Dahlia named Akita
by J McCombie
Title
Dahlia named Akita
Artist
J McCombie
Medium
Photograph - Untouched
Description
This piece has been featured in the FAA Groups, "I Love Photography ...", Global Flowers Photography", and "World of Dahlias".
Like a grande finale offering at an haute couture runway show, Akita is a hot number which makes a very bold statement in both form and colour. With a centre that never really opens surrounded by layer upon layer of cascading petals in a soft buttercream base coat opulently painted with brushstrokes of yellow, orange, fuchsia pink and red, it is an awe inspiring showstopper to say the least! Akita is a Dahlia classified as NX/R. This means it is Novelty Fully Double in form (Novelty Fully Double: Flowers are double but have unique characteristics which set them apart from other classifications.), ... and its colour is Red. It grows about 36" to 42" tall. Akita makes a more tropical statement than its counterpart, "Vancouver", who's shades are of dark purple and pink.
Dahlia is a genus of bushy, tuberous, herbaceous perennial plants native to Mexico, Central America, and Colombia. A member of the Asteraceae or Compositae, dicotyledonous plants, related species include the sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum and zinnia. There are at least 36 species of dahlia, with hybrids commonly grown as garden plants. Flower forms are variable, with one head per stem; these can be as small as 2" in diameter or up to 12" ("dinner plate"). This great variety results from dahlias being octoploids - that is, they have eight sets of homologous chromosomes, whereas most plants have only two. In addition, dahlias also contain many transposons - genetic pieces that move from place to place upon an allele - which contributes to their manifesting such great diversity.
The stems are leafy, ranging in height from as low as 12" to more than 6-8'. The majority of species do not produce scented flowers or cultivars. Like most plants that do not attract pollinating insects through scent, they are brightly colored, displaying most hues, with the exception of blue. "Dahl" is a homophone of the Swedish word "dal", or "valley"; although it is not a true translation, the plant is sometimes referred to as the "valley flower".
Spanish Hidalgos reported finding the plants growing in Mexico in 1525. They were used for a food source, and were both gathered in the wild and cultivated. The Aztecs used them to treat epilepsy, and employed the long hollow stem of the Dahlia imperalis for water pipes. The indigenous peoples variously identified the plants as "Chichipatl" (Toltecs) and "Acocotle" or "Cocoxochitl" (Aztecs) translated as "water cane", "water pipe", "water pipe flower", "hollow stem flower" and "cane flower". All these refer to the hollowness of the plants' stem. The dahlia was declared the national flower of Mexico in 1963.
Uploaded
April 19th, 2016
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Comments (4)
Cindy Treger
J, congratulations on being chosen for Pick of the Week in Global Flowers Photography - stunning capture. f/l
Jasna Dragun
Congratulations, your fellow artist chose this work as "Pick Of The Week" in the "Global Flowers Photography" !! Check out the group gallery and select another artist!