Here's a plant I saw in Hawaii at a botanic gardens without a label... any clues? It's about 5" across
Unknown huge tropical red flower
Here's the whole plant
And here's the foliage. The pale yellow-green drooping leaves are brand new branches and leaves.
oops.. forgot the photo on that last one...
I have no idea, but that thing is gorgeous.
The photo looks like a not fully open flower of Brownea grandiceps, or similar, a tree from Venezuala growing up to 30-40 feet. All members of the genus have new leaves which start off soft, drooping and limp, usually with a pinkish tinge, which would fit with your second photo. The flower structure is like a rhododendron.
This message was edited May 31, 2004 5:07 PM
That flower is about the coolest thing I've seen in a long time. You're making me want to move back to California!!!
It is Brownea grandiceps also called Rose of Venezuela or Mountain Rose.
A Brownea, for sure, a gorgeous south american tree. But I don't know about B. grandiceps. The stamens are too long, I have never seen flowers of B. grandiceps with such stamens, normally they are hidden within the corola.
You may well be right Mono, it could be Brownea coccinea which is similar, smaller and does have very long stamens which protrude well beyond the corolla.