Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Lightbox, part II

My lightbox experiment continues. I had a theme going during my first day with the box: seed heads. The top 2 photos are of a plant that I am unable to identify at present Wingstem (thanks to Jim McCormac for help on the ID!).





The bottom 3 images are of one of my favorite autumn-blooming wildflowers : Tall Ironweed. All that remains of the vibrant purple flowers are these wild, tufty seeds.






More to come...

5 comments:

Jain said...

Elegant, classic! I love the effect the lightbox creates, especially in the first two. I'll be curious to hear what that plant is.

I have only adored Ironweed from afar so I haven't seen its seedheads before. Very autumnal!

Heather said...

Jain - Thank you for your comments. Ironweed is one of my favorite wildflowers. Unfortunately I still haven't had the chance to "work" with them (with my camera) in the way I would like. This gets me closer, though, for sure.

Jim McCormac said...

Hey Heather,

The top two photos are of Wingstem, Verbesina alternifolia. It is a common member of the sunflower family featuring dropping yellow petals, and plants can reach to over 6 feet in height. It's seeds are winged and bouyant; a great strategy for water dispersal.

The other photos are of Tall Ironweed, Vernonia gigantea, but you probably already knew that.

Jim

Jim McCormac said...

Sorry - meant DROOPING yellow petals - not "dropping", although they do fall off eventually :-)

Jim

Heather said...

Jim - Thanks so much for the IDs. I really appreciate the assist! The ID of Wingstem is especially helpful - I have photos of the plant in bloom somewhere on my computer, but now I have a name to put to them! And I wasn't entirely sure about whether it was Tall Ironweed or not... I thought it could be the New York variety, too, but I was leaning toward Tall. Thanks again! It's so good to have contact with trained botanists like yourself and Tom Arbour!