Not the Flower You Think
The bright “petals” on these plants aren’t petals at all. They’re bracts or sepals, colored leaves that act as signboards for pollinators, while the real flowers are small and easy to miss.
Bougainvillea
बेगमबेली फूल
Bougainvillea sp.
The colorful “petals” are bracts, papery leaves around the real flowers, which are small, white, and tube-shaped. It scrambles up walls using hooked thorns.
Golden Shrimp Plant
Pachystachys lutea
The golden “shrimp” is made of overlapping bracts, special leaves. The real flowers are the white tubes peeking out between them.
Red Shrimp Plant
Justicia brandegeeana
The “shrimp” is a stack of reddish bracts; the real flowers are the white tubes poking out of it, a shape made for hummingbirds in Mexico.
Matchstick Bromeliad
Aechmea gamosepala
Its flower spike looks like a bunch of matches: pink stems with blue tips. It is a bromeliad, a relative of the pineapple, and in Brazil hummingbirds pollinate it.
Calla Lily
शंख फूल
Zantedeschia aethiopica
Not a lily but an arum, like taro. The white “flower” is one rolled-up bract; the real flowers are tiny and packed on the yellow spike inside.
Peace Lily
Spathiphyllum sp.
Not a lily but an arum, like the calla: its white “flower” is one bract wrapped around a spike of tiny real flowers.
Hydrangea
हंसराज फूल
Hydrangea macrophylla
Most of a hydrangea’s big showy flowers can’t make seeds: they’re signboards for insects, while tiny fertile flowers do the work. In acidic soil, the flowers can turn blue.
More in Looks, Scents, and Surprises
The garden is alive and changes through the year. Some plants flower, fruit, or rest only in certain seasons, so what you see depends on when you visit.
See them for yourself
Every plant here grows on our campus in Bhaktapur. Walk the garden on your visit.
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