A BOUQUET OF HIBISCUSES ON ABACO, BAHAMAS

I haven’t featured flower species for a long time. There are a number of reasons why this webular location is low on flower power. Under duress, I’d probably say that, though gorgeous and a joy to all, flowers and plants are essentially one trick ponies. Or maybe peonies?

Essentially the drawback with flowers is that they don’t fly and they can’t swim. There’s no motion to them that isn’t caused by an outside agency such as a breeze (unless you spend time actually watching them grow, I suppose). I feel more comfortable with more mobility around me.

The hibiscus is surely one of the prettiest flowers on Abaco or indeed anywhere else. Mostly they are pentamerous, which is to say 5-petalled; and they have an unmistakeable central adornment that I’ve had to check the name of. Then I discovered that someone on Pinterest had done the heavy lifting for me with all the other parts of a hibiscus.

One exception to the usual pentamerous arrangement is the white hibiscus shown below.

I have also remembered to check the correct plural of ‘Hibiscus’. Some while back, I examined the candidates for the correct plural form for more than one OCTOPUS. I thought I might now be back in that strange Greco-Roman arena where -uses or -usses compete with -i or -odi for primacy. Thankfully, it is simply ‘octopuses’ and ‘hibiscuses’. And even if, technically, a different form could be insisted on to be correct, it will still sound wrong.

Another striking hibiscoid variant is the beautiful coral hibiscus, with its elegant construction and extravagantly fringed petals.

These flowers are powerful insect attractants, especially for the butterflies. One of the only partly successful photos I have ever taken of the annoyingly perpetual motion Polydamus (Gold Rim) Swallowtail is below. There’s nearly half a wing at rest. And even that isn’t sharp.

Readers who have stuck with this blog for a while (thank you both) may recall my enthusiasm for the excellent way in which the Bahamian Government honours the wildlife of the Bahamas with frequent special issues of stamps and coins. You can find out more with these links: BAHAMAS STAMPS and BAHAMAS CURRENCY. Even the hibiscus has been featured on the coinage, not once but twice. And on stamps several times over the years.