Can anyone help me identify this flower (opens only by day)

[eric11210]

Hi folks,

Picked up this flower at a local gardening shop. The guy didn't know what it was called and said it was the only one he had. I absolutely fell in love with it and learned when I got it home and placed it on my balcony that the peddles open during the day and then close at night (at first, I just noticed there were no open peddles and I assumed they had fallen off when I took it out of the car, but then I quickly figured out that it opens during the day when I saw it bloom the next morning and then close in the evening).

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/17 ... 751ff.jpg/

Any help appreciated.

Thanks,

Eric

P.S. If it helps with identification, I'm in Israel.[/img]

[rainbowgardener]

I think it is a blackberry lily:

http://www.degroot-inc.com/product_info ... cts_id=239



actually in the iris family, not a lily, though it is called that

[eric11210]

Definitely looks like that. However, from what I've read online, it doesn't seem that the blackberry lily opens only during the day and then closes again in the evening. I also don't see any pods on the plant to grow the berry like seeds...

[rainbowgardener]

The picture above shows a pod and they are called blackberry lilies because of the berry like seeds.

blackberry lily seeds:



This article
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-blackberry-lily.htm

describes blackberry lily as opening in the morning and then closing in a spiral fashion late in the day.

[rainbowgardener]

I read this again and realized "I also don't see any pods on the plant to grow the berry like seeds..." could mean you don't see any pods on your plant. It's probably just too early. The pods don't come until after the flowers are done and dropped off.

[cynthia_h]

The pods are there, just *behind* the flowers. The position is like that of the immature squash behind female squash flowers; the seeds need to mature during the flower's season; then they'll be the main feature.

These are in my MIL's yard, put there by the landscapers five years ago. I never knew their name!

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9