Tragopogon porrifolius (Purple salsify)
Tragopogon porrifolius (Purple salsify)
Written by Tuesday, 07 April 2009 00:00
"A small green isle, it seem'd no more, Scarce broader than my dungeon floor, But in it there were three tall trees,
And o'er it blew the mountain breeze, And by it there were waters flowing, And on it there were young flowers growing,
Of gentle breath and hue." Lord Byron, George
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Tragopogon porrifolius is one of the most widely known species of the salsify genus. Purple Salsify is a common wild flower, native to Mediterranean regions of Europe but introduced elsewhere, for example, into Great Britain and northern Europe, North America, and southern Africa; in the United States it is now found growing wild in almost every state, including Hawaii, except in the extreme south-east. The plant grows to around 60 cm in height. As in other goatsbeards, its stem is largely unbranched, and the leaves are somewhat grass-like. In Britain it flowers from June to September, but in warmer areas such as California it can be found in bloom from April. The flower head is about 5 cm across, and each is surrounded by green bracts which are longer than the petals (technically, the ligules of the ray flowers). The flowers are hermaphrodite, and pollination is by insects. The root, and sometimes the young shoots, of Purple Salsify are used as a vegetable, and historically the plant was cultivated for that purpose; it is mentioned by classical authors such as Pliny the Elder. The plant has also been used in herbalism, also since classical times (it is mentioned by Dioscorides), and is claimed to have beneficial effects on the liver and gall bladder (1). The first photo shows the whole plant, which, when not flowering, can easily pass unnoticed, like another grass-type plant. In fact, we had passed many times from these places and we never thought of paying any special attention to any of them. However, when the first flower blossoms, this humble plant with the long history, can easily become the centre of interest for any photographer. The flower in the next photo is unique in the sense that pollen is not there as opposed to all the other flowers we saw during this session. We decided not to use the flash and take the photo with the low sun lighting it from the side. Since the shutter speed was not very high, we decided to use the much lighter 20 mm wide angle lens which was easier to be hand held – instead of raising the ISO setting. At that time we thought that we would need maximum detail and sharpness to show the complex structure of this flower in full, so we would rather stay with a low ISO setting (ISO 320 is low for this particular camera). The next photo, taken with the same combination (a full frame camera with an ultra wide angle lens) shows the typical flower of the plant but it is the next picture, shot with the macro lens on our D300, which shows it in all its glory. We couldn’t resist taking a picture of the flower from the side, focusing on the central, still closed part of it, to show the crown-like formation, characteristic for this plant. The last photo was taken with the macro lens directly above the flower and then focusing manually on the yellow tips of the stems to show this interesting and colorful motif with the kind of symmetry only nature can create. The blurred background creates a nice purple – pink combination, with white and yellow spots. We used f/8 to keep the keep the rest of the flower out of focus but still recognizable. Photos by Marina Parha and George J. Reclos Shooting Data: 1. Camera: Nikon D700Lens: AF Tamron 180 mm f/3.5 SP Di Macro 1:1 Sensitivity: ISO 400 Shutter speed - aperture: 1/500 sec - f/8, Manual mode Flash: SB-800 in i-TTL/BL/FP (high speed synchronization) mode Image: NEF edited in Photoshop CS4, levels adjusted, sharpening added and resized. 2. Camera: Nikon D700 3. Camera: Nikon D700 4.Camera: Nikon D300 5. Camera: Nikon D300 6. Camera: Nikon D700 (1) Wikipedia |
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