The envelope, please
Mar 4, 2010
We have a winner in yesterday's G'mornin' name-that-flower competition. Also, three runners-up, and of course an honorable mention.
Honorable mention goes to Anna S. of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, who like most of us had no earthly idea what kind of flower it was but who knew just how to find out: Anna suggested that we ask Mary Jo Modica, who runs the greenhouse and arboretum at the University of Alabama. This was an excellent suggestion and would have surely worked, had not the answer dropped so magically from cyberspace into our inbox.
Two of the runners-up are tied for third place: Sandy H of Bethesda, Maryland, and Miss Tina of Tuscaloosa, both of whom correctly identified the flower as a member of the Bromeliad family. Today's Good Morning picture shows the most famous of the Bromeliads, the symbol of southern hospitality and economic linchpin of the Hawaiian islands.
Our first runner-up is Aunt A of the Lower Hutt valley, near Wellington, New Zealand. Aunt A knew we were dealing with a Bromeliad and forwarded some online photos of likely species within the family--including the correct species, which bears the Latin name aechmea fasciata.
And the winner is Tanja B, of Yarmouth, Maine, who recognized not only the genus and species but also the particular variety: Silver Vase. "My mom [in Germany] had them all over the place," writes Tanja, "but to get them blooming is rather an act of patience."
Tanja should contact me sometime next week about collecting her grand prize: a Bromeliad upside-down cake.