Wind Instrument
by Connie Handscomb
Title
Wind Instrument
Artist
Connie Handscomb
Medium
Photograph - Photography - Fine Art
Description
He was a harp; all life that he had known and that was his consciousness was the strings; and the flood of music was a wind that poured against those strings and set them vibrating with memories and dreams.
~ Morgan Llywelyn [fr. Bard]
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Rocky Mountain Bee Plant ; Pink Bee-Plant; Bee Weed; Spider Flower
Cleome hassleriana; Cleome serrulata; Peritoma serrulata; Cleome gynandra; Cleome integrifolia; Peritoma integrifolia
Family - Cleome ; Caper (Capparaceae)
I'm not at all fond of spiders, so calling it a spider flower doesn't stir me at all (apparently so called due to the similarity of a harvest spider unfolding its legs).
I do, however, like bees so my preference is to call it the bee plant, which is the North American wild version. (The spider flower is the garden version).
The plant is very intriguing - particularly the coiled springlike stamens that spring open to reveal a petal. They look like the strings of a harp to me. The fruit, seedpods that are especially long, long contain several seeds.
Medicinally, the African cleome (cleome gynandra) is used to treat fevers; the juice of the root relieves scorpion stings.
In the kitchen, the young shoots, leaves and flowers can be cooked as potherbs. Early European settlers and indigenous North Americans used it fresh, or dried, and even ground it into a meal mixed with flour to make bread.
This plant, a native to South America, is a favorite locally; it is easy to spot it about. It can grow grow to 5 ft (1.5 m) tall. The flowers are hermaphrodite, pollinated by bees. While it can tolerate poor soil conditions, it is does not like wind, nor rain, so look for it in a sheltered spot.
Sources:
Website: Plants For A Future [PFAF]
Clay Perry's Fantastic Flowers [Text M. Perry]
Wildflowers Across The Prairies [Vance;Jowsey;McLean]
Wildflowers Of The World [Everard;Morley]
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This is not the entire plant, but the inner stamens ... captured on a breezy day; unedited ; square format ... .nature in all its splendour ... :)
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♥ Heartfelt Gratitude to Macro Marvels for featuring this image
Uploaded
April 30th, 2017
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Comments (5)
Deepa Sahoo
Connie,I have never seen this plant before.This is really very intriguing.You have really captured it very well! L/F
Connie Handscomb replied:
Deepa, my apologies for not replying sooner!This is actually not the whole plant .. these are the stamens of the cleome; I forgot to add that bit into the description - it's there now. Happy Weekend to you! :))
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