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rjlittlefield Site Admin

Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 20184 Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
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Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 11:18 pm Post subject: Purple star with fibers |
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It was cold and rainy today, and I couldn't stand it -- I had to go find something to bring indoors and play with.
This reminds me a bit of a sea star, but of course it's actually a flower.
Anybody recognize what kind?
--Rik |
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Bruce Williams

Joined: 30 Oct 2006 Posts: 1120 Location: Northamptonshire, England
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Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 3:53 am Post subject: |
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Clocks went forward today so 1 hour less sleep - that's my excuse .
My startpoint was "I don't recognise this flower!". So...
Well I've Googled endless March wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest looking for small, purple, 5-petaled flowers with white stamens and white, styleless stigma lobes (are those things stigma lobes? I did wonder if ithe flower was unisexual?). Then I thought "Could be an ornamental garden flower...or maybe unusual tree blossom...". ...all getting me nowhere fast
...and then I thought "Well it's sunny outside and Maggy needs her walk and there could be some photos to take....
So while I maybe know a little more about Washington State wildflowers I'm non the wiser as far as this particular flower is concerned.
Nice pic Rik.
Bruce  |
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Mike B in OKlahoma

Joined: 04 Aug 2006 Posts: 1048 Location: Oklahoma City
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Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 8:52 am Post subject: |
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I'm clueless on IDing anything that doesn't have a pulse, but this is nicely done anyway. I assume it is stacked? _________________ Mike Broderick
Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Constructive critiques of my pictures, and reposts in this forum for purposes of critique are welcome
"I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul....My mandate includes weird bugs."
--Calvin |
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rjlittlefield Site Admin

Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 20184 Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
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Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 10:10 am Post subject: |
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Deeply stacked.
It's not a wildflower. Actually it's ground cover under my hornbeam trees. Neither the hornbeams nor the ground cover is native.
And to tell the truth, I'm not sure I'd recognize this thing if I had a tray of options in front of me. The macro shot gives me a much different impression from the whole flower.
I'll let it sit a bit before showing you what I mean.
--Rik |
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beetleman

Joined: 04 Aug 2006 Posts: 3578 Location: Southern New Hampshire USA
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Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 11:22 am Post subject: |
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A very interesting flower Rik. I love the five sided shape. Could it be Periwinkle? _________________ Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda |
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Ken Ramos

Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 7078 Location: lat=35.4005&lon=-81.9841
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Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 11:34 am Post subject: |
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I too am at a loss for and ID, perhaps if we could see the whole flower Lots of details in the center of that thing though, looks almost synthetic, the longer you look at it, the more you're attention is drawn into the center of the flower. Pretty neat shot Rik.  |
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rjlittlefield Site Admin

Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 20184 Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
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Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 11:45 am Post subject: |
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beetleman wrote: | A very interesting flower Rik. I love the five sided shape. Could it be Periwinkle? |
Yee-hah! 10 points and a tip of the hat to Doug Breda!
Funny thing is, I had to look it up to discover that you're right. We've always called them Vinca's. But there they are in Wikipedia and the UK Plant Identification site, not quite as big as life (and a whole lot less detailed ) -- Vinca minor, the Lesser Periwinkle.
Nice job, and thanks for the info!
--Rik
Technical: The posted shot is straight down the center of the flower tube, 7 mm square by 6.5 mm deep. 128 frames at 0.002" spacing. Canon 300D with Olympus 38mm f/2.8 bellows macro lens at f/5.6. Helicon Focus with default parameters, no touchup. Daylight filtered halogen illumination from two bare fiber bundles positioned just beside the lens, no diffusion. Custom white balance, in camera. |
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rjlittlefield Site Admin

Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 20184 Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
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Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 12:01 pm Post subject: |
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Here's a closer crop of the same image.
I'm pretty weak on the anatomy of these things. Obviously the long clear fibers are coming from the sides of the tube formed by the petals. I presume that the cream-colored structures are part of the ovary, but what might be style, stigma, etc. is still a mystery to me.
--Rik
Field width 3.7 mm.
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beetleman

Joined: 04 Aug 2006 Posts: 3578 Location: Southern New Hampshire USA
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Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 4:40 am Post subject: |
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Well, what happened was, you mentioned it was a ground cover and not natural, so I did a search for flowering ground cover and the Periwinkle came up with the same color and five sided flower design. Was only a guess without seeing the whole enchalada . The crop is excellent...Amazing the stuff that is right under our feet (you would not want to see a macro of my feet...or maybe ) _________________ Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda |
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Cyclops

Joined: 05 Aug 2006 Posts: 2968 Location: North East of England
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Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 7:54 am Post subject: |
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Could it be a passiflora? _________________ Canon 30D | Canon IXUS 265HS | Cosina 100mm f3.5 macro | EF 75-300 f4.5-5.6 USM III | EF 50 f1.8 II | Slik 88 tripod | Apex Practicioner monocular microscope |
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rjlittlefield Site Admin

Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 20184 Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 9:56 pm Post subject: |
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Rik wrote: | I'm pretty weak on the anatomy of these things. |
Hah -- now that was an understatement!
See follow-up at Exotic structure of the Lesser Periwinkle.
--Rik |
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