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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
I took this photo whilst in Adelaide visiting my mum. It is the flowers of a gum tree. Unfortunately I have no idea which one as there over 700 species of Eucalypts in this country!!
EUCALYPTUS:(From Greek, eu + καλύπτω = "True Cap") is a diverse genus of trees (and a few shrubs), the members of which dominate the tree flora of Australia. There are more than 700 species of Eucalyptus, mostly native to Australia, with a very small number found in adjacent parts of New Guinea and Indonesia and one as far north as the Philippines.
Eucalypts can be found in almost every part of the Australian continent, adapted to all of its climatic conditions; in fact, no other continent is so characterised by a single genus of tree as Australia is by eucalyptus. Many, but far from all, are known as gum trees, in reference to the habit of many eucalyptus to constantly exude sap from any break in the bark.
FLOWERS:
The most readily recognisable characteristics of Eucalyptus species are its distinctive flowers and fruit (capsule). Flowers have numerous fluffy stamens, which may be white, cream, yellow, pink or red; in bud the stamens are enclosed in a cap known as an operculum, which is composed of the fused sepals or petals or both. Thus flowers have no petals, decorating themselves instead with the many showy stamens. As the stamens expand, the operculum is forced off, splitting away from the cup-like base of the flower; this is one of the features that that unites the genus. The name Eucalyptus, from the Greek words eu-, well, and kaluptos, cover, meaning "well-covered", describes the operculum.
The woody fruits or capsules, known as gumnuts, are roughly cone-shaped and have valves at the end which open to release the seeds. Most species do not flower until adult foliage starts to appear.
This information came from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus
PP work:
RAW to JPEG
Cropped the image a bit from the original
Altered the brightness and contrast levels a tad
Sharpened the image
Framed the image
Thanks for looking and for your comments and critiques! Cheers Tina :-) |
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