Dallying with Dahlias

Dally with dahlias for a while.

Buds and bloom colour bursts brighten your day.

Dahlias have composite flower structures.

Ray florets surround a central disc packed with florets. The disc florets open around the periphery first, mathematically configured using one of nature’s favoured Fibonacci sequences.

Peek Inside.

The colourful ray florets are sterile.

Ray florets have a stigma without anthers.

Disc florets sit in a corolla tube.

Each tube is bounded by five small lobes. (Dahlia - Botany Brisbane).

What are we looking at here?

If you focus on the structure just above the picture centre you can see a split feathery stigma with fused anthers underneath.