I finished up the astro season for March with only two more good nights. I sure hope April works better for that. Desert flowers continue to be great. Today, I found a species that I’ve been looking for since I first read about it in my Sonoran Desert Wildflowers book. It has been a target species for several years and I finally found it. Now I need to select a new target.
My target flower, Nemacladus glanduliferous (according to my book, other sources may have different taxonomy). Also known as Redtip Threadstem. What interested me was the diminutive flower, only about 1/8 inch across, a perfect target for my super macro MP-65 lens. As the flowers develop, they rotate 180 degrees, there is no known explanation or purpose for this. This image is taken with the MP-65 lens and a ring flash. Three greenish-yellow glands are on the ovary. The stamens are fused. Why the plant seems to be clasping the stamens and stigma with the two lower petals like this I do not know. Another nice find this morning was Desertsnow, Lenanthus demissus. I’ve only seen this flowering one other time, in the Ajo Mountains. Both times I’ve seen it, I’ve only seen one plant. A closer view of a flower of Desertsnow. NGC 4490, also known as the Cocoon Galaxy, is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. It is about 25 million light years from Earth. It interacts with its smaller companion NGC 4485 and as a result is a starburst galaxy. NGC 4490 and NGC 4485 are collectively known in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies as Arp 269. This is another of those very small galaxies that the C8 allows me to image. M66, one of the Leo Triplets. I’ve done this before and just added more exposure. It is a very colorful galaxy. Five supernova have been recorded in this galaxy.
2 replies on “More Flowers and a Target Species”
I love those tiny beauties!
Your Macro work is spectacular!