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

My last surviving grandparent died last week. This both was and was not a big deal, and consumed enough of my week that I was unable to work much on the blog, so posting will probably be light for a while until I can catch up.

Funerals remain horrible things that are not remotely consoling. I really have no idea why anyone would ever want one.¹ There was more family politics involved with this one than with the other three grandparent funerals, about which I have Feelings, but this is probably not the place to describe those. Let's just say that I like the deceased less now than I did three months ago.²

While we wait for me to get new posts together, here is another batch of transmitted light photos.

(The previous transmitted light posts can be found here.)

Cordyline fruticosa.

Pilea nummulariifolia.

Solanum lycopersicum NOID.

Dracaena reflexa 'Riki.'

Acalypha wilkesiana cv.

Polyscias scutellaria.

Ctenanthe lubbersiana. (This one is probably my favorite from the set.)

Stapelia gigantea, petal.

Begonia NOID.

Quercus sp., autumn.
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¹ I can appreciate the value of bringing the whole extended family together, because that part is actually kind of pleasant. (If you like your extended family, anyway.) I can appreciate doing something special to give everyone some kind of closure. But, well.
Let's say somebody steals your car, but leaves a note behind telling you that they stole your car for a really, really good reason, a reason they decline to provide any specifics about. And then let's say that everyone you talked to about how your car was stolen immediately reacts with oh, that's too bad, but I'm sure they had a good reason for taking it, and well, you'll probably see the car again sometime, like on the street or something, right?, and how about we drone some songs at 1/4 speed about how awesome your car thief was: whaddya say? And you're all like, but I don't really want to sing about how awesome the car thief is, 'cause the fucker, you know, stole my car, and they're like but you have to sing, everybody's going to be expecting you to sing, if you don't sing then people are going to be upset.
This is what religious funeral services feel like to me, except more so, because people are more valuable than cars.
² So in a roundabout way, I suppose the funeral was successful in making me feel less bad about the loss. Though I don't think that's how funerals are supposed to achieve that feeling.

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

Goodness. It's been so long since I did a transmitted light post that I don't even remember how I'm supposed to do them.

Actually no, that's not true. It's only been like five months. But it'd been nine months before that. I'm definitely a little rusty.

(The previous transmitted light posts can be found here.)

Schlumbergera truncata NOID, phylloclade. Though Schlumbergeras are not quite as abundant in the house as the Anthuriums, they've getting there. The most recent stats for the collection: 959 plants total, 198 Anthurium seedlings (21% of total), 116 Schlumbergera seedlings (12%). None of this changes the fact that they make lousy transmitted light subjects.

Philodendron [erubescens?] 'Golden Emerald.' I don't know what the deal is with this one; it never seems to photograph as bright and saturated as it actually is. It's really much prettier than this in person.

Brassolaeliocattleya Helen Brown. Probably by now it's not Brassolaeliocattleya anymore, but who has time to keep track of these things.

Iris ensata variegata. I have no memory of seeing a variegated Iris of any kind, anywhere. I mean, I know they exist; it's just that this photo is the only evidence I have that I've ever seen one. I didn't even take a photo of the whole plant, so there's no context for this picture. It's a weird feeling.

Salvia elegans. On Sunday, I semi-accidentally wound up looking at some of the pictures of the Salvia elegans we planted in the yard a couple years ago, when it was huge and in full bloom, and: I'm afraid we're just going to have to do that again. Even though I no longer seem to be capable of overwintering them. (Probably the basement is too warm now, what with all the lights.)

Callisia repens.

Tradescantia zebrina. I didn't actually intend for this to wind up next to the Callisia, but it's an interesting comparison, since they have a nearly identical growth habit.

Caladium NOID. Not one of my best Caladium pictures, but with Caladiums, even a bad picture is still okay.

Quercus sp., autumn.

Stromanthe sanguinea 'Triostar.'

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

Catch-up week continues. This particular batch has an unfortunate tendency toward greenish-yellow, which I fear will clash with the background, but this is the set that was queued up and ready to post, so this is the set you get. Wear eye shielding if you feel it's appropriate to do so.¹

(The previous transmitted light posts can be found here.)

Commelina communis. Is it weird if I admit that I'm looking forward to seeing the first C. communis sprouts coming up outside this spring? I mean, I know it's a weed and all, but I really enjoy the flowers.

Aglaonema 'Silver Queen.' I recently cut my 'Silver Queen' back, and am trying to root the tops in soil. This had to happen -- the plant was too tall and gangly -- but the stumps haven't resprouted yet, and I can't tell whether the tops are rooting, so I'm a little anxious about the whole thing. It's a variety that used to be all over the place but doesn't seem to be anymore, so if it doesn't survive the beheading, I may have trouble finding a replacement.

Cordyline glauca, dying leaf. My goodness, some of these photos are ancient: I only realized it because I haven't had a Cordyline glauca for nearly a year now.

