Why one when a hundred or a thousand will do? These are what I would call compound flowers — flowers that at a distance would seem to be one, but on closer inspection turn out to be many. Botanists are cringing at this explanation, but this isn’t a Botany site. It's not even a flower site in reality. Scientists are very careful with definitions, as they should be. On the other hand, I’m counting on the reader to know what I mean when I say that a thousand can sometimes look like one. I am not a scientist. The reddish or pinkish flowers above are so many and so complicated that they tend, strangely, to look out of focus. What looks like texture is actually multiplicity. We see it here in all its phases. But from a distance, and not knowing what to expect, it looks like a single red splotch of flower.

This yellow bloom has many of the same characteristics, and also the same tendency to look out of focus. In this case I think it’s because all the colors are so close. It’s had to tell where one thing begins and another ends. But it’s certainly a delightful experience trying to work that out.

Finally, a plant with white blooms and red husks, giving it a look ranging from red, through pink to white. Again, from a distance it looks like a speckledy bloom. All of these have minute flowers, and flowers by the thousand or the million. All in delightful excess, to be noticed and appreciated, or to be walked past and ignored. Flowers may not be there for us, but we should definitely be there for them.