The Turnera ulmifolia, commonly called the Yellow Alder, is a roadside beauty. From the survey in my instagram stories yesterday most of us have spotted these flowers of the passion fruit family around us 🙂
The etymological root of the binomial name for Turnera is in honour of the 16th century English Botanist William Turner who chose to write his best-known work, A New Herball in English. This made practical botanical & medical knowledge widely available to its practitioners who weren't fluent in the classical languages. Therefore, he came to be known as the Father of English Botany.
The specific epithet ulmifolia is derived from Latin meaning elm like leaves. Ulmus is Latin for elm, folia is leaf.
So, what is it about the leaves of the elm trees? Their edges are toothy, therefore they are categorised as serrated.
The other common name, Yellow Alder, refers to the bright yellow of its flowers & its Alder like leaves. Again, Alders are trees with toothy leaf edges
Check out these pretty little yellow flowers in my green world of the roadside with deep green- deep veined- serrated leaves.
In other parts of the world, they are also called Brazilian & Cuban Buttercup, Buttercup after the flower :)
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#TOC_Flowers #flowersofcochin #treesofcochin