Birdbill Dayflower — Image by kenne
In the high canyons
of the Santa Catalinas,
the Birdbill Dayflower
blooms testing the theory:
that beauty
need not last
to matter.
By dusk, it has folded
its argument into seed.
— kenne
Archive for the ‘Birdbill Dayflower’ Tag
Birdbill Dayflower 2 comments
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Birdbill Dayflowers On Mt. Lemmon — Image by kenne
There is always this temptation
to keep walking,
to believe forward motion
is the same as purpose.
But the Birdbill dayflower
interrupts me—
a blue so exact it feels deliberate.
I kneel.
The mountain does not applaud.
It allows me this moment
of belonging,
as if I have earned nothing
and been given everything.
— kenne
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Little Blue Wildflowers, Birdbill Dayflower Leave a comment
Ed Rawl Photographing Birdbill Dayflowers (08/29/2014) — Image by kenne
I remember those trails with Ed,
the Santa Catalinas rising around us,
their air thin with pine and sun.
He would stop for what others missed—
a flicker of wings,
a lizard in the shadow of stone,
or, this time,
a birdbill dayflower,
its petals a sudden blue flame
against the dust of the path.
Camera lifted,
he leaned close as if in prayer,
framing the fragile bloom
with patient hands.
I stood back,
watching him catch
what the mountain offered—
a moment small and perfect,
saved in light,
rooted in memory.
(Ed Rawl passed away on April 18, 2020, after experiencing a stroke.)
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Revisiting Mt. Lemmon Wildflowers #6 Leave a comment
This summer, the Big Horn Fire caused so much damage to the National Forest
in the Santa Catalina Mountains remains closed to the public. Therefore,
hiking and photographing wildflowers in the Catalinas will not be in 2020,
which provides a good excuse to revisit some wildflower photos over the past ten summers.
Birdbill Dayflower (08/29/14) — Image by kenne
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Revisiting Mt. Lemmon Wildflowers #2 1 comment
This summer, the Big Horn Fire caused so much damage to the National Forest
in the Santa Catalina Mountains remains closed to the public. Therefore,
hiking and photographing wildflowers in the Catalinas will not be in 2020,
which provides a good excuse to revisit some wildflower photos over the past ten summers.
Birdbill Dayflower — Image by kenne
“The flowers emerge one at a time from large, green to maroon-tinged, hairy to hairless,
folded, boatlike spathes (leaf-like bracts) with an elongated, tapering tip that resembles a bird’s bill.
The individual flowers have 3 blue petals, fertile and sterile stamens with blue, hairless filaments,
and 3 staminodes (sterile stamens) with yellow, cross-shaped antherodes (sterile anthers).
The lowest flower petal is somewhat smaller than the other 2 petals. The flowers only last for a day.
The flowers are followed by seed capsules that mature within the spathes. The leaf sheaths are
maroon-streaked and wrap the stems. The leaf blades are green, hairless to hairy,
and linear to linear-lanceolate in shape. The stems are green to maroon-tinged,
succulent, erect to ascending, and unbranched or sparsely branched.”
— Southeastern Arizona Wildflowers and Plants
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Birdbill Dayflower — Photo-Artistry by kenne
“We always have a tendency to see those things
that do not exist
and to be blind to the great lessons
that are right there before our eyes.”
— Paulo Coelho
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Capturing The Momment — Birdbill Dayflower 5 comments
Birdbill Dayflowers On Mt. Lemmon (August 29, 2014) — Images by kenne
