One Crowded Hour

By GlassRoad

firewheel banksia...

...or firewood banksia and so named because of its quick burning properties but also more elegantly named portwine, strawberry and raspberry frost for the cut flower market.
Botanist Robert Brown however described it first in the early 19th century and named Banksia menziesii for surgeon-naturalist seafarer Archibald Menzies who sailed on HMS Discovery in 1791.

One of 173 Banksia species named for Joseph Banks, explorer, botanist and financier of expeditions of scientific discovery in the 18th century, this beautiful bloom is described as 'the inflorescence being  halfway through anthesis. The individual flowers at the bottom have already opened, while those at the top are unopened and remain in neat rows.'

Nature never ceases to amaze.

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