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| Orange Puffer Fish (aka Goldfish Plant, Columnea nematanthus) |
Although I use Google Maps all the time nowadays, there's still nothing quite as good at inspiring wanderlust as a well-made paper map, which is why I recently picked up a California Road & Recreation Atlas. I look forward to making good use of it, and have already been checking out some of the far corners of the state, from the South Warner Mountains in the north to the Old Woman Mountains in the south, and oh so many intriguing places in between.
Meanwhile, with gas having climbed to $5.89 and still showing no sign of retreat, I'm content to explore the hidden intricacies of the macro world of flowers close enough to gather on foot.
If you click on the above picture to view it at full size, it's 175-times bigger than the actual flower, which I photographed at 1:1 on a full-frame camera (with no cropping). The vertical images are smaller -- only 78-times life size. I'm always seeing stuff in the pictures that I didn't see IRL, like all the silky spider strands on the orange puffer fish.
In case you're wondering, orange puffer fish is my own name for the plant since I don't know what its proper name is. I tried to find it on Pl@ntNet to no avail. [UPDATE: I have since learned I had the wrong fish; it's called goldfish plant. And if you accidentally search for "goldfish pants," you'll get plenty of results!]
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| The plant ID came up with Fuchsia microphylla for these little ones. Despite their tiny size, I often seen bumblebees and even hummingbirds feeding on their nectar. |
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| This is from a large fuchsia vine that I started from a cutting given to me by the neighbor whose oak tree has been sporting parrots lately. |
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| Phone snap showing the relative size of the two fuchsia flowers. |
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