Pseudanthium

Oh, lovely Chrysanthemum!
You are a pseudanthium,
Which means you are not alone,
But a  bunch of little flowers,

Some times we may not understand,
Don't worry I'm going to explain,
If I explain in a botanical point,
It is grouped as an inflorescence.

There are many types of inflorescence,
Your one is called a capitulum,
The head is full of tiny florets
Why don't we try to separate them?

We love your beautiful face,
Butterflies also happily fly around
Tiny disk florets in the middle
Ray florets surrounding them.

Ray florets we called them petals,
But actually a joint of five petals,
Have only a little  gynoecium,
With a tiny ovary at the bottom.

Disc florets seems to be proud,
Decorating their  heads with crowns,
With yellow beautiful pollen,
And a tiny stigma in the middle.

All the florets are fixed to the middle disk,
Which is called the  receptacle,
Lovely  friend at last you release,
A tray; which is full of dried fruits.

The fruits making parachutes,
Fly away with the autumn breeze,
Would drop in the lonely soil,
And  sleep till the next summer comes.

©Malini Ganewatta

 Photo by Paweł Czerwiński on Unsplash