Flowers that have no petals

When we think of flowers we usually think of petals, but the truth is that some flowers don’t have petals. A good local example is elbowbush, Forestiera pubescens. Here’s a close look from February 23 at an inflorescence of the elbowbush on some of whose dead branches you saw lichens in the previous post.

Come to think of it, the flowers in their helter-skelter-ness and colors remind me of the lichens themselves:

© 2016 Steven Schwartzman