Geoffrey Chadbund - from Duchy of Cornwall, March 1998
This Swiss-bred lacecap is properly called Mowe, which absurdly means Seagull - one wonders whether seagulls reach Switzerland! In spite of that disadvantage, it is an excellent plant. Its ray florets (the big ones with coloured sepals) are usually distributed evenly around a large domed centre of fertile flowers, though towards the end of the season this pattern is sometimes a little confused. When growing in alkaline conditions, the sepals are a good strong pink. Our parent plant is in slightly alkaline soil and tends to spoil its pink with mauve shades. The fertile flowers are bright blue. After they are fertilised and seed pods begin to swell, the ray florets turn over, showing their tawny pink reverse.
To right and left are the extremes of colour on 27th September 2005. These late flower heads have ray florets obscuring the central dome of fertile flowers.
This older flower head shows the typical symmetry of the variety, with the ring of sterile florets surrounding the dome of fertile ones. By this date (also 27th September 2005) the blue parts have fallen from the fertile florets and the seed-pods have started to swell, while the ray florets have reversed.