Yellow wood-sorrel flower opening
Continuing with the color theme from last time, here you see the flower of a yellow wood-sorrel, Oxalis dillenii, beginning to open near a couple of the plant’s shamrock-like leaves (which your imagination can extrapolate into a featureless green butterfly if it chooses). Today’s abstract-leaning photograph is from the preserve behind the Austin Nature Center on March 23rd.
© 2015 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
Of course, my imagination will choose to extrapolate a butterfly. My imagination also extrapolates jam whenever you write ‘preserve’. I think I am right in saying we tend to use the word ‘Reserve’ in NZ. I am enjoying the colour theme, yellow and buttery to go with the preserves.
Gallivanta
May 21, 2015 at 5:19 AM
I hadn’t thought about the color of the butter in butterfly, even after putting butter on the corn on the cob that was my lunch yesterday and will likely be again today (different cobs with different kernels, of course).
In New Zealand I couldn’t help noticing “reserve” in lieu of “preserve,” which does double duty over here for a tract of land and for fruit cooked with sugar. Maybe New Zealanders are in general more reserved than Americans.
Steve Schwartzman
May 21, 2015 at 5:32 AM
Perhaps we are more reserved. I met an American the other day who said we were conservative. I suppose we are. We have a Dept of Conservation to prove it. A conserve is also a type of preserve. I will stop now. This comment is getting sticky.
Gallivanta
May 21, 2015 at 5:49 AM
No, we wouldn’t want you to get bogged down by the thought of getting jammed up.
Steve Schwartzman
May 21, 2015 at 6:02 AM
Captivating shot!
neihtn2012
May 21, 2015 at 7:33 AM
I’m glad you like the abstraction.
Steve Schwartzman
May 21, 2015 at 9:04 AM
Beautiful shot! Love the bokeh around the flower, like a butterfly.
Tiny
May 21, 2015 at 7:27 PM
I don’t think I saw it at the time I took the picture, but once the image was on the computer screen I also had the impression of a wispy green butterfly.
Steve Schwartzman
May 21, 2015 at 8:35 PM
Really like your choice of extremely-narrow depth of focus in this one. BTW, rather than a butterfly, my extrapolation sees a pair of luna moths on saturation steroids.
krikitarts
May 21, 2015 at 8:59 PM
I rarely open up as wide as the f/3.2 that I used for this photograph, but one consequence is the loss of all detail in the leaves behind the flower. If I saw a butterfly and you a moth, both are still in the same order, Lepidoptera.
Steve Schwartzman
May 21, 2015 at 9:06 PM
I agree with Gallivanta, It is a nice shot you did preserve for all eternity
Raewyn's Photos
May 22, 2015 at 4:19 PM
Eternity’s okay with me. Thanks.
Steve Schwartzman
May 22, 2015 at 6:48 PM
I didn’t realize there’s yellow wood sorrel. A couple of weeks ago, I spotted something deep pink and low-growing that reminded me of mountain pinks. When I stopped to check it out, it was Oxalis drummondii.
It’s a hardy plant. It was growing in a vacant lot that’s for sale, and being kept tidy by the owners. They mow about every five days, and every time they mow down the wood sorrel, it takes only about two days for it to bloom again.
The combination of your imaginary butterfly and the actual mower reminds me of the first time I took the Rorschach. I looked at one image in the set and said, “It’s a butterfly that’s been run over by a lawn mower.” I’ve no idea how that was interpreted, but I got the job.
shoreacres
May 24, 2015 at 8:41 AM
Both the yellow and the purple wood sorrel are common and prolific in Austin, but your imagination in the Rorschach example is giving the prolific part a run for its money.
Steve Schwartzman
May 25, 2015 at 9:20 AM
Having just come here from the Checkered-white, the resemblance of the background is interesting…which it would be anyway.
Steve Gingold
May 24, 2015 at 2:11 PM
I hadn’t tuned in to the similar backgrounds, so thanks for pointing out the resemblance. I think it was coincidental and that there’s nothing in my subconscious to account for it, but you never know.
Steve Schwartzman
May 25, 2015 at 9:22 AM
Framed with neon. Cool!
Shannon
May 29, 2015 at 6:57 PM
Your neon is a new take on this picture (and in fact the word neon means new).
Steve Schwartzman
May 29, 2015 at 10:31 PM
I guess I’ll need to keep a keener eye out for these. Or maybe (probably) I’ve seen one and just didn’t pay attention. Wouldn’t be the first time…:) That’s a particularly beautiful shot, Steve.
Tina
January 27, 2023 at 11:02 AM
Thanks, Tina. If I’m not mistaken, we once had a few yellow oxalis flowers come up in our yard. Happy hunting for one yourself.
Steve Schwartzman
January 27, 2023 at 3:00 PM