One of three cacti
Click for greater clarity.
It was March 2, and as I walked around the undeveloped area behind a small playground on Yaupon Dr. in my northwestern part of Austin, I came across something unusual: three species of cactus growing within an area of about a square meter. One was the ubiquitous prickly pear, which you’ve seen many times in these pages. Another appeared to be a Mammillaria. The third and smallest was the one shown here, a lace cactus, Echinocereus reichenbachii. None of the three species even had buds this early in the season, but I was intrigued by the radial pattern at the top of the lace cactus, which I emphasized by aiming the camera straight down and cropping the resulting photograph in a circle. The diameter of that circle represents a distance of about 3 cm., or a little more than an inch.
Those of you who are interested in photography as a craft can confirm that points 1, 8, 9, 15, and 21 in About My Techniques are relevant to this image.
© 2012 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
Wow! Love the symmetry.
cmrue
March 11, 2012 at 5:58 AM
Happy radial symmetry to you, too; I see that the Gravatar next to your name shows a circular flower head.
Steve Schwartzman
March 11, 2012 at 6:42 AM
Beautiful, life is amazing as are you!
Bonnie Michelle
March 11, 2012 at 7:27 AM
Don’t know about me, but life is! Thanks, Bonnie.
Steve Schwartzman
March 11, 2012 at 7:33 AM
I’ve largely given up commenting on your photos. Each one is a masterpiece, both because of your technical skill and also your ability to find the patterns that pervade the natural world. Commenting seems a little superfluous
But this shot is stunning. The interleaving spines forming a radial lattice is beautiful.
Neil
March 11, 2012 at 7:38 AM
Thanks for your kind words, Neil. I’ll admit to being interested in patterns for as long as I can remember, first in mathematics and language, then in the visual arts. Your description of “interleaving spines forming a radial lattice” is certainly apt, and my wife’s first reaction to this picture of a lace cactus was that it really does look like lace. The math part of my imagination appreciated the radial symmetry, but then the plebeian part intervened and saw toothpicks.
Steve Schwartzman
March 11, 2012 at 7:50 AM
Also this is reminiscent of a fullerene or buckyball. The layer next to the central hexagon appears to be formed of pentagons, as if, completed, this would form a tessellated sphere.
Neil
March 11, 2012 at 7:40 AM
Ah, see, there’s the mathematics. Good for you for picking up on all those geometrical features.
Steve Schwartzman
March 11, 2012 at 7:55 AM
Amazing! Just to think, we would typically not even give this remarkable plant a second look. Thank you for bringing your vision to us!!
Grace Duke
March 11, 2012 at 7:41 AM
You’re welcome, Grace. The botanist will add that if you saw this cactus not in its current state but when it was flowering you would certainly give it a second look, because its flowers are quite attractive. Now that I know the location of this one and a few neighbors, maybe I’ll be lucky enough to see some flowers on them later in the season.
Steve Schwartzman
March 11, 2012 at 7:59 AM
Great! It looks beautiful and i love the symmetry!
Regards,Laura
laurazeitlos
March 11, 2012 at 8:12 AM
That circular symmetry got me (I have a background in math). I’m pleased that you enjoy it too.
Steve Schwartzman
March 15, 2012 at 10:44 PM
Hi, Steve. I’ve just recently come across your site and started coming back just because I love close-up and macro photography. I’ve started reading about your techniques. Some I have tried and others not. I’ve already learned a lot from them and will be coming back often. Now I’m in a hurry to get out there and start taking more imaginative photos.
laveta segura
March 11, 2012 at 9:12 AM
Welcome to this nature photography blog. I’m glad some of my techniques have proved helpful. Happy picture-taking to you.
Steve Schwartzman
March 11, 2012 at 10:05 AM
Ah, ha! I recognized this at once – a rare response for me here. I have one of these little gems. His name is Godot, because I had to wait seemingly forever for him to bloom. You can see him in bloom here, along with his friend Godette. She’s the one with the spider-web-like bud covering that resembles your yarrow.
shoreacres
March 11, 2012 at 12:29 PM
Happy moment of recognition! Thanks for the link to your post (and the link within that one to the previous one), which I’ll recommend to readers.
As soon as I saw the name Godette, the shape and sound of the word made me think of the actress Paulette Goddard, whose names incorporate both parts of God-ette.
Steve Schwartzman
March 11, 2012 at 12:47 PM
The overlaying spines give depth, your circular crop makes it look like a sphere, giving the impression of one of those lovely blown glass paperweights. Your description of its size tells me that most of us wouldn’t have even noticed it. Glad you did. ~ Lynda
pixilated2
March 11, 2012 at 12:31 PM
I’d been looking at this picture as a two-dimensional representation, but your comment about the interwoven spines and the circular crop let me see the added third dimension (which of course I knew was there in reality). I am glad I came across this little cactus, a species I don’t see that often.
Steve Schwartzman
March 11, 2012 at 12:52 PM
Spectacular–and I know very well that it’s your incredibly close observation that allows me (us all) to truly see this cactus.
