Plumbago by TwoPynts
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Description
Thanks for all your great comments on yesterday's image, The Winds of Hurricane Frances. I thought I'd go with something a bit calmer today, at least at first glance. ;o)
The Plumbago flowers looked pretty enough against their green foliage, but I wanted to make them stand out a bit more dramatically, thus the end result you see here. While nice to look at, they have a more serious side which I tried to emphasize with the more somber foliage.
Certain varieties of this plants are used for medicinal purposes. The root contains an acrid crystalline principle called 'Plumbagin.' It is known to be a gastric stimulant and appetizer; in large doses it is an acro-narcotic poison. It has a specific action on the uterus so do not use if you are pregnant as it may lead to miscarriage! The root is said to increase the digestive power and promote appetite. Plumbagin stimulates the central nervous system in small doses, while with larger doses paralysis sets in leading ultimately to death. Blood pressure falls slightly. Plumbagin is a powerful irritant and has well marked antiseptic properties. In small doses, the drug is a sudorific and can be used to treat toothaches and many skin conditions, including leprosy. Large doses cause death from respiratory failure so NEVER self medicate.
Why all this information? I want to illustrate that a seemingly innocuous garden plant can be both pretty, useful...and deadly.
Olympus C3030 and PhotoshopCS.
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Plumbago auriculata
Family: Plumbagnaceae (plumbago or leadwort family)
Common Names: leadwort, plumbago, skyflower, P. capensis (syn.)
Description:
Plumbago is an evergreen shrub with whip-like semiwoody stems that form a loose, rounded mound 3-10 ft (0.9-3 m)high with a similar spread. Plumbago can be pruned to grow like a vine and scramble over supports, or pruned into a more compact mounded shrub, or left to sprawl with its long, gracefully arching branches. The sky blue flowers are 1 in (2.5 cm) long tubes expanding into 5 petals spreading about 1 in across. The flowers are borne in rounded terminal clusters 6 in (15 cm) across and look quite a bit like phlox flowers. Plumbago blooms all year long except for the coldest winter months.
Location:
Plumbago is native to South Africa, and is a popular ornamental in subtropical gardens in Florida and California.
Features:
Plumbago flowers bloom most of the spring, summer and fall in various shades of blue (buy plants in bloom to get the shade that you want). A favorite of butterflies, plumbago also is one of the most popular flowering shrubs in Central and South Florida gardens. It is very fast-growing, has few problems and is almost always smiling.
You can learn more about Plumbago at: FLORIDATA.com.
Comments (30)
marybelgium
fantastic macro ! interesting too ..thanks for sharing !
Cosme..D..Churruca
Exquisite image... so delicate colour ! Excellent done !
Chaos911
fantastic shot!!!!
diomedes66
Superb composition and outstanding colour. It is interesting that so many things are both lovely and deadly at the same time. Bravo, well done! V
SNAKEY
A super compo with super color...... bravos!!!:O))..........^^^^^V^^^^^
glix70
So beautiful blue small flower and perfect macro captured, Perfect explaination too, with you I always learn new thinks!!! Excellent my friend!!! :)
Victoira
VEry nice... Beautiful colour.. My"VOTE"..
Richardphotos
excellent effect and they do stand out against the darker leafs. excellent work-V
Vik9740
nicely done drama.. and the closeup thumbnail is perfect also
killerpumpkins
Great contrast and composition. Now if I can get my neighbors cat to eat a bunch of these.lol Not being cruel,long story. KP
Lledeline
Very beautiful and interesting.
soulofharmony
oh wow this is beautiful.. so elegant and superb p'graphy voteee...:)
Haeberle
very beautiful photo !
cynlee
pops from the screen!! so very beautiful :]
-seek-
wow, this is very nice. i love the colors.
sossy
awesome and contrastful colored close up! impressive clarity and fantastic details of the flower! :o)))
blacq_nyght_vampyre
This is so beautiful!! What a fantastic flower!!
hotracer2
Superb macro work and composition, flowers are just beautiful!!!!!!! "V"
logiloglu
so small and so beautiful. wonderful colours against that background. excellent done,Kort vote #:O)
tony_br22
I like it very much
tizjezzme
precious and sweet ... delicate. Gorgeous .. love it.. VOTE
SoulSearcherr
fantastic job all around
Apophis906
Very cool shot, a pretty flower and info to go with it. Excellent capture and job here.
Valentin
A gorgeous capture of a beautiful flower! I like the colors and focus in this shot, everything is brilliant!
sharky_
I thought I did leave a comment on this post but I guess it didn't take. This capture is so very beautiful that I had to comeback for a second look. Excellent postwork and job. Aloha
Akinom
Amazingly beautiful, Kort! Love it! Stands out perfectly against the dark background! Has a tender and fragile feel to it! v
Onslow
Very nice image excellent detail and colour - I like this a lot - good postwork has enhanced the scene beautifully.
CDBrugg
great shot + subtle post work. Often more effective than people overdoing it.
moonfish
Excellent info as well as image here! As a gardener, I try to always be aware of the "natural" side effects of plants I work with ...
erskogly
Ah - found it! Beautiful shot, you're quite good at this, aren't you? ;) Well, I think so (and a lot of people seem to be of the same opinion).