Botany Photo of the Day

Thanks for the cheerful photo. It's good to be reminded on a gloomy Winter day that Spring is always on the way.

I love thistle! It's so beautiful~

Nice photo. This is a wonderful combination of colors.

Really nice departure from what's normally presented here - wonderful shot!

daniel thank you tis lovely

this a get out your paints picture

americans know about canada
we just do not know where to find it

Cirsium edule - Z7 - RHS Index of Garden Plants, Griffiths

"Bull thistle (and other thistles) were regarded by some aboriginal peoples, such as the Straits Salish, as having protective properties because of their prickly leaves. The leaves and roots were placed in bath water or held in the pocket as a talisman"

--Pojar/Mackinnon, PLANTS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST COAST (Lone Pine)

I missed the bee the first time. That is a bee, isn't it? Great color combination.

Thanks all - bev, I think that's a hover fly. Related to other dipterans like flies and mosquitoes, it is a bee-mimic.

I also wanted to point out that the 5000th comment on BPotD was posted today - thank you all for posting your words and thoughts!

I was born in Port Angeles, Wn, and My grand father homesteaded there before there was any town. Family lived there on hurricane ridge for many years. Also My mother died there of exposure at Christmas time,many years ago. So your beautiful picture brought many, many thoughts to mind. Good and bad. Nevertheless, thank you so much for posting it. It was like a gift of nostalgic beauty.

5000 thousand comments
you deserve a standing ovation
for all your work and devotion
thank you daniel

It's amazing that your family lived way up there, in that subalpine environment - and sad that your mother died there.

Daniel, do you by chance have a larger version of this image? You've gotten me curious about whether its a fly or a bee. It does look as though it only has one set of wings, but it also seems to have a rather un-flylike head. I can't tell if i'm imagining antennae or not. The banding pattern does seem more similar to the flies i've seen than the bees, but I haven't been able to find a total match in either family. I'm stumped without checking it against a more comprehensive set of pictures or getting a closer look at it.

Definitely a hover fly. Bees don't hold their wings out like that to make a cross-like profile, nor do they have huge eyes that cover most of the head.

What a great photo and a wonderful reminder of my first visit to Hurricane Ridge. The beauty and wonder of "real" mountains, the flora and fauna of a totally different region made my flatlander's heart sing!

The lupine, plus a shot of the leaves below suggest either the Texas Bluebonnet or the Big Bend variety of the Bluebonnet. This may be a nice gift from a migratory bird. This looks alot like photos I've taken in the Texas hill country in March. The paintbrush is nearly identical, and the bluebonnet head while not nearly so organized are very similar.

I'll try to remember to post a larger version of the hover fly this evening.

This shot brings back memories of my trip out west in 1973. Mount Rainier's road was solidly lined with medleys like this. So beautiful! A landscaper could not have outdone the majasty.
Carol

whoa, you guys have figured out how to make the picture bigger than mine if you can see the head! I agree though, it looked sort of like a bee but not really; hence my original question. I like hover fly better - not that I've ever heard of one!

Here's the close-up of the hover-fly.