Today we have some plant photos by Rik Gern, whose captions are indented. Click on his photos to enlarge them.
On October 16th of last year you posted a variety of local wildflower photos I sent you, including one picture of Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum). A search through the files shows that that was one of a half dozen pictures of the same plant, so I am sending the batch in case you can use them. It still blows me away that such a common and pretty plant is poisonous!
Another common plant, not quite as pretty as the Poison Hemlock, but a pleasure to have around is the Tufted Yellow Wood Sorrel (Oxalis priceae), which I always mistake for clover. Here are some shots of a natural bouquet of the Sorrel popping up between bricks in a walkway.
I’ve been looking thru some odds and ends to find pictures for your Reader’s Wildlife Photos potpourri and found this picture of curled dried leaves. I’m not sure of the plant’s species, but I’m pretty sure it’s of the genus Yucca.
Nothing rare or exotic here, just examples of the kind of common beauty that’s there for the appreciation whenever we choose to look.
Lovely.
Just ask the spirit of Socrates about hemlock!
The resemblance between hemlock (so common and harmless-looking!) and a number of common edible plants here in central Europe (like Anthriscus sylvestris/cow parsley) has always spooked me.
Pleasing to the eye, all. The Sorrel pushing up between bricks reminds me again of nature’s fierce determination to live. Any four-leaf Sorrels out there to bring luck to the four-legged ones?
Yes, nature does not always flaunt her beauties before us. Nice pictures. I’m amazed at how high hemlock can grow — several meters.
Wonderful photos! I love Poison Hemlock. Looks like an edible flower I would put on my salad!
Nice compositions. I wonder if the sorrel is edible? I would also have mistaken it for clover.
Mark, you can eat Oxalis species, and people have added the leaves to salads for generations. Oxalis apparently means “sour” or “sharp” in Latin. As kids we would eat the little seed pods, which we called wild pickles, because they were green and sour.
Rik, I applaud your appreciation of the overlooked. We truly are surrounded by such vast quantities of natural beauty that we often fail to actually take the time to notice. Wonderful photos. Thank you.