Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seeds

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nic
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Location: Cervia (RA) - Italy

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seeds

Post by nic »

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seeds
Attachments
Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seeds<br />Camera: Sony Alpha 6300<br />Objective: Mitutoyo M Plan Apo 10x<br />Tube lens: Raynox 150<br />Stack: 65 shots - 5um<br />Wemacrocontroller
Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seeds
Camera: Sony Alpha 6300
Objective: Mitutoyo M Plan Apo 10x
Tube lens: Raynox 150
Stack: 65 shots - 5um
Wemacrocontroller
Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seed<br />Camera: Sony Alpha 6300<br />Objective: Olympus UMPlan FL 20x<br />Tube lens: Raynox 150<br />Stack: 136 shots - 2 um<br />Wemacrocontroller
Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seed
Camera: Sony Alpha 6300
Objective: Olympus UMPlan FL 20x
Tube lens: Raynox 150
Stack: 136 shots - 2 um
Wemacrocontroller
Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seed<br />Camera: Sony Alpha 6300<br />Objective: Olympus UMPlan FL 20x<br />Tube lens: Raynox 150<br />Stack: 136 shots - 2 um<br />Wemacrocontroller
Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seed
Camera: Sony Alpha 6300
Objective: Olympus UMPlan FL 20x
Tube lens: Raynox 150
Stack: 136 shots - 2 um
Wemacrocontroller
Last edited by nic on Wed Mar 03, 2021 4:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
nicola merloni

MarkSturtevant
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Re: Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seed

Post by MarkSturtevant »

Very beautiful! It looks kind of like a fossil ammonite.
Mark Sturtevant
Dept. of Still Waters

Scarodactyl
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Re: Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seed

Post by Scarodactyl »

Wow yeah, I would have bet money that was an ammonite at first glance. It even has the suture pattern!

Pau
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Re: Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seed

Post by Pau »

Very nice colors and texture!

ADMIN NOTE:
Please note that this thread is better placed here at Technical and Studio Photography -- Macro and Close-up forum. Moved from Nature Photography -- Macro and Close-up
Pau

nic
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Location: Cervia (RA) - Italy

Re: Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seed

Post by nic »

MarkSturtevant wrote:
Mon Mar 01, 2021 5:23 pm
Very beautiful! It looks kind of like a fossil ammonite.
Thanks Mark!
nicola merloni

nic
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2017 6:29 am
Location: Cervia (RA) - Italy

Re: Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seed

Post by nic »

Pau wrote:
Tue Mar 02, 2021 2:14 am
Very nice colors and texture!

ADMIN NOTE:
Please note that this thread is better placed here at Technical and Studio Photography -- Macro and Close-up forum. Moved from Nature Photography -- Macro and Close-up
Thanks Pau for the appreciation ... and the right positioning of my photo!
nicola merloni

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Re: Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seed

Post by rjlittlefield »

This is really interesting!

It seems like all the purslane seeds that I find by image search look just dull blackish. But on the other hand all those pictures show the seed(s) so much smaller that the colors would average out anyway.

Do all purslane seeds have these colors, or is this seed special, or something special with the illumination or imaging technique?

--Rik

nic
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2017 6:29 am
Location: Cervia (RA) - Italy

Re: Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seed

Post by nic »

rjlittlefield wrote:
Wed Mar 03, 2021 11:57 am
This is really interesting!

It seems like all the purslane seeds that I find by image search look just dull blackish. But on the other hand all those pictures show the seed(s) so much smaller that the colors would average out anyway.

Do all purslane seeds have these colors, or is this seed special, or something special with the illumination or imaging technique?

--Rik
The seeds I found (Portulaca oleracea) all have iridescent colors; they are 'structural' colors, not due to real pigments, but to light interference phenomena. I add some seeds taked at lower magnification, where you can see variable colors, but always iridescent.
nicola merloni

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Re: Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seeds

Post by rjlittlefield »

Thanks! Spring is coming. Perhaps my wife would enjoy receiving a package of purslane seeds this year... O:)

--Rik

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Re: Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seeds

Post by Chris S. »

Capital work! :D

Once again, photography in the proper hand shows me--in an entirely new light--something I've seen many times and taken no notice of.

I'd beware planting this in one's garden, though--I've battled it as an aggressive and pernicious weed.

--Chris S.

