Blooming when talking about plants- several different meanings?

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Mrs.Green
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Blooming when talking about plants- several different meanings?

Post by Mrs.Green »

Looking trough K.W’s blog ‘Every day new flowers in the greenhouse in Köln’ , another member commented on a pic of an Opuntia zebrina forma ‘reticulata’. ‘Nice blooming’ or something like that. Since I hadn’t seen any buds or flowers on the Opuntia at first glance , I really studied the pic but still no sign of flowers or buds. Asking about this I was told that the member was referring to the needles on the new pad ( the ‘needles’ often seen on new Opuntia pads’)

I was under the impression that blooming, when talking about plants or cacti in this case, was referring to actual flowers on the cactus? If not I may have misunderstood quite a few comments here on the Cactiguide and maybe used the term wrongly myself? :D
DaveW
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Re: Blooming when talking about plants- several different meanings?

Post by DaveW »

As far as I am aware blooming, or bloom is usually reserved for flowers or the farina = waxy bloom some cacti produce on the stems and on say Echevaria leaves in English. Similar to the waxy coating visible on black grapes that rubs off when you touch it. However many people mistake the initial forming of pads on Opuntia's for flowers starting until they later resolve into pads. Therefore that may have been the cause of the confusion?

"bloom NOUN
a flower, especially one cultivated for its beauty.
"an exotic bloom" ·
synonyms:
flower · blossom · floweret · flowering · blossoming · florescence · efflorescence.

a delicate powdery surface deposit on certain fresh fruits, leaves, or stems.
"the bloom on a plum"
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One Windowsill
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Re: Blooming when talking about plants- several different meanings?

Post by One Windowsill »

If they were British there is also the intensifier often used as a euphemism for a mild swear word such as "bloody". Literally meaning fully open flowers, fully blown but seldom used to mean that.

An example might be: "That blooming Opuntia has stuck me again!"

However, the original quote was referring to the spines being red. I would assume that this was "blooming" in the sense that means blushing or tinted red or crimson. I have never heard it being used in this sense with plants. Blushed or tinted with red would be the usual phrase I have heard.

1752 H. Fielding Amelia I. iii. x. 253 Miss Bath had not only recovered her Health, but her Bloom.
Mrs.Green
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Re: Blooming when talking about plants- several different meanings?

Post by Mrs.Green »

Thank you very much DaveW and One Windowsill! :) I forgot to mention the colour of the needles, a bit early in the morning perhaps, when I wrote the initial post.. :D From your answers I assume that ‘blooming’ in most cases refers s to actual flowers .
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7george
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Re: Blooming when talking about plants- several different meanings?

Post by 7george »

When I say "blooming" this means a plant with flower(s) in anthesis. Some buds around is OK.
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Mrs.Green
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Re: Blooming when talking about plants- several different meanings?

Post by Mrs.Green »

7george wrote: Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:50 pm When I say "blooming" this means a plant with flower(s) in anthesis. Some buds around is OK.

Aloe aristata-7279d.jpg
Thank you 7george :)
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mikethecactusguy
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Re: Blooming when talking about plants- several different meanings?

Post by mikethecactusguy »

There is a difference between the Plumper Red Needles that appear on the face of the Opuntia zebrina reticulata and those that appear on the top of a pad as a new growth starts.
I'm using my 6 Opuntia zebrina reticulata as examples. Here you have a combination of side spin growth and then the new growth on the top.
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Here are examples of the red spine growth that turns to new segment growth.
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The red needle growth that appears on the pad face of the Opuntia zebrina reticulata will just disappear. They always grows from one of the veins in the face and then dry up and are gone. . If you search Opuntia zebrina reticulata flower both Cactus Art and Llifle show pictures of a pad with very red and plump needles. I know it is not a "bloom" in the sense it's a flower. I'm using the word bloom as a verb to describe the red growth of the spines.
Does that help?
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One Windowsill
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Re: Blooming when talking about plants- several different meanings?

Post by One Windowsill »

Aren't the red bits leaves?
DaveW
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Re: Blooming when talking about plants- several different meanings?

Post by DaveW »

Yes as One Windowsill says the red bits are vestigial leaves. The leaves in Opuntia are fugacious = soon dropping off. The spines and glochids in that example are white. However spines too are originally modified leaves, but do not photosynthesize as leaves do. Traces of leaves can be found in the areoles of some cacti including Schlumbergera's, but you often need a strong magnifying glass or microscope to see them.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Mor ... _311946998

http://www.differencebetween.info/diffe ... d-prickles
Mrs.Green
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Re: Blooming when talking about plants- several different meanings?

Post by Mrs.Green »

Mikethecactusguy; thank you for the pics of your reticulata :) I find this cactus fascinating and wouldn’t mind having one, but I have never seen one for sale her. I did understand what you was talking about ( the red leaves) but I was a bit confused at first, by you referring to them as ‘flowering’ . Hence my question about the term, in case I had misunderstood others, when talking about flowering :)
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