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Tom Murray | all galleries >> Wildflowers >> Red/Pink Flowers > Partridge Berry - Mitchella repens
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18-JUN-2016

Partridge Berry - Mitchella repens

Groton, Ma.

In late spring, a pair of white flowers (with a single calyx) appears. Each small, fragrant flower has four brilliant white petals that are pubescent and unite into a funnel-shaped tube that is also fringed with hairs. The pair of flowers occur in two forms (dimorphous). In the first form the pistil is short and the stamens are long; in the second form the pistil is long and the stamens are short. This structure prevents each flower from fertilizing itself. Both flowers must be pollinated to obtain a single scarlet berry. Each berry is the result of the fusion of each ovary of the pollinated pair of white flowers. As such, each berry has two bright red spots on its surface.
(quoted from USDA site)

Canon EOS 5D Mark II
1/200s f/16.0 at 100.0mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Hank Vander Velde20-Jun-2016 02:09
Good shot of this pretty flower Tom.
Pierre Martin20-Jun-2016 01:29
great shot of that superb lookig flower!
Don19-Jun-2016 21:41
Absolutely fascinating floral biology and an intriguing image.