Putterflum

Putterflums, alternatively spelled as putter-flums, are a type of annual flowering plant endemic to the Isles of Joy. Frequently seen in gardens and parks, the plants display vibrant and often contrasting coloring. Encompassing a number of similar species, interbreeding is possible among some of them, creating unusual-looking hybrids. A plant with a short and annually-repeating life cycle flower, it blooms at the end of summer but quickly dies following the year's first snow.

Description

Putterflums are annual flowering plants which bloom at the end of summertime, when they sprout a single flower of variable size and petals, dependent on the species, though most grow up to 8 cm in diameter. What characterizes all species, however, is an uneven number of petals arranged in a single file, which alternate in shape and coloring. Wavy petals with a pointed tip are interspersed with rounded petals, which surround a flowerhead. Composite in nature, each of the flower's petals is in fact its own flower, which surround a flowerhead composed of a different type of disc flowers, which mature into seeds. The longer petals are sterile and are not used for plant reproduction directly, though their coloring is used in order to attract pollinators. For instance, butter-vums, a species of putter-flums named after its coloring, have alternating petals colored in yellow (butter) and deep violent (vum). Hotter-bums, on the other hand, display red and white coloring, only moderately related to their suggestive name. The plants grow in small bushes, and stand on a long stalk with alternating leaves.