Saturday, October 05, 2024

Pic(k) of the Week: Tearthumb autumnal

Tearthumb autumnal

Dense thickets of tiny arrowleaf tearthumb wildflowers, blooming in early autumn.

Seen along the banks of Postal Pond in Decatur Legacy Park: City of Decatur, Georgia, USA. 28 September 2024.
Persicaria sagittata — commonly known as American tearthumb, arrowleaf tearthumb, or arrowvine— is a plant, in the buckwheat family (Polygonaceae), native to the eastern half of North America (as well as eastern Asia!). It grows in moist areas along lake shores, stream banks, etc.

Persicaria sagittata is an annual herb growing up to 7½-feet tall (200 cm), with prickles along the stem. Leaves are up to 4 inches long (10 cm), heart-shaped or arrowhead-shaped (unusual for the genus). Flowers are white to pink, borne in spherical to elongated clusters up to 0.6-inches long (15 mm).

Wikipedia.

Or, as a commenter on Flickr put it:
I find that most wildflowers are really tiny compared to what we normally think of as 'flowers', but no less interesting and beautiful.


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Saturday, September 28, 2024

Pic(k) of the Week: Tick clover, pondside

Tick clover, pondside

A small wildflower with a big name: panicled leaf tick trefoil.

Seen blooming on a bank of Postal Pond in Legacy Park: City of Decatur, Georgia, USA. 12 September 2024.

Is the trefoil a late-summer blossom or an early-autumn-er? You decide.
Hylodesmum is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, sometimes called ticktrefoils or tick-trefoils. It is sometimes treated as part of Desmodium. It includes sixteen species native to eastern North America, sub-Saharan Africa, and southeast Asia.

Hylodesmum nudiflorum — previously known as Desmodium nudiflorum and commonly known as naked-flowered tick trefoil, panicled leaf tick trefoil, stemless tick trefoil, or naked-stemmed tick clover— is a species of perenial flowering plant in the legume family (Fabaceae), native to eastern North America. Hylodesmum nudiflorum is typically found in mature, open hardwood woodlands in moist, sandy, gravelly, or loamy soil with high organic content. It is a nitrogen-fixing species through symbiosis with soil-borne bacteria.

Hylodesmum nudiflorum's delicate pinkish blooms, ⅓-inch (0.8 cm), are sweetly fragrant, occurring mid to late summer, borne on leafless stems. Reminiscent of pea-like blooms, the flowers have a rounded upper petal and three narrower lower petals, longer than the upper.
North Carolina Cooperative Extension.
Wildflowers of the United States.
Wikipedia.


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Saturday, September 21, 2024

Pic(k) of the Week: Hermetics

Hermetics

Hermetics. A field of industrial parts.

As seen from the Stone Mountain Trail, in Scottdale, Georgia, USA. 24 August 2024.

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Saturday, September 14, 2024

Pic(k) of the Week: Stretch!

Stretch!

Gather ye nuts while ye may...even when hanging by your hind legs!

Seminary Wood in Legacy Park: City of Decatur, Georgia, USA. 9 November 2023.

...with apologies to poet Robert Herrick.

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Saturday, September 07, 2024

Pic(k) of the Week: Umbrella in foliage

Umbrella in foliage

Umbrella in foliage,
Under summer rain.
Tableau at the park.

Mason Mill Park: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 25 July 2024.

On 12 August 2024, Flickr's editors selected the image (as one of five hundred) for inclusion in Flickr's daily Explore feature.

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