Blackberry Flowers-2

More blackberry pictures- this time macroscopic.

Himalayan Blackberry- named not by origin (which is Armenia), but for its size, to promote its use, by Luther Burbank.

It really needed no promotion at all, and seems to be (like our president), quite the self promoter. And like the vice-president's wife, its also a lover of bees (I read she just had a hive installed wherever it is that vice-presidents live (is that the basement of the White House? Or do they have an upstairs room?), and the paper said that there were 15,000 bees in that hive. Sheesh. That's not a lot. I guess that some didn't make the security clearance).

Here is the flower. I have taken  black cardboard and painted it black, and drawn, in pencil, a 1 cm grid- I think this works best of what I've tried for backgrounds (and you can square it up in PS, which I did not do here).

In any case- there are four flower flowering, and one done (the king flower). And a host of buds. Mid-June.

Here is a sketch- always useful in figuring out how things are laid out- of the flower. Its a typical one, and I counted 22 possible berries, including the kingflower (don't know if that gets a berry). The buds are all at different stages, small, medium, and large. They have a 5 lobed sepal, and move quick, it seems, from being a bud to a flower (no intermediate stages seen here).

The general structure of the flowering stem is seemingly random. Pedicels alternate, but some have two buds, and some one. Even way down the branch, you can see #22 which is a single bud between the stem of a leaf and the main branch. All by its lonesome. Its not clear what the pattern is here (I tried to map it above on the right).

 (One thing I noticed is that I never noticed before is that the thorns don't point out, they point in. That means you can easily reach in, but good luck getting out! Its not about defense,  its about offence. )

But at the heart is the above- a plain flower. It looks like a lot of other Rubrus, a wispy  papery petal, a bunch of loose looking anthers. a clear mandala to the center. 

Above, the view underneath a flower. Turned down sepals. A inferior flower (ovary above). And two fat buds waiting their turn.

Above, again, the landing zone. You're heading in (but you have compound eyes). You need to get through the tangle of anthers and stigmas. Its been a long day. You want the nectar. You could do with less hassle.