A closer look at partridge pea

Click for greater clarity.

Here’s a closer view of a partridge pea flower, Chamaecrista fasciculata. Don’t you love the curving maroon and yellow stamens, which have shapes similar to those of buffalo bur? And how about the red markings at the base of four of the petals? You couldn’t see those things in yesterday’s photograph, so this closeup was called for.

Strands of spider silk in several places here may have caught, if not some hapless insect, at least your attention, but did you notice one of the spider’s legs creeping out beneath the lower left petal, and two above it? I didn’t when I took the picture, but I do now.

UPDATE: See Spider Joe Lapp’s detailed comment below. It seems that what I took to be spider legs at the top of the lower left petal aren’t, though it’s still not clear what they are.

© 2012 Steven Schwartzman