More color changes not triggered by cold
Click for greater clarity.
In the last post you saw the way a croton leaf can turn bright yellow (and be occupied by a bearer of green). Now here’s a detail of a no-longer-green leaf of the greenbrier vine, Smilax bona-nox, whose stiff and waxy leaves have a tendency to turn partially or mostly brown, yellow, orange, and even red. As far as I can tell, the change isn’t triggered specifically by cold, because I’ve seen individual greenbrier leaves turning these colors at various times of the year. I photographed this particularly bright one on the warm morning of October 17th in the northeast quadrant of US 183 and Mopac in Austin, where thousands of cars go by every hour.
For those of you who are interested in photography as a craft, points 1, 9, 12 and 15 in About My Techniques are relevant to this photograph.
Portraits of Wildflowers 
What incredible colour and detail!! Did you shoot this with a macro lens?
photosfromtheloonybin
November 5, 2012 at 6:43 AM
Yes, I did use a macro lens. That way I could get very close and focus (literally and figuratively) on just a section of the leaf without having its edges or any background details distract from what you see here. For an insight into the vibrant color, you may want to follow the link to About My Techniques and check out point number 12.
Steve Schwartzman
November 5, 2012 at 6:55 AM
Love this picture – the colours and the detail are just incredible.
Journey Photographic
November 5, 2012 at 7:55 AM
I’m pleased to be able to give you such a detailed and colorful Monday morning.
Steve Schwartzman
November 5, 2012 at 8:45 AM
So – I read Smilax bona-nox, and the first thing I thought of is that old standby of women and girls, Noxema cream. As it turns out, the connection makes sense, since Noxema’s a “night cream”. Even better, I found that “the Muscogee people (also known as the Creek people) rubbed the moistened plant on their faces to enhance youthfulness”.
I can’t find any evidence the greenbrier vine’s part of Noxema, but there’s plenty of evidence that the desire for lovely skin is cross-cultural and the greenbrier played a part. 😉
shoreacres
November 5, 2012 at 9:21 AM
The makers of Noxema certainly wanted its customers to think they were going to get a good night’s result from using the cream. Perhaps you can attest to that.
Thanks for reporting that the Muscogee rubbed moistened greenbrier on their faces as a rejuvenant. No doubt they avoided parts of the plant that had thorns on them!
I don’t believe there’s any connection between greenbrier and Noxema, other than that their names incorporate the Latin word for ‘night.’
Steve Schwartzman
November 5, 2012 at 1:35 PM
What a wonderful close-up study in texture and colour, Steve
mary mageau
November 5, 2012 at 6:44 PM
Thanks for appreciating it, Mary.
Steve Schwartzman
November 5, 2012 at 7:33 PM
Incredible. Looks a bit like an aerial view of the landscape from high in the air.
Susan Scheid
November 5, 2012 at 9:14 PM
Not having lived in New York for almost 40 years, I occasionally do something to bring back the fall color I remember so fondly from those long-ago days. Here’s one take. Like you, I can impose an imaginary change of scale and see this bit of leaf as a large tract of earth, multiply subdivided, far below me.
Steve Schwartzman
November 5, 2012 at 9:33 PM
[…] as the leaf of the greenbrier vine, Smilax bona-nox, that you saw yesterday had turned bright orange and red, new tendrils and leaves and thorns were forming that had subtler […]
New growth counterbalancing the old « Portraits of Wildflowers
November 6, 2012 at 6:23 AM
[…] I went walking in the northeast quadrant of US 183 and Mopac on October 17th, in addition to a colorful greenbrier leaf and some new greenbrier growth I found a resurgence of many kinds of wildflowers. One was mealy […]
Mealy blue sage and friends « Portraits of Wildflowers
November 17, 2012 at 6:15 AM
[…] I took this picture a year ago today, on October 17, 2012, in the northeast quadrant of US 183 and Mopac, where I found a resurgence of wildflowers of various kinds. Last fall you saw several other photographs from the same session: a greenthread flower head, some mealy blue sage flowers, a greenbrier tendril and thorn, and an unusually brilliant greenbrier leaf. […]
Sensitive briar | Portraits of Wildflowers
October 17, 2013 at 6:10 AM