OK, not really. But the image today is one of the Devil's Walking Stick (aralia spinosa). It's quite common around these parts (central Arkansas) and it is a thorny, dangerous thing, to be sure. Resembling a small tree, or sapling, it's really more of a large shrub as it rarely gets over 15-20 feet in height and the "trunks" are usually no more than 10 to 12 inches in diameter.
They grow in clusters and don't branch much, and when isolated (especially during the winter months) they look like a a stand of thorny sticks stuck into the ground ( hence the name). They are usually found along densely overgrown river banks and in low lying areas where its often hard to notice the thorns before its too late. Yeeouch!
At first glance it might seems as though the thorns would be impossible to miss. And usually they are. But at times they are so interleaved with other vegetation that the thorns get hidden, and the trunks look like the most stable thing to grab onto.
The image was taken using what is perhaps my most favored "botany lens", an old Tamron manual focus 90mm f2.5. It's hard to beat this lens for woods walking. The reasonably fast aperture and excellent optics usually assures a crisp shot.
4 comments:
Indeed what a thing to have growing I can not imagine trying to trim it. What are you doing in Arkansas???? I have been to Little Rock and loved the flowers that I saw there that I can not recall their names LOL
Well, I live in Arkansas, Little Rock to be precise, I just like to play in Utah and Colorado!
You know those bear photos that make them look like goofy critters? Well that's the sorta feeling I get from your romantic treatment of this acerbic shrub. It looks as if it could be a real menace, yet you've taken such a wonderful portrait of the thing that it's hard to let it worry me. Like one of those bears that I know I should never never never sidle up to... but they look so darned goofy...
Michael,
I'm often amazed by your choice of subject, and this again is such a case. In a way you do in nature what I do on the streets, and it is always good to remember, that photography is not primarily about location or obvious and generally acknowledged beauty. Well, sounds funny after my three sundowns and one sunrise in a row, but I mean it :)
It's interesting to be shown your world in its small details. Thanks a lot.
Andreas
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