I began collecting seeds this month. I'm writing this entry as an introduction to that collection. I think I will keep a running tally of my collection in this blog. So let's begin with the 1st 3 in my collection
This:
Came from this:
Yes, that is a 35 mm slide.
Back in the day that's the format I used. My equipment was a kit from the Sears and Roebuck catalog that included a Pentax K1000 camera body with a macro kit and telephone lens and other accessories. I used that gear for 20 plus years from age 11 up. That's the equipment I had. Not much to brag about, but I learned a lot with it.
In order to get these photographs for upload, I had to take macro pictures with my new equipment. I know they didn't come out that great but I hope some people will find them interesting.
I mentioned this information because of two pictures that I recently uploaded to the site. One of them is the pitcher plant above. Here is the other one.
I took both of these photographs with that old equipment. I started going through my old slide collection and I found these 2 and some others that I probably will put up in the future. I am labeling all of these entries as "vintage". Yes I know the quality is not that great, hence the "Vintage" label, but they do have some historical meaning, at least to me. I hope some of the people on the site will find them interesting.
The circumstances for the pitcher plant are as follows. I was a park seasonal naturalist with Weymouth woods-Sandhills nature preserve for 2 summers during my junior and senior years of marine biology school. Those were the most enjoyable summers of my life, and as I tell people all the time it was the best $5 an hour job I have ever had.๐
During that summer we spent time on the Fort Bragg military reservation. At that time you could freely enter the fire breaks, and we often did (Now you might get shot on sight so I don't get down there anymore). I spent many an interesting hour on those fire break roads.
In those areas there are several pocosin or "bogs or swamps on a hill", and I knew about some of them. This is where I got the Pitcher plants. There are some other photographs from that era that I will probably come cross, and I'll try to upload in the future.
The sundews were in a different place. Another one of my favorite places to go. I lived in Wilmington, North Carolina after I graduated from school for about 10 years. To the south of Wilmington is it large swamp known as the Green swamp near Supply, NC. It's vast acreage covered with swamps, alligators, water moccasins and a whole bunch of other creepy critters (Probably like in Florida everyday). I used to drive down there on occasion. I would spend hours in that place looking for plants and animals. Here's a shot of me back in the day in the swamp.
You may notice how my right hand is held out to my side. I didn't have a timer on my old equipment. I had to use 1 of those old pressure bulbs to trigger the shutter to get that picture. That's 1 for the history books for sure.
If you ever have a chance to visit Green swamp, it's worth a visit to stop your car on the side of the road and walk around for a little while. And definitely take your camera with you!๐ธ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ข๐ธ๐ท๐ธ๐ธ๐ฟ๐ธ๐๐๐
June 1, 2022:
Today I ended another quest successfully! I only picked up a couple of species today, but that's okay. The fun is just getting out there and looking. Each ride I take is almost like a review. I see plants that I've recently photographed or photographed in the past, and try to remember their names and the circumstances of where I got them.
Today's subject is Cirsium repandum. I first encountered this plant back in the 1980's when I was a Park Naturalist at Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve. Back then, I called it Sandhill's Thistle, and by the scientific name of Carduus repandus. So, when I started looking it up after I got home and I could not find any instant for CR on the datsbase I had to do a little back tracking.
CR is an easily recognizable plant, so I knew it when I saw it. The name change was not unexpected, as after 30 plus years away things do change.
I think you can see in the picture that I'm right. It's easy to recognize.
This plant is a real beauty in a stark background. I usually find it in pine flats in sandy soils and not much around them. Usually the understory includes Jack oaks, persimmon, sassafras, cherry or other small understory trees. Not much grows on the ground in these areas, except maybe legumes, euphorbs or some other sand-loving plants. So, as a result the bright, pink flowers really stand out.
After looking this up and posting my photographs, I went and looked at the other species/photographs. I found that we have a few experts on the team. I will not mention names for fear of leaving someone out.
Another thing I found out in my back-tracking research is the reason for the change in genus. The reason is because of the achenes. The thistle can be plumed (Cirsium) or plumeless (Carduus). That means that the achene has "feathered-hairs" or plumes or they are plumeless. The feathers (obvoiusly) aid in dispersal. Carduus don't have plumes, hence the change. You find out all kinds of interesting things in your research that will help you remember the plant in the future and it's characteristics. In the future I will try and get photographs of the achenes to compare.
Till next time!
At this time, I don't know exactly what this blog post will be. I'm just going to start working on it, and see what comes. If anyone has suggestions about what I should include in the future or maybe things I should not include let me know.
May 27, 2022
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Magnetism? Computers? Digital media? Love it or hate, it's amazing, fun and of course frustrating. I mention magnetism because it all started with the electromagnetic theories of all those 18th and 19th century physicists and the 20th, and present time technicians! Wow!
I'm not talking about that anymore.
Nope! I'm talking about digital cameras:
I recently purchased a digital camera I won't say the brand or model number, but I'm enjoying it thoroughly.
I'm also learning about the frustrations of working with digital media (DM). Like moving it between hardware and the cloud and the cloud and hardware and back and forth. And .... NM!
If you have a DSLR or another digital camera, then you understand. What do have, what do I keep, where do you keep it, and how do you organize it? I say "What a high class problem". Why? Because I come from the age of celluloid. The age when you had to buy a roll of film with 24 or 36 exposures, and then pick your pictures carefully. Then you have to take them to the drug store and hope that the drug store processed them correctly and that they return them to the right person if at all.
Now I can take all the pictures I want.
