Vegetable Blossoms

On March 08, 2012, Switzerland-La Poste pleased to launch a set of three stamps feature vegetable blossoms.  The issued stamps depict tomato’s flower, runner bean’s flower, onion’s flower.

The 140 stamp present Tomato flower. Tomato plants are dicots, and grow as a series of branching stems, with a terminal bud at the tip that does the actual growing. Most tomato plants have compound leaves, and are called regular leaf (RL) plants.

Their flowers, appearing on the apical meristem, have the anthers fused along the edges, forming a column surrounding the pistil's style. Flowers in domestic cultivars tend to be self-fertilizing. The flowers are 1–2 centimetres  across, yellow, with five pointed lobes on the corolla; they are borne in a cyme of three to 12 together.

Runner bean

Phaseolus coccineus, the runner bean or scarlet runner bean since most varieties have red flowers and multicolored seeds, though some have white flowers and white seeds, is a plant in the Fabaceae family. The plant is a perennial vine with tuberous roots (though it is usually treated as an annual). This species originated from the mountains of Central America.

In the UK, the flowers are often ignored, or treated as an attractive bonus to cultivating the plant for the beans, whereas in the US the scarlet runner is widely grown for its attractive flowers by people who would never think of eating it.The flower is known as a favourite of Hummingbirds.

onion

Onion (Allium cepa) is a prolific multiplier onion cultivated near Baboquiviri, Arizona. They have a shallot-like flavour. They are easy to grow and ideal for hot, dry climates. To grow them, bulbs are separated, and planted in the fall 1 inch below surface and 12 inches apart. Bulbs will multiply into clumps and can be harvested throughout the cooler months. The plants rarely flower; propagation is by division.The tree onion produces bulblets instead of flowers and seeds, which can be planted directly in the ground.