# What is this flower? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 6, 2006, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354 "2006-07-06T13:02:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/1 "2006-07-06T13:02:23Z")
Embarrassing but true – I don’t know what [this](http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g161/twickster/?action=view¤t=dunno.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch1) is. Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/2 "2006-07-06T13:13:36Z")
Looks like a petunia to me. Is is an annual? Comes in many colors? Deadheading will encourage additional blooms and prevent it from getting leggy. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/3 "2006-07-06T13:15:57Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Looks like a petunia to me. > Is is an annual? Comes in many colors? > Deadheading will encourage additional blooms and prevent it from getting leggy. No, it’s not a petunia. The blossoms are smaller – the size of a quarter, perhaps? Don’t know if it’s an annual or a perennial – saw it in a public garden. With an ID tag on it. Which I failed to document. But I did read, and it’s not a petunia. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/4 "2006-07-06T13:18:36Z")
The blooms are also flatter and less trumpety than a petunia. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/5 "2006-07-06T13:22:20Z")
Then my next guess will be a type of flowering tobacco - nicotiana - tho I’ve never seen one that color. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/6 "2006-07-06T13:24:09Z")
Nah, the habit was more sprawling than that – more petunialike, in fact. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/7 "2006-07-06T13:28:44Z")
Ah! Then it must be the ever popular sprawling petunialike non-petunia! Sorry, **twix**. I’ve shot my wad on this one. Gardening is funny. No matter how much I feel I know, and how comfortable I are with plants I grow, I am regularly stumped by apparently common plants. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/8 "2006-07-06T13:32:40Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Sorry, **twix**. I’ve shot my wad on this one. Gardening is funny. No matter how much I feel I know, and how comfortable I are with plants I grow, I am regularly stumped by apparently common plants. Yeah, I know what you mean. I’ve now reached the level of expertise, though, where I’m not afraid to admit when I don’t know a plant – for a while there I was laboring under the delusion that a “real” gardener never met a plant s/he couldn’t identify at 10 paces. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/9 "2006-07-06T14:16:24Z")
Recently I was walking with a friend and wondered what kind of flower was growing near a building. The look she gave me as she said “Geraniums?!” i thought there was no such thing as a dumb question. and no, I really didn’t know what a geranium looked like :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/10 "2006-07-06T14:41:15Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Recently I was walking with a friend and wondered what kind of flower was growing near a building. The look she gave me as she said > > “Geraniums?!” > > i thought there was no such thing as a dumb question. and no, I really didn’t know what a geranium looked like :smack: There’s a good chance you could have come back with a snappy, “Sorry, those are pelargoniums!” 😉 A week or so ago, a friend moved out of town, and welcomed my wife and me to pull any plants we wished. Tho their yard was quite overgrown, it was truly humbling to realize how few of the plants we could identify - including what were or were not invassive weeds. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/11 "2006-07-06T15:06:45Z")
You know, twickster, it looks sort of like a variety of Four O’Clock. Out here we have a Desert Four O’Clock that looks a lot less trumpety than [this](http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=1033112) picture of Mirabilis Jalapa. Peace out. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/12 "2006-07-06T15:17:18Z")
The flowers look like they have a specific orientation with two petals at the top and three below (even though the petals are fused into a trumpet). Sort of like mimulus, but less complex in flower structure. Looks like it might still be a member of scrophulariaceae though, although there are others with simillar arrangements of petals. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/13 "2006-07-06T16:04:24Z")
I think that the mystery plant is [Calibrachoa.](http://www.provenwinners.com/plants/default.cfm?doSearch=1&searchGenus=Calibrachoa) Sort of like a miniature Petunia, but with 4 more chromosomes. :eek: It’s getting to be a very popular annual. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/14 "2006-07-06T16:47:02Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I think that the mystery plant is [Calibrachoa.](http://www.provenwinners.com/plants/default.cfm?doSearch=1&searchGenus=Calibrachoa) Sort of like a miniature Petunia, but with 4 more chromosomes. :eek: > > It’s getting to be a very popular annual. Ding ding ding! I think we have a winner. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/15 "2006-07-06T16:51:31Z")
[Pinks](http://usp.ucsd.edu/~kpezzoli/images/Art_web/images/pages/pinks.htm). An old classic garden flower (my grandfather used to grow them in borders). (Note that the illustration shows a bunch of pinks that are more lavender-y than the classic pink, which is colored, well, _pink_. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/16 "2006-07-06T17:01:04Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > [Pinks](http://usp.ucsd.edu/~kpezzoli/images/Art_web/images/pages/pinks.htm). An old classic garden flower (my grandfather used to grow them in borders). (Note that the illustration shows a bunch of pinks that are more lavender-y than the classic pink, which is colored, well, _pink_. That picture looks more like an impatiens than a [dianthus.](http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plantprofile_pinks.shtml) And neither one looks like a small petunia. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/17 "2006-07-06T17:03:18Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > [Pinks](http://usp.ucsd.edu/~kpezzoli/images/Art_web/images/pages/pinks.htm). An old classic garden flower (my grandfather used to grow them in borders). (Note that the illustration shows a bunch of pinks that are more lavender-y than the classic pink, which is colored, well, _pink_. Nope. Definitely not a dianthus – I know dianthus. Plus, as I said, I’m pretty sure **Jackmanii** (and with a name like that, how could s/he not know plants?) is right about the Calibrachoa. I have so relabeled the picture on my hard drive. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/18 "2006-07-06T17:53:44Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > There’s a good chance you could have come back with a snappy, > “Sorry, those are pelargoniums!” 😉 > > A week or so ago, a friend moved out of town, and welcomed my wife and me to pull any plants we wished. > Tho their yard was quite overgrown, it was truly humbling to realize how few of the plants we could identify - including what were or were not invassive weeds. You can tell a valuable plant from an invasive weed in this fashion - give it a pull. If it comes up easily, it was a valuable plant. Unless you were _trying_ to pull them up, in which case you got a bunch of invasive weeds. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/19 "2006-07-06T17:56:09Z")
I dunno what that flower is, but I love it! I’d love oceans of it in my yard! ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354/20 "2006-07-06T18:41:16Z")
**Poly’s** post is a good example of why it is good to use the scientific names. Those flowers may well be called pinks in his area (and on the site he links). But in my area, “pinks” are dianthus, and the flowers he links are impatiens. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flower/363354.md?page=2)