Sunday, March 15, 2020

Icing sugar flowers

I was prowling in the little forest at Oyster Bay, going slow, bending down, watching the sides of the trail, looking for mosses and mushrooms. If I had been going any faster, I don't think I would have seen these flowers; they looked like a dusting of icing sugar on the ground. Even down on my knees, I could not distinguish their shapes. The camera sees better, but I wished I was carrying my macro lens. So tiny!

4 2-lobed petals, a yellow centre, and stalks as thin as hairs. Draba verna, I think.

Cropped from the photo above, showing a seed, or seed pod.

D. verna has the unique trait of bifid petals, not found anywhere else in the genus Draba. (Wikipedia)

A wider view.

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Estaba buscando hongos y musgos en el bosquecito en Oyster Bay, examinando el suelo a mis pies y al lado de la vereda. Aún así apenas noté estas flores; tan pequeñitas que más bien parecían azúcar glas espolvoreado. Ni de rodillas pude ver claras las flores; la cámara tiene mejores ojos que yo.

Tienen 4 pétalos, divididos cada uno en dos, centros amarillos, y tallos tan delicados que parecen hilitos. Hacen semillas más grandes que las flores, gorditas. Creo que son de la familia de las mostazas, Draba verna.

2 comments:

  1. My favorite spring flower.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous3:06 pm

    So lovely and delicate. Beautiful.

    ReplyDelete

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