Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Textures and Patterns in Nature

I have many photos of different tree trunks or their barks. I just take their photos whenever i see one. However, i can't  seem to use these photos in my blog posts. Now that i have more time in my hands I cannot find the barks i took before. So i just put here some of my recent ones. I included some information about the pictures.

I will join this post to Donna's Garden Walk Garden Talk Word for Wednesday: Texture and Pattern



These ipil-ipil trees, Leucaena glauca or L. leucocephala, are leguminous trees, meaning they can get the free Nitrogen from the air through their roots. It is special as their roots are inhabited by bacteria helping the plant to absorb nitrogen. So even with low nitrogen in the soil they survive well. In our area the leaves and twigs are cut and fed to cattle and goats, which make Batangas beef famous in the country for having good quality meats. However, it contains mimosine that is toxic to non-ruminants.

Trunk of Citrus, fully embraced by these maplike structures called lichens. This is a symbiotic relationship of an algae and fungus, which when growing separately are very much different in morphology and habit than when in partnership in lichens. With these symbiotic relationship they are able to withstand adverse environmental conditions.

Decaying trunk provide house to a lot of organisms either seen with the eyes or microscopic. Termites made those hollow pathways, the remnant of soil they put in their tracts are still there. Termites have special enzymes in their guts which decompose cellulosic materials of wood. Then other insects, spiders, fungus, bacteria will follow and eat the smaller debris and enhance decomposition. 

This is cured wound of the bark of another legume. The bark is the phloem vessel of the tree which transports food from the leaves to the roots and other parts of the plant. The cambium layer of the phloem is a very active component of the wounded areas which heal through time producing these scar. 

When newly developed cells are added inside the bark,  there will be natural peeling of old barks just like our old dead skin cells, which peel off when we take a bath. 

A natural bark structure of a tamarind tree. A lot of organisms also inhabit these natural crevices for protection and safety. Spiders, lizards, beetles and a lot more insects abound in these crevices.

Can you imagine that the above are the flowers of the tamarind tree? The ground is fully carpeted with the dehisced flowers. At fruiting time the ground is replaced by dropped fruits.

This is an almost smooth bark of a forest tree found at the edge of our property. But we will note that there are patterns in the bark giving its characteristic texture. It is a fast growing timber species, whose timber is not hard enough for furniture, but in making pulp and paper.

The extensive root system helps its heavy top be safely anchored to the ground.

I would like to ask you if these are dill flowers. The leaves look like that of dill and the scent seems like dill too, but i am not sure if it really is dill. When the branches are cut and about to dry, some butterfly species love to hover or stay in the branch for days. So when it's butterfly season, i usually cut some branches and just lay there to dry. In four days the butterflies are hallucinating again.

These are the vegetative immature stems of the flowers above, which i call dill. I bet it has patterns and texture  too, unless they don't!

Those are the 2 butterfly species, which don't want to leave the drying stems of the dill. I disturb them to leave but they can't fly fast after too much time sipping the sap. My conclusion is that they somehow feel groggy or they get drunk after these dill parties.  I describe them as hallucinating butterflies.

This is also a natural art, do you think it is also an old bark from an old tree? What do you think is it from?


25 comments:

  1. My favorites are the tamarind and the last one. The dill is not a dill. It is in my collage too. It's a citronella plant. The smell is supposed to repel mosquitoes but not very effective unless you keep breaking the stems to emit the smell. I too have many photos of tree barks but didn't post them. In fact I have 2 similar photos to Donna's taken for this theme but didn't post them either. Looks like we all have been looking at some similar subjects.

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  2. I came to your blog through One and Autumn Belle blog!
    The photos are really awesome. I like to butterflies photo!

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  3. One - it is different from citronella plant nor the citronella grass. I compared them again and they are different. I hope someone will give me the exact ID. Thank you.

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  4. You really have a selection of trees. Really interesting and textural ones too. I have always admired trees for the variety of bark textures, it adds so much to the landscape with many trees being bred just for their pretty bark and structural form. Thanks for joining Andrea.

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  5. Beautiful pics! And they are showing how textures and patterns of plants can make the gardens and of course nature very captivating. Have a great day Andrea.

