Options

Wild White Lizard Orchid (Stereo)

e6filmusere6filmuser Registered Users Posts: 3,378 Major grins
edited January 25, 2015 in Holy Macro
This is to correct some misinformation. I misinformed myself! :rolleyes

I was convinced that I had posted these images here previously but it seem that I had not. So I missed the opportunity to link these in with the topics about the normal form of the orchid flower. We have the unexpected situation in which the normal form is the cultivated one and the rare variety was found in the wild.

The cross-eye stereo pair shows one example of the images I did not get (due to losing the still-air conditions?) with my cultivated plant. Hopefully, this will be remedied this year.

I found this white form in northern Greece in 2012. On our last day before departure, my wife went for a walk before dinner and returned to give a description of a flower growing in a lane a few minutes walk away. From the description, I though it might be very special but my wife seemed unexcited about it. Anyway, after dinner, in the still (reasonably) good light, I found it was what I thought, only even better.

It was a Lizard Orchid but it lacked any dark markings. Himantoglossum hircinum has been split into several species which cannot always be separated. This plant was growing in solitary isolation so I don't know if it was typical of its species in the area. According to Zissis Antonopoulos of the Greek Orchids website, it is a hypochromic Himantoglossum jankae (syn H. caprinum).

Most important is its "wow" factor, with its delicate, flowing streamers. A very three-dimensional inflorescence, I have tried to represent the impression I had of it.

I was having severe problems with the helicoid of my Elmarit 60mm macro, causing some images to be just out of sharp focus, so I returned the following morning and re-shot some images with my 90mm Elmarit (not a macro lens).


One session was in late afternoon, as the light was fading. The second was after breakfast, in early morning light, with a long drive ahead and a plane to catch. So, no pressure!

Had my wife not mentioned, casually that she had seen some white flower, I could have taken more time with this, the find of the trip! eyes.gif wall.gif Fortunately, I have done quite a bit of stereo, over several decades, such that it is almost instinctive.

These shots were recovered from a corrupted card!

Harold

1084097.jpg?ts=1422083323

462_File0388lizard_orchid_closeuptopazU1000_1.jpg

Comments

Sign In or Register to comment.