I like this picture. It has something to do with the colors, but I'm not sure how to explain.

Arctium sp.

Philodendron 'Congo Green.' The line across the top of the photo isn't a shadow; it's actually part of the leaf coloration. Because Philodendron leaves start out curled up (or at least those of 'Congo Green' and a lot of other Philodendrons do), a freshly unfurled leaf will sometimes be darker on the portion of leaf that was exposed to light during development, and lighter on the part from the interior of the spiral, which is what's happened here.

Mahonia aquifolium.

Alpinia zerumbet variegata. Alas, this is not turning out to be as easy to care for indoors as I'd thought it would be. I still have one, and if it continues to live, I'll continue to keep it, but if it dies on me, I don't think I'm going to try the plant again.

Aeschynanthus longicaulis. On the other hand, A. longicaulis is remarkably easy and vigorous, at least for me. Tons of flowers this winter, too, which would be easier to get excited about if the flowers were more colorful. But still. Hard to dislike a plant that's so easygoing.

Quercus sp., autumn. Either this one or the next one is my favorite from this batch. I like both the geometry and the colors on this picture; I want to say it reminds me of an afghan my grandmother crocheted.

Caladium 'Fire Chief.' This is a little more BANG! POW! In your face! than the other, but Caladium pictures tend to be that way.

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¹ It may surprise the reader to know that the Preview function in Blogger does not render the post as it will appear on the blog: the words and pictures are all present, and in the right sizes and positions relative to one another, but the background is plain white, and there's no sidebar. This isn't a huge deal, but sometimes not being able to view an actual preview means that I post pictures that clash uncomfortably with the background, or a video gets posted that overlaps part of the sidebar, or things of that nature.

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

A lot of things aren't working properly for me at the moment (oddities with loading certain websites, a literal headache, a bureaucratic thing which prompted an unscheduled trip to Iowa City yesterday -- and no, Mercury is not in retrograde), so tasks like e-mail and plant-watering are piling up, necessitating a transmitted light post.

(The previous transmitted light posts can be found here.)

Pilea cadierei. Quite a bit duller than you'd expect from seeing the leaves by reflected light, but sort of quietly interesting. To me, anyway.

Curcurbita sp. (C. pepo?), petals. Many of these photos are very old: I've been taking pictures faster than I've been using them. I think this is from fall 2009.

Pandanus veitchii.

Polyscias balfouriana. This isn't the greatest picture, but P. balfouriana tends to have veins that are particularly good for photographing.

Quercus sp., autumn. I can't decide whether the tears and brown spots improve transmitted light photos of deciduous trees like Quercus (oak) and Acer (maple) or ruin them.

Iresine herbstii 'Blazin' Rose.'

Weigela sp. I really like this kind of leaf. Not particularly taken with the plant (one came with the house: it isn't causing any problems, and it's impressively large, but it doesn't do much for me either. Considering how difficult it is to get enough light in the house, I'd really sort of prefer that we not have anything tall in or near the house at all. But it's probably staying anyway.

Hypoestes phyllostachya, white cv.

Dieffenbachia NOID. I keep seeing this variety over and over, but I have no idea what it's called. My best guess is 'Golden Sunset,' but given how many varieties there are, and how variable the leaves may be, a lot of them sort of shade into one another, and it's hard to be very sure.

Musa 'Zebrina Rojo.' (possibly Ensete 'Zebrina Rojo.') Sort of the obvious favorite from the set.

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

I'm fairly close to being done with the Fittonia profile; I finally made some serious progress on it over the last couple days. So my blogging energy is going toward finishing that, for now. I'm hoping to have it up Thursday. [UPDATE: Thursday didn't happen, but the profile was finished.] Therefore, transmitted light photos.

(The previous transmitted light posts can be found here.)

Glycine max.

Liquidambar styraciflua, autumn.

Philodendron mexicanum. I realize this may not look all that interesting, but P. mexicanum leaves are green on top and reddish underneath (unusual for Philodendrons, or at least the commonly-grown ones), so the muddy color here is for a cool reason. I've tried to get a yearbook picture of the whole plant, but it's very hard to find an angle that shows both the green top and the red underside.

Chlorophytum x 'Fire Flash.' This pleases me, just because I've taken a lot of photos of 'Fire Flash' that were out of focus, or where the color was off in some hard-to-fix way. This isn't gorgeous or anything, but it's accurate, and I'll settle for accurate.

Solenostemon scutellarioides 'Splish Splash.' I'm undecided about whether the dead spots on the left of the photo make this image more interesting, or less interesting.

Quercus sp.

Hydrangea macrophylla Endless Summer 'Twist-n-Shout.' I'm uncertain how much of that is the actual variety name; it was all on the tag.

Begonia NOID.

Quercus sp., autumn.

Caladium 'Fire Chief.'