Susan Scheid
March 11, 2012 at 4:38 PM
Thanks, Susan. Close observation is fun, plus I learn a lot.
Steve Schwartzman
March 11, 2012 at 5:40 PM
I love how you’ve framed this~ it looks like a mandala.
melissabluefineart
March 11, 2012 at 8:34 PM
The last time I used an elliptical frame was in July 2011, for a photograph of a sunflower center, which I did indeed call a mandala.
Steve Schwartzman
March 11, 2012 at 8:43 PM
Hi Steve .. I love this lace cactus and the way you’ve photographed it. It’s one of those pictures that will stay with me for a long time .. a friend took me to a neighbour’s house the see an aloe – that totally represented Fibonacci .. it was just superb – that real life memory sticks with me.
Now I must pop over and see your mandala .. cheers Hilary
Hilary
March 12, 2012 at 2:18 AM
Yes, the fabulous Fibonacci numbers. I counted the “spokes” in this picture and found that there are 13, which is a Fibonacci number. I’m pleased that this picture will stay with you.
Steve Schwartzman
March 12, 2012 at 6:41 AM
really awesome image! 😀
raintreebranches
March 12, 2012 at 6:02 AM
Thank you. It’s one of my occasional tributes to geometry.
Steve Schwartzman
March 12, 2012 at 6:54 AM
Nicely done, like looking through a kaleidoscope.
Candace
March 12, 2012 at 10:04 PM
Good comparison: I hadn’t thought about that.
Steve Schwartzman
March 12, 2012 at 10:19 PM
Hi Steve
It is great the way you have captured the pattern of the cactus. I really enjoy the way you size up potential shots to get a different take on a plant. It makes for some really dramatic and interesting photos.
Regards
Guy
Guy
March 13, 2012 at 12:13 PM
Thanks, Guy. I’m pleased that you like the different approaches I take to my subjects. I’m always on the lookout for something new or a new way of seeing something familiar.
Steve Schwartzman
March 13, 2012 at 12:20 PM
[…] call it false garlic. As you can see, this one had sprung up adjacent to a prickly pear that was one of three types of cactus I found growing together on March 2. It reminds us of Dolly Parton’s adage that […]
Crow poison by prickly pear « Portraits of Wildflowers
March 14, 2012 at 5:55 AM
Wow, fantastic perspective, Steven.
Mufidah Kassalias
April 8, 2012 at 9:45 PM
Not for nothing was I a math teacher.
Steve Schwartzman
April 8, 2012 at 10:07 PM
Your beautiful photograph of this stunningly symmetrical–or symmetrically stunning–cactus proves once again that Nature is the most accomplished artist as well as engineer.
tanjabrittonwriter
March 3, 2023 at 8:08 PM
You’ve circled back to this circle-framed picture that I see got posted 11 years ago this week. Ah, the cycle of life. Your casting of Nature as an accomplished engineer reminds causes me to circle back to a favorite subject, etymology. Engineer derives from Latin ingenium, which meant ‘innate or natural quality.’ It’s related to Old English cynd, which meant ‘inherent nature, disposition, kind, gender, generation, race,’ and which is the same word as German Kind.
Steve Schwartzman
March 4, 2023 at 7:35 AM
I can’t even remember what I did 11 years ago, at least you have your images to help you remember. I find these reminders of time’s passage very disconcerting…
But the etymology of “Kind” is very interesting, as is the question if our “inherent nature” is already present when we are still swaddled in our cribs, or if it develops afterward.
tanjabrittonwriter
March 5, 2023 at 3:08 PM
Ah, the old nature versus nurture controversy. Based on two books that I’ve read about the findings of recent DNA research, I’d say they’re pushing things more in the nature direction. One insight I came away from the books with is that the older we get, the more we exemplify our DNA. You might put it as: the older we get, the more we become ourselves.
Steve Schwartzman
March 5, 2023 at 6:58 PM
If falling apart and becoming more decrepit with advancing age means becoming more ourselves, I might not ever want to become my true self.
tanjabrittonwriter
March 7, 2023 at 4:49 PM
True enough, hardiness and resilience generally decline in all of us as we age. What I meant by becoming more ourselves is that our traits and predilections become more pronounced. If you’d like to learn more about recent DNA insights, the two books I read are Blueprint by Robert Plomin and Innate by Kevin Mitchell. Both have now been released in paperback.
Steve Schwartzman
March 7, 2023 at 5:50 PM
I knew I was taking your comment out of context, but I must have felt the need to make a disparaging comment about what I perceive as a depressing physical decline.
Thank you for the links to the books.
tanjabrittonwriter
March 7, 2023 at 7:08 PM
You’re welcome for the links. I found both books good, as they’re full of information while still presenting it in a way a non-specialist can follow.
I’m well ahead of you (I think) on the road paved with years, so I get what you’re saying about physical decline.
Steve Schwartzman
March 7, 2023 at 8:00 PM