Tuesday, January 6, 2009

[Exceptionally] Pretty pictures: transmitted light -- Part IV

Yet another round of transmitted light photos. (The previous batches can be found here.) These were all taken of work plants, back in October. (Yeah, that's right. Sometimes I plan posts three months ahead. You got a problem with that?)

Strelitzia nicolai. Almost seems shameful that the plant would evolve to have these leaves get ripped apart by the wind. I mean, I get why. But still. They're so pretty.


Asplenium nidus. I love the picture; I'm not so good at growing the plant. Alert readers will notice that this bears a striking resemblance to the header photo.


Streptocarpus 'Purple Martin.' Difficult picture to get, and now that I see it, I'm not convinced that it was worth the effort, but I've posted worse.


Philodendron 'Autumn,' new leaf. This one looks especially good if viewed full size in a new window.


Alternanthera dentata 'Purple Knight.' An older leaf might have made for a more interesting picture, but for some reason when I tried to take a picture of an older leaf, I couldn't get the camera to focus properly.


Synadenium grantii. I'd never really given the matter much thought before, but you can see in this picture that there are actually two separate layers of red splotches: one's in focus here, and the other one is way out of focus on the other side of the leaf.


Cordyline fruticosa 'Bolero.' The file name identifies this as 'Bicolor' because I was briefly confused about what I was taking a picture of. Looking at the photo, though, it has to be 'Bolero.'


Calathea fasciata. (ID tentative) The problem with transmitted light photography, obviously, is that leaves like Calatheas, which are green on top and purple on bottom, end up a muddy mess. But the vein structure is still there, and is pretty impressive. It's at least not something anybody would ordinarily notice.


Musa 'Rowe Red.' No visible spider mite damage, either. It's a miracle!


Microsorum musifolium. And I think I have a new favorite picture.


5 comments:

Helen/patientgardener said...

I found these photos fascinating - I have never looked at leaves so closely before

Anonymous said...

Yeah, you should make that Microsorum picture your new header. Much more bold!

Village Green said...

Beautiful!

Aiyana said...

They are beautiful and fascinating to view!
Aiyana

Anonymous said...

wonderful pictures