffy flowers are lavender-blue, pink, lilac, or white; and spread in small compound umbels.

They give small, dry fruits.

Most species are native to Central America and Mexico but four are native to the United States.

Category: File - :Cleome chelidonii in AP W IMG_9951.jpg|thumb|190px|Cleome chelidonii at Pocharam lake, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Cleome is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cleomaceae. Previously it had been placed in family Capparaceae, until DNA studies found the Cleomaceae genera to be more closely related to Brassicaceae than Capparaceae. The APG II systemStevens, P. F. (2001 onwards) Angiosperm Phylogeny Website: Brassicales. allows for Cleome and the other members of Cleomaceae to be included in Brassicaceae.

The genus sensu stricto includes about 170 species of herbaceous annual or perennial plants and shrubs.Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening 1: 652-653. Macmillan ISBN 1-56159-001-0. The genus has a subcosmopolitan distribution throughout the tropical and warm temperate regions of the world. However a recent DNA study failed to separate Cleome, Podandrogyne and Polanisia from each other, so some taxonomists have abandoned the last two of these genera, treating them as part of Cleome sensu lato; in this case Cleome contains about 275 species, the vast majority of the Cleomaceae.

As a genus it contains species which show a developmental progression from C3 photosynthesis to C4 photosynthesis. This combined with its being a Brassicaceae (and therefore closely related to the model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana) make it an ideal genus in which to study how C4 photosynthesis occurs and how it evolved. Morphological differences that demonstrate the transition from C3 to C4 include C3 species having more veins and larger bundle sheath cells. There are also proteins present in species such as Cleome gynandra which are needed for C4 photosynthesis.Marshall, D.M., Muhaidat, R., Brown, N.J., Liu, Z., Stanley, S., Griffiths, H.G., Sage, R.F., Hibberd, J.M. (2007) Cleome, a genus closely related to Arabidopsis, contains species spanning a developmental progression from C3 to C4 photosynthesis. Plant Journal, 51: 886-896