Queens Tears

Queen's tears grows leathery, strap shaped arching leaves from a tight rosette. The leaves form a natural vase or funnel at the center. In the wild, this vase catches rainwater and droppings of whatever blows or creeps by. When Queen's tears blooms, a spike emerges from the center of the rosette. It gets longer, bends earthward, and blossoms into the complex and colorful flower you see above. The link to royalty may be the rich pink and purple on the magnificent blooms. The tears are drops of nectar that form on the flowers. Or just maybe it's the "weeping" form (like weeping cherry) of the flower spike itself that made someone think of tears.