146/365: Tenuiloba foliage

Today I'm sharing the foliage of passiflora tenuiloba. This one's native to Texas, with a range starting in the Hill Country and extending west and south to more semi-arid regions. It doesn't have flashy flowers, being a small decaloba-type, but I find the foliage fascinating. It's informal name is "bird-winged passion flower," which is self-explanatory. I don't know of many other passiflora species with as elaborate a leaf form. One problem with this plant is that the stems are so thin that I haven't had any luck rooting cuttings from it, which frustrates me to no end, I assure you.

And here's a second view of some younger leaves. Note they start out with less pronounced lobes like other passis, but extend as the leaf grows and matures.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macro
Lisa On Location

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Friday Night Videos

Abadabadango was the second single of Kim Carnes' "Barking at Airplanes" album. Unlike the first single, Crazy in the Night, it didn't chart. This baffled me at the time and baffles me still, as the song is a perfect example of the bright, energetic dance pop so popular on the charts at the time. I figure record stores and radio stations simply couldn't figure out how to spell the song's bizarre title, which in all honesty, sounds like a rejected Fred Flintstone catchphrase. The rare video is cool, though, with high contrast black and white halation giving it an artsy vibe, and who can argue with that vintage 80s saxophone solo?

Previously on Friday Night Videos... Sheena Easton.

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145/365: Work-In-Progress

Not a terribly sexy photo for today's 365 installment, but it is a timely one. This is a glimpse of the current work-in-progress I've been hinting at (Chicken Ranch). Hopefully I'll have more substantive information to share next week.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm 2.8
Lisa On Location

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144/365: Baby chameleon

Yes, I know they're technically green anoles, but I grew up calling them chameleons and still do to this day. Hard to argue with their color changes!

I first saw this little guy last week, hanging out in a potted plant on the front porch. He's a tiny hatchling, barely more than an inch long--I don't think I've ever seen one this small. He's wary, though, vanishing before I've been able to get my camera. Last night, however, I found him sleeping on a leaf, oblivious to my spying. I was able to get several shots before the confused guy woke up fully, then shut off all the lights and let him go back to sleep. Our bushes and thick passion vines around the house are a haven for the little lizards (there's an adult male displaying his red throat outside my window right now) and I like having them around. They remind me of my childhood, when I used to catch them for fun. It's amazing how large a moth these little guys can eat!

This bonus shot shows how sleepy he was. I've gotten this same exact look from The Wife some mornings...

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macro
Lisa On Location

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143/365: Caerulea

And here we have a seed from quite possibly the most wide-spread passion flower in the world, caerulea. The seed's a bit smaller than that of incarnata, and not quite so dramatic in its surface texture. This is a seed from last year, stored in my refrigerator in a packet of moist sand. I suspect if I get some fresh seed this year I'll re-shoot it, as tiny sand grains wedged themselves into little nooks on the seed so that I couldn't brush it clean. Note to self: Fresh seeds photograph better than stored seeds.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macros with Vivitar 2x telextender
Lisa On Location

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142/365: Incarnata seed II

I photographed the seed of passiflora incarnata earlier, for my film photography class, but I used a mottled gray background for that image and wasn't entirely happy with the contrast. So I've re-shot the species for consistency's sake. I like the contrast in this version much better.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macros with Vivitar 2x telextender
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141/365: Inspiration seed

Inspiration is my next subject in my passiflora seed series, but it's not from the Passiflora Society International seed sale. This one is from my personal stock. Inspiration is a tetraploid hybrid, similar to the common p. Incense hybrid, but slightly larger with deeper violet flowers that reflex more. There are other subtle differences as well, along with one big one--Inspiration is self-fertile, whereas Incense fruits with reluctance. Seeds of Inspiration generally follow the classic, common passiflora seed form, but are significantly larger--half again to twice the size of a regular incarnata seed. It also has more red pigmentation than other seeds I've photographed, which is curious.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macros with Vivitar 2x telextender
Lisa On Location

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