For the 13 years that I have lived, I have never seen a flower so magnificent and eye  catching. I probably have seen this flower before but have not paid attention to it until a few days ago when I had this flaming motivation to figure out everything I could about this flower. Thanks to the app “like that garden” I could identify the flower as the candytuft Iberis

Background:

The candytuft iberis belongs to the Brassicaceae family. The name”candytuft” is not related to candy, but derives from Candia , the former name of Iraklion on the Island of Crete.  L eaves, stem and root of this plant are said to possess medicinal properties, but the seeds are most efficacious. The iberis are like evergreens and can survive long and harsh winters.

Pollen: There were few pollen and they were grain shaped.

Petals: The candytuft had many petals. What was most interesting about this plant was there were a bunch of mini flowers crammed together and the petals had a symeatrical pattern. 2 petals were big and 2 were small. When I looked at the cells of the petal I saw a bunch of symmetrical white balls glued together, which I thought was very cool.