Ungnadia speciosa blossoms
So much has been going on in springtime Austin that after the last 11 posts about New Zealand I’m turning back to Texas again for a while before going ahead with another round of pictures from Aotearoa. That alternation makes me wonder why we English speakers almost always say back and forth but hardly ever forth and back? For anyone who’d like to be a trendsetter, I encourage you to use forth and back in a post or an e-mail sometime soon. To be fair, maybe you should keep going forth and back between back and forth and forth and back.
In any case, let me go forth and get back to plants by saying that botanists classify the Mexican buckeye tree as Ungnadia speciosa, where speciosa means ‘showy.’ This picture of blossoms on March 28th along Rain Creek Parkway in Austin shows why that species name was chosen (aside from the fact that botanists probably couldn’t figure out how to say ‘long curving bright red snout’ in Latin).
© 2015 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
If you look at them from another angle, they could be showy, pink feathered, red beaked hummingbirds. Do hummingbirds come in pink? Now I have put forth that view to you, I am sure you will get back to me with your opinion.
Gallivanta
April 19, 2015 at 6:13 AM
Fortunately I didn’t have to go forth very far before getting back to you with the news that the male Anna’s hummingbird has a gorgeous gorget that at the right angle can look pink:
http://tinyurl.com/peqcdso
Steve Schwartzman
April 19, 2015 at 7:25 AM
Gorgeous indeed. Thank you.
Gallivanta
April 19, 2015 at 8:34 AM
That’s a forthcoming reply.
Steve Schwartzman
April 19, 2015 at 9:04 AM
I try not to be backwards in my compliments.
Gallivanta
April 19, 2015 at 9:06 AM
That keeps you from having to take back anything you’ve said.
Steve Schwartzman
April 19, 2015 at 10:46 AM
Lovely! ~Rita
newyorknorthfineart
April 19, 2015 at 6:56 AM
And for that reason I look forward to the blossoming of these trees each spring.
Steve Schwartzman
April 19, 2015 at 7:30 AM
I can see why!
newyorknorthfineart
April 19, 2015 at 7:32 AM
But you get to look forward to the changing of the leaves on a massive scale each fall.
Steve Schwartzman
April 19, 2015 at 10:45 AM
My word but that is a wonderful photograph!
simon682
April 19, 2015 at 9:37 AM
Welcome to the botanical world of central Texas, which is so different from that of Britain.
Steve Schwartzman
April 19, 2015 at 10:44 AM
I keep going forth and back between using back and forth or backward and forward.
Emily Scott
April 19, 2015 at 10:46 AM
Great Scott, that’s a mighty forward statement from you, Emily, and I’m taken aback.
Steve Schwartzman
April 19, 2015 at 10:48 AM
Ahhh, blossoms look SO good against a blue background. I have been enjoying the magnolias, azaleas and rhododendrons in Cornwall this week, happily with a blue sky!
Heyjude
April 19, 2015 at 4:22 PM
You’ve seen how often I use the blue of the sky to isolate a subject, and March 28th turned out to be a clear day that lent itself to that approach.
When I was in northern New Zealand I was surprised to find a magnolia that someone had planted more than 150 years ago and that was still going strong. The magnolia is native in eastern Texas, and that region has a native azalea as well.
Steve Schwartzman
April 19, 2015 at 9:43 PM
Some beautiful magnolias from NZ we are in magnolia season here right now 😊
Heyjude
April 20, 2015 at 4:10 PM
At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnolia I see that various species of magnolia are native in the Americas and in southeast Asia, but none are listed as being native in New Zealand. Where the one that I saw in northern New Zealand had come from I never learned. When you speak of “some beautiful magnolias from NZ,” do you mean that in Britain you’ve imported non-native magnolias from NZ?
Steve Schwartzman
April 20, 2015 at 5:13 PM
//Magnolias have come a long way in the past decade, with the Americans and New Zealanders the great breeders. //
http://www.sarahraven.com/articles/growing_magnolias.htm
I just assumed they were natives. Maybe not.
Heyjude
April 20, 2015 at 6:38 PM
I’m afraid not. New Zealand apparently split off from Gondwana long enough ago that magnolias didn’t make it there until Europeans imported them in the 1800s.
Steve Schwartzman
April 20, 2015 at 8:32 PM
Then I guess the ones they breed from come from Asia. But they do breed some spectacular species!
Heyjude
April 21, 2015 at 5:07 AM
If not in color, at least in shape I’d say there’s a hint of a connection between this bit of Austin flora and some New Zealand fauna I’ve read about. I hope you sallied forth and backed into a good opportunity to photograph a Kiwi (bird), too.
shoreacres
April 19, 2015 at 6:40 PM
I sallied forth often enough but unfortunately I never backed into an opportunity to photograph a kiwi. The hint of a connection in the Mexican buckeye is the closest I got, alas. If only I could drive a mile and see a native kiwi bird the way I can one of these trees.
Steve Schwartzman
April 19, 2015 at 9:48 PM
Someone commented they look a little like hummingbirds. They do look gorgeously pink and “feathery”. Another gorgeous blue “Steve” background. 🙂
Jane
April 20, 2015 at 4:14 AM
Australia has some dazzling and curiously shaped flowers; this, on a small scale, is one of ours in Texas, although I’m not sure how many people know about it. The blue sky that you’ve singled out in the background is my way of isolating the “feathery” flowers to make them stand out all the more.
Steve Schwartzman
April 20, 2015 at 5:25 AM
Showy indeed. And made lovelier with that patented Schwartzman sky. I actually had that same sky here yesterday for my barn shots.
Oooh, I wish I had read this before my last post describing the beaver activity in my landscape. 🙂
Steve Gingold
April 20, 2015 at 7:12 AM
My picture dates from March 28th, so that was enough time for this piece of sky to reach you and appear in your barn shots yesterday.
When you say you wish you had read this before your last post, I’m not sure what you mean.
Steve Schwartzman
April 20, 2015 at 10:35 AM
Forth and back. 🙂
Steve Gingold
April 20, 2015 at 11:12 AM
You’ve reminded me that there’s a place in Scotland with the great name Firth of Forth. The Firth of Forth is a fiord:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firth_of_Forth
Steve Schwartzman
April 20, 2015 at 11:19 AM
I love the place names in the Isles.
Steve Gingold
April 20, 2015 at 11:55 AM
I’d be happy to visit them but so far I’ve only been to London.
Steve Schwartzman
April 20, 2015 at 12:42 PM
…and to and fro…. funny, I was just thinking about the Firth of Forth.
melissabluefineart
April 21, 2015 at 11:01 AM
Was your mind going fro and to as it pondered the Firth of Forth? (Inquiring minds want to know why you were thinking about the Firth of Forth.)
Steve Schwartzman
April 21, 2015 at 12:34 PM
I dunno, exactly, but it suggested itself to me, filling my mind with mirth 🙂
melissabluefineart
April 22, 2015 at 9:32 AM
We dwellers here upon this earth
Do well to fill our minds with mirth.
Steve Schwartzman
April 22, 2015 at 10:09 AM
I’ve enjoyed very much going forth and back admiring your posts. I am always taken aback and aforth by your gorgeous photographs.
Susan Scheid
May 6, 2015 at 6:53 PM
Touché: “taken aback and aforth.” As always, Susan, I appreciate your appreciation.
Steve Schwartzman
May 6, 2015 at 6:54 PM
[…] positive definition first. And botanists have preserved the positive sense in species names like Ungnadia speciosa and Oenothera […]
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