Standing winecup
Last year I showed a colony of standing winecups and a somewhat nearer view of a group of them, but here’s the first closeup of Callirhoe pedata. The crook in the stem is not an unusual feature in this species, and neither are the ragged fringes of the petals.
As was true for the last two posts, the date was May 17, and I found myself photographing along the entrance road to the Mahomet Cemetery in eastern Burnet County.
ADDENDUM: I forgot to mention that winecups are small flowers, with a typical petal length of only about one inch (2.5 cm).
© 2013 Steven Schwartzman
Stunning!
Mind Margins/Run Nature
June 9, 2013 at 6:40 AM
Do you ever see any of these little purple wildflowers when you’re running?
Steve Schwartzman
June 9, 2013 at 8:38 AM
What a beautiful colour and stunning photograph. I know mallows, but have never seen any this colour before. This reminds me of an arts & crafts lampshade. Fab!
Heyjude
June 9, 2013 at 7:42 AM
Did you know that the word mauve, which describes a pale purple, is historically the same word as mallow? Both come from malva, the Latin word for ‘mallow.’ That’s why the botanical family that includes the winecup is called Malvaceae.
Steve Schwartzman
June 9, 2013 at 8:43 AM
Interesting. I love learning new facts. Thanks for the explanation Steve.
Heyjude
June 9, 2013 at 9:36 AM
You’re welcome. There’s so much to learn.
Steve Schwartzman
June 9, 2013 at 9:58 AM
This image is a stunning portrait of a delicate and provocative flower. You’ve given it a patina of a watercolor. Beautifully executed with the light easing through it.
lensandpensbysally
June 9, 2013 at 12:46 PM
I appreciate your noticing the way the sunlight illuminated the green bracts at the base of the flower. That glow appealed to me when I saw it through the camera’s viewfinder, and I don’t recall ever photographing a winecup with that effect until then.
Steve Schwartzman
June 9, 2013 at 4:34 PM
Turn it upside down,and it could be seen as a fashionable skirt with a ragged hem. As it is, it certainly does resemble a lamp, and the arts and crafts style is a good call.
It’s a gorgeous flower, though I would have called it magenta rather than mauve. Here again, the light, the particular flower and even our monitors make so much difference in how we see it. The name of the color’s far less important than our appreciation of the flower, though.
shoreacres
June 9, 2013 at 5:05 PM
This isn’t the first time a flower has suggested an upside-down skirt to you and other female viewers. In each instance I can see it after the fact, but I don’t think I’ve ever made that kind of association myself.
As for mauve, dictionaries say it’s a paler color than the one in this winecup, but I didn’t let that stop me from getting the etymology in. As you say, and as I’ve said, so many factors influence a person’s perception of color. And as someone named Shakespeare said:
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.”
Steve Schwartzman
June 9, 2013 at 5:58 PM
what a simple and lovely image!
Playamart - Zeebra Designs
June 10, 2013 at 11:06 AM
I find that simplicity is often a virtue.
Steve Schwartzman
June 10, 2013 at 12:36 PM
With the light shining through it you certainly get the meaning in its name. Beautiful!
Lynda
June 10, 2013 at 2:58 PM
Yes, the winecup is also a lightcup.
Steve Schwartzman
June 10, 2013 at 4:13 PM
Delightful! 🙂
Annette
June 10, 2013 at 3:54 PM
Thank you, and welcome.
Steve Schwartzman
June 10, 2013 at 4:15 PM
A perfect name for this flower, and an image of beautiful simplicity.
LensScaper
June 11, 2013 at 2:56 AM
Well said. Thanks.
Steve Schwartzman
June 11, 2013 at 6:35 AM
Another outstanding capture of translucency!
kathryningrid
June 12, 2013 at 10:37 PM
And another lucid comment on your part.
Steve Schwartzman
June 13, 2013 at 7:01 AM
That is one stunning color, and, as others have mentioned, the translucency you captured here outstanding!
Susan Scheid
June 22, 2013 at 10:49 AM
I was thinking about you a short while ago, and now here you are. Call it a translucency of thought.
Steve Schwartzman
June 22, 2013 at 10:53 AM
[…] State Park on May 6th, I photographed this bud of a standing winecup, Callirhoe pedata, in front of an open flower of the same species. (Distance has deprived the flower’s image of detail—that’s a good deprivation—but […]
Standing winecup bud before* a flower | Portraits of Wildflowers
June 24, 2013 at 6:08 AM