That's because I didn't show the leaves.... You're right about Acacia, and I happen to know the species but it will be tough to do without seeing foliage (which is simple pinnate on this tree) and thorns (which are 6-8" long and red). So I'm just going to give it to you - that's Acacia horridus. Here is the key to date and a hint for the orchid in #4. I doubt it will make your life any easier, though; that's a rare endemic and an unusual colour-form of it to boot.
#7 is hybridized with Cochlioda. Here's a similar hybrid: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericinsf/1349552914/ #4 is a tough one. There's a mentum but the flowers are produced on an inflorescence, which I think rules out Maxillaria - I've never seen Maxillaria flowers on an inflorescence. I assume it's an Ecuadorian endemic? A better hint would be a plant habit shot =) =). #8 might be Araceae or Piperaceae. Can we have a hint for #14?
Its habit was in a chunk of moss in the orchidarium I inherited when I moved into my rental in the South. I have no idea what it does when it's in the wild; it's hot-growing and shade-loving. I'm not showing you the leaves, since that would just about give it away. Suffice to say that they are the largest orchid leaves I've ever seen, close to half a meter, despite the fact that the actual flowers are perhaps 4 cm across at the widest petal-to-petal. 8 is neither Araceae nor Piperaceae. I'm not hinting on #14 other than to say that the same plant has been on all of my big colour-themed stumpers. I wouldn't expect anyone who has never seen the flowers and fruit of this plant develop to get it, though....
Yup and Yup! Eric - where did you eventually find it? Did you look up the thread here in which I had that Id'd, or did you find them on Ecuagenera? The folks down in Cuenca thought that it was an unusual colour form, since all of theirs are significantly paler..... Michael - that's kind of fitting, in a way... didn't you get that last time as well? Here's a hint on #2, since nobody's even attempted it. You have it in your lawn, same as me.
Your two hints: Large leaves, upright inflorescence did it. Then I double checked my gallery of Xylobium: http://www.orchidphotos.org/images/orchids/speciesV2/Xylobium/index.html and was pretty sure. Xylobium aren't very rare here in the Bay Area, as all of those photos were taken in local collections.
Ok, now I want X. leontoglossum. Boo-urns. They're quite difficult to find down here, unless you purchase them from Ecuagenera. Which makes me kind of sad because I had to leave that one, which I loved and babied and which bloomed for me three times in the 6 months I lived with it, behind when I moved North.... Ah well. When I move into the cloud forest for keeps I'll replenish my collection!
'tis, 'tis! Oh woe is me, I went half way around the world and I still cant escape the dratted beasties! Super Sunny points for the way the Spanish Name influenced the English one.
2. Darn it! Didn't even attempt your stumper cos I didn't think I could possibly know any of them!! Outside is a garden full of the b.... things. By the way it is quite uncanny how dandelions in Britain always seem to be at their peak of flowering on St. Georges Day (Englands patron saint) on 23 April.
Yes, they do! Sunny points to Natureman. In French they're called Pisenlit (Pee the bed) for the diuretic property of the root.
Can you post the whole flowerhead of #2 please? I'm not convinced it is a Taraxacum, as it at least appears to show too much differentiation into ray and disc florets; Taraxacum has all ray florets. I'm suspecting one of those many other D.Y.A. (dratted yellow Asteraceae!). But I may be misinterpreting the pic.
Here you go! I rarely mistake Dandilions for other DYAs; certainly the leaf shape, leaf flavour, budding, flower size, flower confomation, scent, and seed formation were correct. If you want pics of the whole plant, the ones in the photo are from my yard, I can certainly go out and take them. edit - I forget which picture I used for the stumper. They're both Dandilions. Actually, I think it was likely pic #2, which hadn't opened entirely.
OK yep, dandelion! I was caught out by the unopened central florets, it wasn't so clear what was what in the cropped pic.
In rural Gloucestershire in the 1920s, dandelions were calle "pee the bed", by my mother, not in my grandmother's hearing, though.
And that comes from the legacy of the French alliance with the Scots; the French common name is also "pee the bed" (pisenlit.) Here's the key to date - you're doing well, but the two that are left are the really tough ones.... I will provide further hints if you wish; today's is that one of them is food and the other smells like carrion.
Um, not the Auld Alliance, Gloucestershire's in England. You may have been misled by my location, I live in Scotland. No idea what they're called here. The only one of these I got was the bidens. I'm speculating that the carrion scented one is the blotchy one? And is the other one one of the marrow courgette zucchini(pick your location) plants of which you can eat the flowers as well? I can think of so many other ways to humiliate myself, that aren't so public.
Nic, you're right, the blotchy one smells like rotting meat. If it weren't so unique to look at, I'd have turfed it from the garden long ago. (And you're not humiliating yourself, but you are making me laugh a bit.... Don't feel bad about it though. Embrace your inner geek!) Eric, you have it by common name for 16, and extra sunny points for species. Check geographical distribution; that's your hint.