Seen during one of my numerous woodland walks.
Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS II
Fern on the rocks
Harley in yellow flowers
Seen in nearby woodland. He seemed to enjoy running around in the bright yellow flowers.
Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS II
Around the Neighborhood – Treeman Lives!
Last November I posted about strangely human looking tree that I called Treeman (See: Around the Neighborhood – Treeman). I’m pleased to report that, despite tree limbs and in some cases entire trees falling around him/her/it, he/she/it made it through the Winter unscathed. Had even one of the major limbs fallen the whole effect would have been spoiled.
Taken with a Fuji X-E and Fuji XF 55-200mm f3.5-4.8 R LM OIS
More flowers in the woods
In an earlier post (See: Daffodils in the Woods) I mentioned that I’d come across some clumps of daffodils in the woods. These were only a short distance away from the daffodils. They must have just bloomed because I’d never seen them before. In the landscape they’re so striking that I don’t think I would have missed them. I don’t know much about flowers but some internet searching leads me to believe that they are Poet’s Narcissus (a relative of daffodils). Whatever they are I really like the way they look.
Narcissus poeticus, the poet’s daffodil, poet’s narcissus, nargis, pheasant’s eye, findern flower or pinkster lily, was one of the first daffodils to be cultivated, and is frequently identified as the narcissus of ancient times (although Narcissus tazetta and Narcissus jonquilla have also been considered as possibilities). It is also often associated with the Greek legend of Narcissus. It is the type species of the genus Narcissus and is widely naturalized in North America.
For anyone (like me) who doesn’t know the story of Narcissus:
Narcissus, in Greek mythology, the son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Liriope. He was distinguished for his beauty. According to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book III, Narcissus’s mother was told by the blind seer Tiresias that he would have a long life, provided he never recognized himself. However, his rejection of the love of the nymph Echo or (in an earlier version) of the young man Ameinias drew upon him the vengeance of the gods. He fell in love with his own reflection in the waters of a spring and pined away (or killed himself); the flower that bears his name sprang up where he died.
Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XF 55-200mm f3.5-4.8 R LM OIS
Daffodils in the woods
When I came across these daffodils in a nearby woodland (see photo below for context) my first reaction was to wonder how they got there. I always thought that daffodils grew from bulbs and I imagined that it would be difficult for the bulbs to easily transfer to the wild. Then I came across this:
First, the wild daffodil can reproduce by generating seeds, which is a sexual method of reproduction. The flowers must be fertilized by an outside source in order to create these seeds, and pollen is required for this process. There are two important parts to a typical plant that are necessary for this type of reproduction. The pistil contains the stigma and the female gamete, where the daffodil’s ovule is found. On the stamen of a plant, pollen is produced, which contains the male gametes. When pollen is transported from one plant to another, it drops into the stigma and fertilizes the ovules of the plant, inside its ovary. A seed then develops from the fertilized ovule. When the daffodil blooms die, the tiny black seeds are dry and ready for dispersal. The seed pod (ovary) of the daffodil cracks open, and seeds either fall to the ground or are transported by wind or animals to a new location.
Essentially any insect or organism can serve as a pollinator for the daffodil. It really doesn’t matter how the pollen gets in the stigma, it just has to come in contact with it in order to start fertilization.
From seeds, daffodils take a very long time to grow into a full plant. It can take from five to seven years for a daffodil to bloom from a planted or dispersed seed.
So there you have it: unless someone deliberately planted them in this woodland they must have grown from seeds.
Taken with a Fuji X-E1 and Fuji XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS II