Stigma

On March 17th I went to a still-wet Great Hills Park, and among other things I spent some time photographing pink evening primrose flowers, Oenothera speciosa. Notice above this flower the two okra-like buds that were ready to open.

Flowers in this genus have prominent stigmas (or stigmata if you’d like the Latin plural of this Greek-derived word) with slender arms that radiate from the tip of the style. On this stigma I made out a tiny insect; click the excerpt below for an enlargement of the crucial region.

© 2016 Steven Schwartzman