Xerochrysum bracteatum

Xerochrysum bracteatum (Vent.) Tzvelev, Novosti Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 27 151 1990. (Syn: Argyrocome bracteata (Vent.); Bracteantha bracteata (Vent.) Anderb. & Haegi; Bracteantha bracteatum ; Helichrysum bracteatum (Vent.) Andrews; Helichrysum chrysanthum Pers.; Helichrysum lucidum Henckel; Xeranthemum bracteatum Vent.);

Images
by Surajit Koley, Gurcharan Singh, Nidhan Singh, N Muthu Karthick, Aarti S Khale, Prashant Awale (Id by Gurcharan Singh), D S Rawat, Narendra Joshi (Id by Gurcharan Singh) & Balkar Singh (Inserted by J.M.Garg) (For more images & complete details,
click on the links)

Paper daisy, Strawflower, Cherei (Manipuri);

The plant is an erect perennial, or occasionally annual, herb that is simple or rarely branched at its base. It generally reaches 20 to 80 cm (8–32 in) in height, but can have a prostrate habit in exposed areas such as coastal cliffs. The green stems are rough and covered with fine hairs, and are robust compared with those of other members of the genus. The leaves are lanceolate, elliptic or oblanceolate in shape and measure anywhere from 1.5 to 10 cm (0.6–4 in) long and from 0.5 to 2 cm (0.2–0.8 in) wide. They are also covered with cobwebby hairs. Sitting atop tall stems above the foliage, the flower heads range from 3 to 7 cm (1.2–2.8 in) in diameter. Occasionally multiple heads arise from the one stem.^[13] Like the flowers of all Asteraceae, they are composed of a central disc which contains a number of tiny individual flowers, known as florets; these sit directly on an enlarged part of the stem known as the receptacle.

Around the disc is an involucre of modified leaves, the bracts, which in Xerochrysum, as in most Gnaphalieae, are petal-like, stiff and papery. Arranged in rows, these bracts curl over and enclose the florets, shielding them before flowering.^[16] They create the impression of a shiny and yellow corolla around the disc. The intermediate bracts are sometimes white, while the outer ones are paler and often streaked reddish or brown (a greater variety of colours are found in cultivars).^[17] These bracts are papery and dry, or scarious, with a low water content, unlike leaves or flower parts of other plants. They are made up of dead cells, which are unusual in that they have a thin primary and a thick secondary cell wall, a feature only found in sclerenchyma, or structural, cells, not cells of flowers or leaves.^[18]

The individual florets are yellow.^[17] Those on the outer regions of the disc are female, while those in the centre are bisexual. Female flowers lack stamens and have only a very short tube-shaped corolla surrounding a pistil that splits to form two stigmas, while bisexual or hermaphrodite flowers have a longer corolla, and (as in virtually all members of the family) five stamens fused at the anthers, with the pistil emerging from the center. The yellow corolla and pistil are located above an ovary with a single ovule, and surrounded by the pappus, the highly modified calyx of Asteraceae. It comprises a number of bristles radiating around the florets.^[19] Yellow in colour, they persist and are thought to aid in the wind dispersal of the 0.3 cm (0.1 in) long fruit.^[19] The smooth brown fruit, known as a cypsela, is 2 to 3 mm long with the pappus radiating from one end.^[20]

(From Wikipedia on 9.5.13)

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I B College GT Road Panipat– April’10?;

Bracteantha bracteata from IBC Panipat – efloraofindia | Google Groups

Helichrysum Bracteatum from Shimla

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Bracteantha bracteata( Vent.) Andr. & Haegi var. bracteata [Asteraceae]: Name: *Bracteantha bracteata* (Vent.) Andr. & Haegi
Family: Asteraceae

Location: Ooty town; 2200 MSL
Date: 23 Jan 2011

Xerochrysum bracteatum from Delhi: Testing my new Canon 550d: These are some of the first photographs from my new Canon 550d camera, with normal 18-55 lens, using aperture priority F16, 18 settings. Hope to buy macro lens soon

Xerochrysum bracteatum (Vent.) Tzvelev, Novosti Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 27:151. 1990

syn: Helichrysum bracteatum (Vent.) Andrews; Xeranthemum bracteatum Vent.

Common names: Paper-flower, paper-daisy, golden everlasting

Photographed from Garden in Vikaspuri, Delhi today

If you keep aperture small and use flash then you could get much better sharpness using this lens. Dont worry about going too close, 18 megapixel can be cropped easily to get a better closeup.

If you dont wish to buy extra flash then use a white sheet at 45 degrees on your hood but out of the range of viewfinder. It can reflect the lights from your inbuilt flash very well on the flowers. My similar experiments worked well on macros.

But this is a nice picture. Thanks for sharing.

Well I had set aperture priority to 16 or 18, should I go still higher (smaller)?. Perhaps I will learn more tricks slowly.

I use more than 32 sometimes and even 55 at times. In D7000 which I have been using recently, aperture sometimes automatically doesnt go beyond 40.

Thanks for this useful information. My son has always been telling this to me. I usually would use closeup/macro function on the dial which they say should be used for flowers, but unfortunately it brings down aperture to lowest mostly 5.6 or even 4 when I use Minolta 28-55 lens with my Sony. This loses field depth.

Yes because the closeup mode on digital camera automatically puts your shutter speed high to reduce shake of the subject and to compensate that, it opens the aperture wide. Hence sharpness is lost although it
can be good for inflated objects like focussing on the paper or front view of Ipomoea !!

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Asteraceae Fortnight Part-1 Radiate Heads: Paper Daisy (NSJ-04) : Attachments (3). 3 posts by 2 authors.

Paper Daisies from Sikkim (Apr 2009).

Yes, botanically Xerochrysum bracteatum (syn: Helichrysum bracteatum).

ASTERACEAE Fortnight Part-I Radiate Heads May 1-14: Helichrysum bracteatum from Uttarakhand_DSR_32 : Attachments (1). 2 posts by 2 authors.

Known as ‘Paper flower’ or ‘Straw flower’, Helichrysum bracteatum (Venten.) Willd. is a common ornamental herb in India, though, a native of Australia.

Radiating part of flower heads is made by phyllaries (involucral bracts) and not by ligulate florets.

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Asteraceae Fortnight Part I-Radiate heads: Ornamentals- Helichrysum bracteatum? from KUK- NS 08 : Attachments (3). 3 posts by 3 authors.

This ornamental was shot from Kurukshetra Univeristy Kurukshetra many years ago.. I hope this one is the paper flower… Helichrysum bracteatum.. please validate..

Nice photographs …