The Lonesome Road

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Seed 2, originally uploaded by shadowfall.

I was nearing the end of my evening walk when I came across this tree. When I first looked at it, it seemed to have bulbs strug up on it. It seemed like a valid assumption at first as there was some sort of party going on next door. However, when I took another look, the “bulbs” seemed to be fuzzy. I was intrigued - and kicked myself (mentally, of course) for not taking my camera along.

As I made a complete circuit of the tree, I saw that some of the bulbs were light green, some a mixture of green and black and some completely back. I wanted a closer look, but didn’t want to pull down any of the bulbs.

Fortunately, I managed to find this broken bulb near the tree. Now, I know that these photos haven’t come out very well - I had to rush it a little. The bulb was disintegrating, and I had to be quick about the photos.

Now, it’s clear why the colors were different. As the wind blows, it takes away the fuzzy coating and presumably the seeds then disperse. After I took the photos, I tested the theory by lobbing the bulb in a horticultural garden (took permission before I did though ) near my house. It landed, and then simply disappeared - was amazing to watch the speed at which the spores dispersed.

However, the caretaker could not tell me the english name of the plant. If anyone knows - please let me know.

Well, three new photos are up. They can be seen on the Trees and Plants and the Misc Photos pages.

Busy preparing for my project review - am studying and trying to implement the Remote Frame Buffer Protocol.

Back to work!