Pic(k) of the Week: Diamorpha daybreak

  Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).

Tiny crimson diamorpha wildflowers, blooming at sunrise, near the summit of Arabia Mountain monadnock *.

DeKalb County, Georgia, USA.
3 April 2026 (7:37 am EDT).

Diamorpha smallii — commonly known as diamorpha, elf orpine, or Small's stonecrop — belongs to the stonecrop family (Crassulaceae), in the Sedum species of plants: succulents possessing thick, fleshy sections which retain water, allowing them to survive in drought conditions.

Diamorpha smalli is endemic to the southeastern United States, where the densest populations appear in Georgia, particularly in Panola Mountain State Park and the Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve. Two to four inches in height, Diamorpha smallii grows in areas with granite surfaces, appearing in vernal pools (seasonal puddles of water contained by rock or dirt) and solution pits (thin patches of dirt isolated on rock outcrops), adapted to survive in harsh conditions, including high temperatures and limited soil.

Hidden most of the year, Diamorpha smallii emerge in late winter, producing dense rosettes of tiny red succulent leaves. Then, in late March, the plants produce small white flowers (~ ¼ inch). As temperatures rise, the plants lose their bright red color, taking on the appearance of little brown stems sticking up from the ground, holding on to their seeds to forestall dessication during the hottest months of the year. The seeds drop and germinate in autumn.

— Arabia Mountain Heritage Area Alliance.
— Scott Ranger's Nature Notes.
— Wikipedia.

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Dizzy Gillespie: Tin Tin Deo

-----more-----

• Dizzy Gillespie and his Orchestra
  (originally released as 78 rpm in 1948)
• Dizzy Gillespie — trumpet, leader, co-composer
• Chano Pozo – percussionist, co-composer


• * "An inselberg or monadnock is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. An inselberg results when a body of rock resistant to erosion, such as granite, occurring within a body of softer rocks, is exposed by differential erosion and lowering of the surrounding landscape." (Wikipedia). In Georgia, there are three prominent monadnocks, all within a 15-mile area of each other: Arabia Mountain, Panola Mountain, and Stone Mountain.


• Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of images posted on Saturdays.
• Photo 17 of 52, for year 2026. See a larger, hi-res version on Flickr: here.


• Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 II.
• Lens: Olympus M.14-42mm F3.5-5.6 II R.
• Settings: 14 mm | 1/125 sec | ƒ/5.6 | ISO 400.
• Edit: Photoshop Elements 15, Nik Collection (2016).


• Image licensed via Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Reproduction permitted, but with these provisos:
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  • only for noncommercial purposes
  • attribution required (e.g., Cizauskas on Flickr)
  • commercial use forbidden except with explicit permission.
  
  
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