Flowers of the Bahamas Garden

Bahamas Postal Administration issued a set of four stamps feature the flower of Bahamas Garden on May 25, 2004. The flower species shown on stamps are Cattleya, Hibiscus, Canna, and Thunbergia.

Cattleyas are widely known for their large, showy flowers, and were used extensively in hybridization for the cut-flower trade  when pot plants became more popular.The flowers of the hybrids can vary in size from 5 cm to 15 cm or more. Cattleya is a genus of 113 species of orchids from Costa Rica to tropical South America. Cattleya presents in all colors except true blue and black.

The typical charateristic of  this  flower has three rather narrow sepals and three usually broader petals: two petals are similar to each other, and the third is the quite different conspicuous lip. Cattleyas have been hybridized both within the genus and with related genera for more than a century.

Hibiscus is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. Hibiscus have several hundred species that are native to warm-temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. Member species are often noted for their showy flowers and are commonly known as hibiscus.

The leaves are alternate, ovate to lanceolate, often with a toothed or lobed margin. The flowers are large, conspicuous, trumpet-shaped, with five or more petals, color from white to pink, red, orange, purple or yellow, and from 4–18 cm broad.

Many species are grown for their showy flowers or used as landscape shrubs, and are used to attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds.The fruit is a dry five-lobed capsule, containing several seeds in each lobe, which are released when the capsule dehisces (splits open) at maturity.

 

Canna is a genus of nineteen species of flowering plants. The flowers are typically red, orange, or yellow or any combination of those colours, and are aggregated in inflorescences that are spikes or panicles (thyrses). Canna cultivars are grown in most countries.

The plants are large tropical and subtropical perennial herbs with a rhizomatous rootstock. The broad, flat, alternate leaves, that are such a feature of this plant, grow out of a stem in a long narrow roll and then unfurl. The leaves are typically solid green but some cultivars have glaucose, brownish, maroon, or even variegated leaves.

Thunbergia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae, native to tropical regions of Africa, Madagascar and southern Asia. The generic name honours Carl Peter Thunberg. Thunbergia species are vigorous annual or perennial vines and shrubs growing to 2-8 m tall. Some are frequent garden escapes, becoming invasive species; they are regarded as environmental threats in Australia.