The Beauty Of The Vulgar
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
The genus name Aquilegia is derived
from the Latin word for eagle (aquila), because the shape of the flower
petals, which are said to resemble an eagle's claw. The common name
"columbine" comes from the Latin for "dove", due to the
resemblance of the inverted flower to five doves clustered together.
Wikipedia
Today Rosemary told me to take a photograph
of the white aquilegias inside what we call the cercis bed. I was rude to her
and said, “You know how I feel about taking pictures of plants.” I felt a tad
guilty so I cut one of the startlingly white flowers (that for reasons that I cannot understand scan with a green cast) that in their swirls
remind me of alien space ships and brought it inside to scan. Here are the
results. If you consider that this white aquilegia (most of the native ones to
BC are of more lurid colours) is called Aquilegia vulgaris ‘Nivea’ (sometimes
Alba), you might wonder how something vulgar can be so beautiful.
I tell as many people as I can that my
scanner can exceed the magnification of most high school microscopes. I get not
satisfaction except a somewhat boring nod. Thanks to my scanner I can explore
the beauty of the commonplace. The last picture is a scan that I took in 2012.
