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~Gum Blossom II~


~Gum Blossom II~
Photo Information
Copyright: Tina Sieben (gypsygirl58) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 101 W: 0 N: 138] (426)
Genre: Plants
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-05-05
Categories: Flowers, Trees
Camera: Pentax K100D, Sigma 55-200mm F4-5.6 DC
Exposure: f/8, 1/125 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2007-05-30 6:36
Viewed: 1137
Points: 13
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
I took this photo whilst visiting Wittunga Botanical Gardens in the Adelaide Hills with a friend. It is of a Eucalyptus Blossom. I have no idea which one as there are so many, this one has a very lovely creamy-yellow flower. I left the caps on the right hand side to show where the flowers come from.

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 frrom original
Altered the contrast and brightness levels a tad
Sharpened the image

Hope you like it! Thanks for looking and for your comments and critiques! Cheers Tina :-)
deblink, JPlumb, Necipp, bobair has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To Kathleen: Gum Blossom IIgypsygirl58 2 06-02 06:36
To bobair: Gum Blossom IIgypsygirl58 1 05-31 22:31
To JPlumb: Gum Blossom IIgypsygirl58 1 05-31 22:28
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Critiques [Translate]

Hi Tina.
You have some great colour in your photos, birds, plants, must be all the sunshine over there. Lovely bright flowers on trees of all sorts.
This is a lovely soft colour and your composition for showing both the flower and caps was a good thought. The flower is slightly out of focus, the flower seems to be fusing together and also on my screen a little over exposed. Imagine this pin sharp showing up every bit of detail in those flowers, that would look great.

Kathleen
New Zealand

Hi Tina,
Nice image of this Eucalyptus flower and the different stages of its progress through life. The image is lovely and sharp with good detail.
Cheers,
Debbie

Hi Tina, before we came to Australia I never realized the diversity found within the Eucalyptus. It was my understanding that there was a Eucalyptus tree and the Koala ate its leaves. Okay, so I was a little misinformed (naive).

This shot of the blossoms is a good sharp shot. Your colours very good, light is maybe a little over exposed on the top blossum. Your composition is a good one showing the blossoms next to some buds (operculum) that are about to open. Also you write great notes, I'm learning something here.

Speaking of learning, with these blossoms there is another difference seen here as opposed to NA plants, and that's with the pollination of these things. In NA the chief pollinators are probably insects (mostly bees) and the wind. Here it seems to be birds and fruit bats, based on the design of the flower.

Thanks, John

Hello Tina a really interesting and unusual plant never seen one before, the light is a bit strong at the back flower think it was composed well TFS rgds Necip.

Hi Tina,
your photo gives me a reason to visit Australia as the things you have in your country are so unlike like most things here in Canada.I like the look of the fireworks like burst of the flower heads in this photo and the powdery looking bloom on the surface of everything else,that gives a dusty look to this picture.I wish the focus was a tad harder but as it is a good picture overall,Tfs. Bob

  • Great 
  • arfer Gold Star Critiquer [C: 2731 W: 0 N: 0] (0)
  • [2007-05-31 23:14]

Hello Tina

Another interesting and exotic flower.The notes are very informative.A very nicely composed shot of this beautiful flower.The details are very good.TFS

Rob

Hi Tina, lovely composition with splendid blossom, very well done, ciao Silvio

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