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  6. Holy guacamole! You have a lot of pics on this post. Let me see what I can remember. I'll pick three. Love the shots. The Citrus trees with the lichen is really strange and interesting. We don't have lichens here and they have a unique look in the tropics. I love your tamarind leaves....and the butterfly shot is really cool. I believe you are correct....they are a bit intoxicated from the sap of the plant. Bark texture is really fascinating.

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  7. nature is so amazing. the textures and patterns of trees would have caught my eye too. the shots of the butterflies and dill are especially gorgeous. a feast for the eyes.

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  8. Andrea, you have the most interesting posts! I loved this collection of plant textures. I too love to find art in nature! I think that is dill, but it's hard to say. I hope someone else will put their two cents in. You live in such a fascinating place! I love trees anyway, and for you to have so many interesting ones to photograph, is wonderful! Oh, and loved the butterflies, too!

    Thanks for your comment on my blog!

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  9. aloha andrea,

    great study of with your macros, i see things very well with your eye, i have never seen dill flower or citronella either and i grow both :(

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  10. Loved seeing all the different tree bark, and learning a bit more about some of these trees. Love the art picture at the end, too. I saw it as a cut tree, but your question made me wonder. Is it bark?

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  11. Those butterflies certainly are intoxicated by some type of oil - it must be fascinating to watch them nectaring around that plant. I love taking shots of natural textures aswell and I love the perpective you've taken that image of the smooth bark tree.

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  12. I love all those textures of the tree bark. I wish I knew what the dill plant was. I've heard of butterflies getting drunk from fermenting fruit - I'd be interested in knowing what was on the plant that caused the butterflies to behave in such a fashion!

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  13. All your bark photos are so fascinating. The photo of the butterflies is awesome! I am not sure that I have witnessed so many butterflies together in a natural setting. What a treat!

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  14. Such beauty in those tree trunks. I am glad you got the dill question answered. Definitely not dill flowers but I have no idea what they are. I love all those butterflies!

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  15. What kind of tree is that with the smooth bark? It looks very nice.

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  16. Nice photos and textures. That plant doesn't look like the dill i'm familiar with, but who knows? thanks for the nice comments andrea.

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  17. Hah! I too have a hard disk full of photos of textures and patterns found in nature, but haven't done anything with them yet, and yes, mine aren't well organized either. :-) You wrote, "Spiders, lizards, beetles and a lot more insects abound in these crevices." I'll remember that next time I hug a tree! :-D

    [Thank you so much for your very kind comment on my last post, Andrea.]

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  18. I'm a big fan of bark, whenever I go to woodland or to our local arboretum I become obsessed, so it was great to see that I am not alone! Lovely photos.

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  19. Thanks for visiting my blog. I love the pictures of the bark - very different than anything we have here in Canada.
    I don't think your plant is dill - unless it's a variety specific to the tropics.

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  20. Wonderful photos of textures and patterns! The tree bark is so fascinating and those butterflies are gorgeous.

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  21. I am certainly inspired by the turn-out of comments here, and for that i am very grateful. However, i am still in a quandary about the real name of my plant. I hope some other people will rush to the rescue.

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  22. Very interesting plant. I have seen that "dill or no dill" in one of my hikes in Paradise Falls. Could it be fennel or anise?

    My first time to see lichens in trees, I see them in rocks, sometimes blue, orange or green colors.

    Beautiful set of textures and patterns on the bark of trees.

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  23. Have really enjoyed this post, Andrea ... amazing tree art photo, too! The wonders of nature never cease to amaze!

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  24. Hi Andrea, The blue coloring of the drunken butterflies is beautiful. I thought of tree bark for my texture post, but didn't have many photographic references. I am glad that you did, because these textures are always so fascinating. It was great to learn a bit more about them.

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  25. I love to photograph the barks of trees too. Just that, I haven't posted them yet. I enjoyed this post very much - the pictures as well as the naration. I think you have done a good job in highlighting the beautiful barks and the magnificence of trees. I have fallen in love with your Dill or No Dill plant because of the butterflies and critters that it attracts. Hope to get one for my garden soon.

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Your comments inspire me to post more, and our conversations make life and gardening more meaningful.

However, Anonymous comments and personal back links give me problems, so i don't publish them. Anonymous + back links = SPAM = DELETE

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