Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Quercus gambelii: the shape of things


Before they lose their chlorophyll, I wanted to look at several leaves from the scrub oak, side by side. 
This morning I did that (with Blue's help).
Each is recognizable as an oak leaf. 
And each is different from the others.
There are as many as 11 lobes and as few as 7.
Wishing for more words to describe what I'm seeing, more words to help me see better, I take at look at Flora of North America:

"Leaf blade elliptic to obovate or oblong, deeply to shallowly 4-6-lobed, (40-)80-120(-160) × (25-)40-60(-100) mm, membranous, base truncate to cuneate, margins entire or coarsely toothed, lobes oblong, rounded or subacute, sinuses acute or narrowly rounded at base, reaching more than 1/2 distance to midrib, secondary veins 4-6 on each side, each passing into lobe, branched, apex broadly rounded."

In other words, given the generous use of "or," quite varied.
And beautiful.



5 comments:

* said...

oh this is so pretty, i love this image.

Scott Abbott said...

high praise from a gifted photographer.

and "image" is just the right word for what i'm trying to do with all these photographs. i want to use the camera to help me see things better.

if the image is pretty or striking, so much the better.

* said...

is what i thought too, image, that's exactly the word. the image is really good. reminds me of me arranging shells on the ground after coming back from sea.
what do you think about gerhard meier, that swiss writer?

Scott Abbott said...

i haven't read any of meier's work.

do you know it?

* said...

read not a lot, but what i read was intriguing.