Gift Wrapped

by Connie Handscomb

Title

Gift Wrapped

Artist

Connie Handscomb

Medium

Photograph - Photography - Fine Art

Description

The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.
~Pierre Corneille [fr. Le Menteur]
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Agapanthus (African blue lily; Lily of the Nile)

Family : Amaryllidaceae

This South African native perennial bulb comes alive in the summertime, through to early autumn. It was brought to Europe in the 17th century, and has naturalized itself in different countries around the world (Australia, Great Britain, Mexico, Jamaica, and more)

There are not many blue flowers in the botanical world, but the agapanthus is one: its colours range from hues of blue, or they can be white.

While this flower is valued greatly as an ornamental, it does have medicinal qualities as well. The leaves have a substance used as a cardiac medicine, similar to but not as powerful as what the foxglove does. The leaves have also been used as a bandage to bring down fevers, and and as an anti-inflammatory (take care of the caustic sap within, though). It has also been considered to be an aphrodisiac.

The word agapanthus derives from the Greek word Agape, meaning Love; symbolically it represents generosity and devotion. Speaking of devotion, bees of course gravitate to it, and hummingbirds adore this flower so if you want them coming around your garden, you may want to plant this one.


Sources:
Clay Perry's Fantastic Flowers [Text M. Perry]
A Bloom A Day [R. Van Dongen]

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This is a bud, shooting its way up, slowly bursting itself out of its protective wrapper, preparing to open wide. When it is in full bloom, it will be a loose globe of colour that will provide visual appeal from a variety of angles, for above the supporting stem, the small flowers will spray themselves skyward very casually, sideways, and loosely down.

Taken in natural light .... Nature in all its splendour ;)

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♥ Heartfelt Gratitude to FAA groups for featuring this image :

Macro Photography
Fine Arts Professionals
Macro Marvels
The Most Beautiful Flowers Photography

Uploaded

December 14th, 2015

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