one species a day

By linnaeus

One species each day (from my backyard)

I'm running behind again because of photographing a springtail in the garden a few days ago which I have to identify it before uploading it. It's still getting harder to find anything exciting to photograph at night in the garden so I extended my backyard to the front deck. Ellen bought a Cyclamen persicum for on the table a few weeks ago, but it started to suffer from having been inside too long and the newly developed leaves and flowers were staying rather small and deformed, so Ellen put it on the deck and replaced it with some nice smelling fresh flowers. It was raining that night so I didn't want to go outside with the camera so took the cyclamen inside and took some pictures of its flowers. It has never been a favourite of mine, I actually have some negative memories of it, although they have sort of worn off after half a century. But ... I also never liked the flowers, probably because I'd never seen anything but the windblown petals with a big hole in the front. I never 'understood' these flowers without their reproductive organs. They remind me more of a jet engine than a flower. So here was my chance to have a good look inside and YES! there are some reproductive organs! Stamens and stigma although very unusually shaped. Maybe I will enjoy cyclamens a little more from now on.

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