We have a new batch of floral photographs (one has insects in it) by reader Tom Webber from Florida. Tom’s narrative and captions are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
Here are a few of the many wildflowers I’ve found this spring and early summer in the several hundred acres of open tall-pine woods I visit regularly in Alachua County, at the north end of the Florida peninsula. In two previous installments I showed flowers that bloomed there during late summer and fall of last year. There was nearly complete turnover of the blooming species from the earlier period to the later; the only one flowering in both was the butterfly pea. Most of the plants in the present group, like the ones I’ve shown previously, grew in parts of the forest that had been burned within the last year. I think I’ve identified them all correctly to genus, and most to species, but I’ve put the qualifier “cf.” before some of the species epithets I’m less sure of. I invite corrections.
Carolina frostweed, Crocanthemum carolinianum. 2 cm.:
Lizard’s tail, Saururus cernuus. 10 cm long. This one grew with hundreds of others on the marshy fringe of a pond in a small cypress dome:
Myrtleleaf St. Johnswort, Hypericum myrtifolium. 1.5 cm. The other two species of Hypericum I’ve found here are scattered about sparsely through the woods, but these grow in only one patch occupying less than a quarter of an acre:
Shiny blueberry, Vaccinium myrsinites. 5 mm long. These are common in many parts of the forest and in some places form a major part of the understory. The berries aren’t much to eat; they’re small, grainy with seeds, and not very juicy:
Roseling, Callisia graminea. 2 cm.:
Dwarf huckleberry, Gaylussacia dumosa. 8 mm. I found only about ten of these plants, in one diffuse clump about 15 m in diameter. I haven’t tried the berries:
Dayflower, Commelina cf. erecta. 2.5 cm across. Flowers of this genus have three kinds of stamens, including some that don’t produce pollen. The sterile ones here are the upper trio, with the x-shaped anthers. These are thought to help attract pollinators by giving the appearance of a pollen bonanza without the expense of producing the real thing:
I happened upon these two while I looked over other dayflowers nearby. They are Poecilognathus punctipennis, a species of bee fly endemic to southern North America – most sources say Georgia and Florida only. They were jostling the anthers with their forelegs, concentrating on the two slender-stalked lower ones, scarcely touching the big central one, and neglecting the sterile ones. They didn’t seem to achieve anything at first, but then managed to break the pods a bit and knock loose some pollen grains. Even though their soda-straw snouts look highly specialized for sipping nectar, they succeeded in snorting up a few grains each; I couldn’t help wondering if they ever get clogged. It seemed like a lot of work for not much return, but they do manage to get a substantial part of their diet this way. I could have changed the camera controls to get more in focus and reduce the movement blur, but I was afraid the pause might cost me my chance to get an identifiable picture of the flies. A few days later I found some of them feeding on roselings as well:
Yellow jessamine, Gelsemium sempervirens. 4 cm.:
Elliott’s milkpea, Galactia elliottii. 1.5 cm. These grew thickly over a large wet depression and were all gone after about three weeks:
Mountain azalea, Rhododendron canescens. 4 cm long. One of our five native Florida species of Rhododendron:
Snow squarestem, Melanthera nivea. Entire flower head 2 cm. Snow squarestem is native to the Florida pine woods, but I haven’t found it in this forest. This one grows in a pot in my yard:
Purple thistle, Cirsium horridulum. 8 cm.:
Tread-softly, Cnidoscolus stimulosus. 1.5 cm. A nettle, which can stab you even through your pants. The sting lasts only about 15 minutes though. This is one of the most persistent spring flowers here:
Spurred butterfly pea, Centrosema virginianum. 3 cm across. An example of a white individual; the others I’ve seen here have been violet, and I have included one in a previous installment from late summer and spring:
Great pic of the flies!
Getting ideas for my garden. The dayflower is a beautiful colour.
Pretty photos!
Oooo I love the contrast on these, especially the amazing pair of bee flies… to bring new patterns out… mesmerizing… 😁
Super nice—especially the Dayflower with its attendant flies.
Great photos! May I ask you what your typical lens and exposure settings you were shooting with?
Thanks for your interest. Most of the time I use f/5.6, which is the sharpest aperture on my Sigma 70mm macro lens. That f number and focal length together produce a depth of field that’s shallow enough to help separate the subjects from their backgrounds. It’s usually so shallow that the entire flower won’t be in focus in a single exposure, so all these pictures except the one with the flies are focus-stacked. I prefer to use ISO 100 because my 12-year-old camera doesn’t have the spectacular high-ISO image quality of the new ones. I always use aperture priority, and let it give me whatever shutter speed it comes up with. As you can see from the pictures themselves, the light I like is often dim, and with the low ISO the exposures can be long. I always use a tripod, but that’s no help if the flowers are wiggling in the breeze, so I have to watch the forecast for winds predicted to be no more than about 3 mph. I’ve never used artificial light.
Thank you so much for the explanation. I wasn’t sure whether you were using focus stacking. Again, the photos are great.
These photos are so magnificent. Lovely.
I can’t believe the nettles have such beautiful flowers. I’ve been stung. It hurts!
I never saw the nettle flowers on the bush, just got stung hiking.
Now back to hunting the viper in the photo before. I would have been dead by now as I have been searching and don’t see a thing. I just can seem to spot danger!
All are beautiful…but esp. those flies!
These are lovely pics, thanks for sharing them. I’ve never heard of focus stacking, have learned something new today.
These are beautiful photos, lovingly taken. The double fly picture is spectacular!
Beautiful photos!
Your exposure values are low; I see from your comments at 6 that that is an artistic choice. 😉
You’ve put your finger on my predicament: how to set the exposure so it looks about right on a variety of monitors and in different viewing conditions. When I look at these pictures on WEIT using the monitor I used to edit them, they look exactly the way they did when I sent them in, which of course seemed right to me at the time. But I’ve also seen that web page using a different monitor in a brighter room, and the photos looked under-exposed there. Have you dealt with this sort of thing?
Stunning. I appreciate the technical background information. My photography “career” arrested during film days. Focus-stacking…just, wow.
I often look at WEIT on my phone. Today thank goodness I am sitting in front of my 27″ screen. Not only am I looking at them this large but I am enlarging them. These photos are spectacular, not only technically but aesthetically. The moisture drops, the textural detail of the petals, very lovely. The spurred butterfly pea looks both majestic and terribly fragile isolated on the dark ground.