Your *amazing* macroscopic plant detail photos.

[Turtle]

many difficulties..and all its help instructions are in chinese....so it sites there and makes my desk look more sophisticated :eek_big:

 

If it's plugged into your box, try opening your usual image software, choose the file menu, and look for the 'Acquire' command. Click it, & your scanner interface should open in a new window. That's how mine works anyway. :eek_big:

 

thats a nice wheat shot, but there aint no worms....just doesnt seem right LOL.

 

I invite my spider & ladybug friends into the garden to feast, and it seems I also have a pacific tree frog hunting it.

 

Here's today's image; a high-res scan of the leaves of an arborvitae growing in the yard. :naughty:

 

pyramidal arborvitae -Thuja occidentalis 'Pyramidalis'

[Turtle]

spore capsules of a moss

[freeztar]

I believe it is Helianthus hirsuta, but it's *very* difficult to key out and would require digging up an entire plant which I haven't done.

 

A happy accident from this photo was a neat looking tendril in the upper left hand corner of the photo. It is from the invasive air potato (Dioscorea bulbifera). The leaf of the air potato is just below the tendril.

 

[Turtle]

lettuce seed-head (scan)

[mynah]

Black arum, a cultivar (I think) of the South African species Zantedeschia rehmanni. The wild species is pink. Interesting about these plants is that in some colour cultivars the spathe colour is reflected on some of the leaves: This plant, for instance, has leaves edged in black. Anyone knows how you go about breeding a black arum? Other cultivated colours include purple, copper, yellow and deep pink.

 

[Turtle]

common sunflower seed

[freeztar]

common sunflower seed

Great shot. Is it hairy like that by default, or is it from "floral sheddings"?

[Turtle]

Great shot. Is it hairy like that by default, or is it from "floral sheddings"?

 

By default...well, conditionally I guess, because I baked these many hours at low temp. The fibers are more in the seeds than on the seeds. :lol: Unlike other batches I have prepared, I didn't rinse these in water or soak them in brine.

 

My first impression on the sunflower seed image (a digital photo this time) was 'Nature's barcode'. How does Mother get those lines printed on every seed? :) :hyper:

 

california poppy pod & seeds

[Ganoderma]

Black arum, a cultivar (I think) of the South African species Zantedeschia rehmanni. The wild species is pink. Interesting about these plants is that in some colour cultivars the spathe colour is reflected on some of the leaves: This plant, for instance, has leaves edged in black. Anyone knows how you go about breeding a black arum? Other cultivated colours include purple, copper, yellow and deep pink.

 

i think the colour varieties like these one jsut selective breeds for more of a given pigment...there are some accessory pigments that are purple and dark in colour that still carry on photosynthesis.....but true black i cant think of which pigment causes this in plants....anyone know?

 

i have always wondered if playing with different light wavelengths would assist in producing new colour cultivars as the plant would possible make more carotene, for example, instead of the chlorophylls to try and take in more of the available light....anyone know of any experiments?

 

i guess the trouble with that kind of selective breeding would be once they are sold and planted outside, they would probably develop their green again within a few generations i would think.

[freeztar]

"True" black only occurs in plants when they die. :)

 

Here's a good read on black plants and the pigments at work:

Planet Science | Out There

[Turtle]

oregon ash seeds [scan]

[Ganoderma]

"True" black only occurs in plants when they die. :)

 

Here's a good read on black plants and the pigments at work:

Planet Science | Out There

 

i was wondering about that...i have never red about black pigments.

 

i am curious what kind of paper use when they do a chromatography...i tried a while back using coffee filter paper...and must have screwed up somewhere....i was using water and acetone (separate). any ideas?

[freeztar]

i was wondering about that...i have never red about black pigments.

 

i am curious what kind of paper use when they do a chromatography...i tried a while back using coffee filter paper...and must have screwed up somewhere....i was using water and acetone (separate). any ideas?

 

Technically, you should use chromatography paper, but I'm not sure why the coffee filter would not suffice. It should work. ;)

How are you performing the process?

[mynah]

i was wondering about that...i have never red about black pigments.

 

i am curious what kind of paper use when they do a chromatography...i tried a while back using coffee filter paper...and must have screwed up somewhere....i was using water and acetone (separate). any ideas?

 

You don't need black pigments to create a black flower. Try you hand at it - and have fun at the same time! - here:

Breed your own black tulip

 

It is based on real genetics, too, although probably a little simplified. (Hint: There is at least one rather unlikely colour you will have to introduce in order to succeed. Wouldn't have guessed it, had I not read an article on black tulips some time ago...)

[Ganoderma]

i am not sure why it didn't work, i think it didn't get enough pigment o the paper...i tried again last night and it worked quite well :)

 

when doing this is there any reliability in assuming the amount of various pigments? for example there is 4mm of chlorophyll a 3mm of C b 2 mm of carotene etc....could this be used as a rough guesstimate that there is about half as much carotene as there is chlorophyll a....this make sense, or a horrible idea? not for accurate readings, just for general sense of what are more common in that given plant/sample.

[freeztar]

i am not sure why it didn't work, i think it didn't get enough pigment o the paper...i tried again last night and it worked quite well :)

 

Cool! Got a pic? ;)

when doing this is there any reliability in assuming the amount of various pigments? for example there is 4mm of chlorophyll a 3mm of C b 2 mm of carotene etc....could this be used as a rough guesstimate that there is about half as much carotene as there is chlorophyll a....this make sense, or a horrible idea? not for accurate readings, just for general sense of what are more common in that given plant/sample.

 

That seems reasonable to me, but I'm not exactly sure. You should be able to set up an experiment for this though. :evil:

[Turtle]

Speaking of color, did y'all know about the secret flower patterns only visible in UV range? :)

 

...Ultraviolet light, invisible to us, uncovers colours and patterns which draw them [insects]to the source of pollen and nectar - all hidden to humans without special equipment.

This secret colour world was discovered in the Fifties and scientists realised that these distinct patterns were designed to act as "landing strips" or arrows, guiding the insects to the right spot. ...

A bees-eye view: How insects see flowers very differently to us | Mail Online

 

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/08_01/PrimroseDM_1000x390.jpg