The Chrysanthemum Flower, its Meanings and Symbolism

Chrysanthemums, sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering vegetation of the genus Chrysanthemum in the family Asteraceae. They are native to Asia and northeastern European countries. Most species originate from East Asia and the center of diversity is in China. There are many horticultural varieties and cultivars. The name "chrysanthemum" comes from the Ancient Ancient greek language:?????? chrysos (gold) and Old Greek:??????? anthemon (flower).

Taxonomy

The genus once included more species, but was break up several decades ago into several genera, putting the economically important florist's chrysanthemums in the genus Dendranthema. The naming of the genera has been good, but a ruling of the International Botanical Our elected representatives in 1999 changed the defining species of the genus to Chrysanthemum indicum, restoring the florist's chrysanthemums to the genus Chrysanthemum.The other species previously within the narrow view of the genus Chrysanthemum are now utilized in the genus Glebionis. The other overal separate from Chrysanthemum include Argyranthemum, Leucanthemopsis, Leucanthemum, Rhodanthemum, and Tanacetum.

Description

Outdoors Chrysanthemum taxa are herbaceous perennial plants or subshrubs. They have alternately arranged leaves divided into booklets with toothed or occasionally smooth edges. The compound inflorescence is an array of several flower mind, or sometimes a solo head. The head has a base covered in layers of phyllaries. The simple row of ray florets are white, yellow or red; many horticultural specimens have been bred to bear many rows of ray florets in a great variety of colors. The disc florets of wild taxa are orange. The fruit is a ribbed achene. Chrysanthemums, also known as 'mums', are one of the lovliest varieties of perennials that start blooming early in the fall. This is also known as favorite flower for the month of November.

Modern developed chrysanthemums are showier than their wild relatives. The flower heads occur in various forms, and can be daisy-like or decorative, like aigrette or buttons. This genus contains many hybrids and thousands of cultivars developed for horticultural purposes. As well as the traditional yellow, other colors are available, such as white, purple, and red. The main hybrid is Chrysanthemum x morifolium (syn. C. x grandiflorum), derived primarily from C. indicum, but also involving other types.Over 140 varieties of chrysanthemum have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Prize of Garden Merit.

Chrysanthemums are broken into two basic groups, garden hardy and exhibition. Garden hardy mums are new perennials capable of wintering in most northern latitudes. Exhibition varieties are not usually as sturdy. Garden hardies are defined by their ability to produce an abundance of small blooms with little if any mechanical assistance, such as staking, and withstanding wind and rain. Exhibition varieties, though, require staking, overwintering in a relatively dry, cool environment, and sometimes the addition of night time lights.

The exhibition varieties can be used to create many amazing plant forms, such as large disbudded blooms, spray varieties, and many artistically trained forms, such as thousand-bloom, standard (trees), fans, suspending baskets, topiary, bonsai, and cascades.

Chrysanthemum blooms are divided into 10 different bloom forms by the US National Chrysanthemum Culture, Inc., which is in preserving the international distinction system. The bloom varieties are defined by the way in which the ray and disk florets are arranged. Chrysanthemum flowers consist of many specific flowers (florets), each one capable of producing a seedling. The disk florets are in the center of the bloom head, and the ray florets are on the perimeter. The ray florets are believed not perfect flowers, as they only possess the female productive organs, while the disk florets are considered perfect flowers, as they possess both male and male reproductive organs.

Chrysanthemums