Catching the Light

It sure was a cold start to the day because of the heavy frost. With the help of the sun this afternoon things did warm up a little. I took a short walk around the block and came across this beautiful Bottlebrush flower catching the afternoon sun.

Description of the Botttlebrush from Wikipedia

Callistemon is a genus of 34 species of shrubs in the family Myrtaceae, all of which are endemic to Australia. It is sometimes considered a synonym of Melaleuca, and four Callistemon species from New Caledonia were moved to that genus by Lyndley Craven and John Dawson in 1998. Callistemon species are commonly referred to as bottlebrushes because of their cylindrical, brush like flowers resembling a traditional bottle brush. They are found in the more temperate regions of Australia, mostly along the east coast and south-west, and typically favour moist conditions so when planted in gardens thrive on regular watering. However, at least some of the species are drought-resistant. Several species are used in ornamental landscaping elsewhere in the world.

They are relatively slow growing though in time the larger species can grow up to 15 m (49 ft). Some are ground-hugging, and grow to only 0.5 m (1.6 ft). The leaves are linear to lanceolate and they are not deciduous.

They have been grown in Europe since a specimen of C. citrinus was introduced to Kew Gardens in London by Joseph Banks in 1789.

In Australia, Callistemon species are sometimes used as food plants by the larvae of hepialid moths of the genus Aenetus including A. ligniveren. These burrow horizontally into the trunk then vertically down.

In India, bottlebrush plants/trees are grown in gardens. Their leaves have a lovely fragrance which gets released on crushing the leaves with hands.

Thank you for all the wonderful feed back from the video that I gave you the link to the other day that was make using a number of my images of Christchurch.