Description
Like strawberries in chocolate cups...the small red flowers of (Parrotia persica), whose common name is Persian ironwood. This is a photograph in winter (which is when the flowers appear, before the leaves), and the flowers are capped with snow. This shrub / tree belongs to the witch hazel family, a family that includes many other winter- and early spring-blooming shrubs and trees. It is native to the northern Alborz mountains of Iran (formerly Persia), explaining the common name. The flowers have no petals - it is the bright red stamens that make up dense, spherical clusters, and appear along the bare branches in winter and early spring. Some more photographs of Persian ironwood: .
