It was hard to get the Bug of the Week photograph this week because we’ve been having a lot of gusting wind. Wind tends to interfere both by causing the plant to move about and also causing the light to flicker as branches move by.
In fact I was downloading some plant photographs when I noticed this:
Do you see it? No, not the Thai basil plant, but the insect.
I admit I didn’t see it until the photograph was on my computer screen. When I went back out, there it was.
Do you see it now?
We’ve talked before about how size of seeds and size of plants are not usually related.
Small seeds can grow into large plants and vice versa.
Today’s tiny seeds, however, do grow into a delicate little plant (the white object is a rice grain added for scale).
Do you recognize what plant these seeds are from? If you choose to, please leave a comment with your ideas.
Mystery Seed answers and new Mystery Seeds are posted on Tuesdays.
Edit:Â The answer is now posted.
Our mystery seeds last week were from Pacific statice, Limonium sinuatum.
Pacific statice is usually grown as an annual from seed.
Here in Arizona, we are more likely to see the Limonium perezii, commonly called Perez’s sea lavender.
The flowers still consist of the colored, papery calyx surrounding the white corolla.
For this perennial plant, a spray of flowers grows in a cluster on a stalk well above the leaves (botanically, a “branched panicle”). The stems are more delicate, in contrast to the stems for Pacific statice, which are thicker and have winged side structures.
The broad leaves form a low-growing clump.
 
Originally from the Canary Islands, these plants are quite drought tolerant and can withstand Arizona’s intense sun. Perez’s sea lavender plants are frost sensitive, however, and can only be grown as an annual in colder areas.
Statice/sea lavender flowers are prized for their usefulness in cut and dried flower arrangements.
Have you ever grown statice/sea lavender? What has your experience been?
For more information, see Roberta Gibson Writes.
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