This flower has replaced the two seen in my June 23rd photo "Survivor." In the meantime the two flowers seen in that photo dropped off, and have been replaced by the flower and buds seen here. This behavior is out of the ordinary for this particular plant, to the extent that I'm beginning to suspect extra-natural involvement.

I tried calling the Invasive Species department at DOA, but they were all out for an office celebration. It seems they secured funding for another budget year, only after threatening to seed the Tidal Basin with a new species of snakehead fish (see: http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/aquatics/snakehead.shtml ), Channus Mills. The city still smarts from the last time it had to pull a Mills, along with an Argentinian Foxe, out of the Tidal Basin in 1974.