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Annual Honesty (Lunaria annua)

Description

Lunaria annua, called honesty or annual honesty in English, is a species of flowering plant native to the Balkans and south west Asia, and naturalized throughout the temperate world. It is an annual or biennial growing to 90 cm (35 in) tall by 30 cm (12 in) broad, with large, coarse, pointed oval leaves with marked serrations. The leaves are hairy, the lower ones long-stalked, the upper ones stalkless.In spring and summer it bears terminal racemes of white or violet flowers, followed by showy, light brown, translucent, disc-shaped seedpods (silicles) the skin of which falls off to release the seeds, revealing a central membrane which is white with a silvery sheen, 3-8 cm (1-3 in) in diameter; they persist on the plant through winter. These pods are much used in floral arrangements.

Taxonomic tree

  • Domain: Eukarya

    • Kingdom: Plantae

      • Phylum: Magnoliophyta

        • Class: Magnoliopsida

          • Order: Brassicales

            • Family: Brassicaceae

              • Genus: Lunaria