Saturday, April 15, 2017

Another Edge

 
This morning was cool and bright and bird-filled yet bug-free;  so I dragged my yoga mat out onto my little studio deck to practice.  And while I was holding a pose that involved resting my chin on my leg I glanced up and spotted a few catkins that had fallen from the mystery tree that hangs over a corner of the deck. I had never before noticed that the catkins have the form of wooly caterpillars at one phase of their development.  

So I scooped up a few (without noticing the tiny caterpillar (9566) that was perfectly camoflagued on one catkin.  When I was studying them/drawing them I discovered that the white fluff is straight and grows out of a minute ovule/anther and that the unit looks like a troll doll head. (9565).  Eventually the microscopic seeds at the end of each hair matures and the fluff is released onto the wind like dandelion seed fluff.

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