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Re: Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seeds

Post by rjlittlefield »

I'm still scratching my head over the fancy colors of these things. I stopped by the garden store a couple of days ago, found some purslane seeds in a transparent envelope, and with 10X magnifier they showed no color at all. Even more interesting, http://idtools.org/id/table_grape/weed- ... r-ole.html shows what is labeled as the same species, Portulaca oleracea, well photographed and at high mag, and again, no trace of colors. Take a look at the third and fourth images, which expand to give http://idtools.org/id/table_grape/weed- ... leComp.jpg and http://idtools.org/id/table_grape/weed- ... seComp.jpg .

I do not know why the different appearances. Maybe the colorful ones have a bit of oil on them, so we're looking at thin film interference? What happens to the colors if the seeds are washed in a solvent?

--Rik

nic
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Location: Cervia (RA) - Italy

Re: Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seeds

Post by nic »

rjlittlefield wrote:
Sat Mar 27, 2021 12:04 am
I'm still scratching my head over the fancy colors of these things. I stopped by the garden store a couple of days ago, found some purslane seeds in a transparent envelope, and with 10X magnifier they showed no color at all. Even more interesting, http://idtools.org/id/table_grape/weed- ... r-ole.html shows what is labeled as the same species, Portulaca oleracea, well photographed and at high mag, and again, no trace of colors. Take a look at the third and fourth images, which expand to give http://idtools.org/id/table_grape/weed- ... leComp.jpg and http://idtools.org/id/table_grape/weed- ... seComp.jpg .

I do not know why the different appearances. Maybe the colorful ones have a bit of oil on them, so we're looking at thin film interference? What happens to the colors if the seeds are washed in a solvent?

--Rik
it seems unlikely that the seeds are covered with a film of oil, I collected them a few months ago, I don't remember exactly how long ago .. I think rather that the differences in color may depend on the different state of ripeness, or on the fact that they could be phenotypic differences (these are Italian plant seeds). If you want I can send you some seeds, if you give me your postal address. Then you can try to photograph them yourself .. These seeds were collected in northeastern Italy, near Ravenna ..

P. S .: the poor quality of the first photo (Mitu 10x) depends on the fact that I compressed it quickly, perhaps doing something wrong; the original is better. When I have time I will replace it ..
nicola merloni

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Re: Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seeds

Post by Beatsy »

Very interesting pics - I've just seen some of these at magnification, and they weren't iridescent either. May have to look closer - when can find one again (mixed bag).
rjlittlefield wrote:
Sat Mar 27, 2021 12:04 am
I'm still scratching my head over the fancy colors of these things. I stopped by the garden store a couple of days ago, found some purslane seeds in a transparent envelope, and with 10X magnifier they showed no color at all. Even more interesting, http://idtools.org/id/table_grape/weed- ... r-ole.html shows what is labeled as the same species, Portulaca oleracea, well photographed and at high mag, and again, no trace of colors. Take a look at the third and fourth images, which expand to give http://idtools.org/id/table_grape/weed- ... leComp.jpg and http://idtools.org/id/table_grape/weed- ... seComp.jpg .

I do not know why the different appearances. Maybe the colorful ones have a bit of oil on them, so we're looking at thin film interference? What happens to the colors if the seeds are washed in a solvent?

--Rik
Could it be very diffuse light allowing the interference to show through a thin top layer? I get the same thing with black beetles. If you diffuse the light enough (a lot - beyond ridiculous) then sub-surface patterns and colours start showing clearly instead of the outer surface. Doesn't look anything like the black beetle does to the eye when this happen - even with a loupe.

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Re: Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seeds

Post by Guppy »

Hi Nic

Very nice pictures, I like them very much!
Did you use LED for lighting?

Kurt

rjlittlefield
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Re: Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seeds

Post by rjlittlefield »

nic wrote:If you want I can send you some seeds, if you give me your postal address.
PM sent.

Beatsy wrote:Could it be very diffuse light allowing the interference to show through a thin top layer? I get the same thing with black beetles. If you diffuse the light enough (a lot - beyond ridiculous) then sub-surface patterns and colours start showing clearly instead of the outer surface. Doesn't look anything like the black beetle does to the eye when this happen - even with a loupe.
Interesting! In general I'm used to seeing strange stuff when I look closer, sometimes with very strange colors (e.g., HERE). But I've photographed a lot of black beetles, and with those I don't remember seeing any effect that I can match with your description. If you have a specimen handy, it would be an interesting study to see the beetle shot both ways.

In any case, I'm inclined to think that's not the difference with nic's seeds, because of the photos shown at the links I provided. Those photos are high mag, apparently similar to nic's, but with no trace of the trippy colors. I checked to see if they had been converted to grayscale, but apparently not that because in the histograms there are clearly separated RGB profiles.

--Rik

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