in search of wisdom
October 25, 2012
Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars - mere globs of gas atoms. I, too, can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more?
- Richard Feynman
Eremogone (Arenaria) fendleri
Alpine Wildflowers
I’ve been hiking in the Sangre de Cristo mountains of northern New Mexico for many years and have become fascinated by the incredible array of wildflowers in all their various colors, shapes and habits. In particular the alpine plants that I refer to as the ‘Miniature Magic of the Mountains’. Many of these plants that live mostly above the tree line -- about 12,000 feet elevation here -- are so tiny that you can easily hold several decades-old entire plants in the palm of your hand.
The eremogone flower featured above, more commonly known as Fendler’s Sandwort, has blossoms that are only about 1/4 inch (~5 mm) in diameter, as you can see here (that’s my thumb):
I have put together a beautiful book of a mere 100 pages that displays portraits of some 45 alpine flowers, with descriptions of each. Here is the Foreword to that book:
Alpine Wildflowers
Wildflowers are pretty things. We love to pick them and make bouquets, bringing splashes of color into our homes. There are wildflowers and then there arc the alpine wild flowers. In just a few weeks these mostly tiny plants have to leaf out, bloom, set seed, and prepare for another long winter. During this brief growing period there can be high winds, rain, hail, and it can freeze during any night of the summer. There can be weeks of drought. Even though their flowers appear to be fragile and delicate, they are really tough little plants.
As a result they must adopt an ultraconservative life style. They have very slow growth rates, in some cases such as with moss campion (silene acaulis), only a tenth of an inch in five years. Some alpine species can live to great age - up to 350 years, with at least one Peruvian Azorella living as long as 3,000 years! Their pollinators must be appropriately sized. A hon
eybee, for example, can just fit into the throat of a Parry's Gentian. Almost every blossom will have some insects of whatever species. Incidentally, breathing on the little creatures usually scares them off. 1 presume that the carbon dioxide in mammalian breath warns them that they are about to be eaten, and that maybe they had better find a more friendly location.
Imagine that you are an insect, waking up in the morning and in need of a sugar-fix. Off you go on wings, sniffing the clean mountain air. At last you find the faintest whiff of that perfume, your favorite of all the thousands wafting about. You follow the exquisite aroma in the direction where it becomes stronger and stronger, until at last there before you is the lovely blossom, the perfume's source. You alight on a pretty pink petal, and enter the magic chamber - like a chapel with lovely colors: purple flames on candelabra, a central chartreuse lingam, and creamy walls, the sunlight filtering through translucent petals. Down, down you
go to the nectary, where your fix awaits. You gulp down all the sweet
Bearberry
In the last, as you are about to leave, a lovely maiden arrives on gossamer wings, and you are immediately smitten by her voluptuous beauty. In order to impress her, you do your best dance. She is deeply impre
ssed, and she allows you to embrace her. When it's over you are both in ecstasy. She, in her excitement, eats you. After all, she'll need nourishment for the kids. The blossom, of course, is also fertilized, so that both species will enjoy another generation.
All of these considerations, and many more, induce me to climb into alpine wilderness regions in search of these exquisite flowering plants. Because many are so tiny that they cannot be photographed in the wild, I have obtained permission from the US Forest Service to bring specimens down to my studio where there is no wind, and where I can control the lighting and background. In some cases I need to photograph the flowers in situ. A perfect example is the little Snow Buttercup, so-called because it actually is so eager to get starte
d in the spring that it pushes through the edge of a melting snowfield to get a head start on pollination. And of course I always want to show the plants' natural habitat as well.
I enjoy hiking beyond established trails through forests of giant trees and open understories that have never been cut. The quiet is total with the occasional exception of the brush of a breeze through the trees, or the staccato hammering of a distant woodpecker or the tiny squeak of a pika warning you away from his rocky burrow. Sometimes on a ridge above is the silhouette of a bighorn ram, lord of the realm!
If you would like a copy of the book, please contact me (bob@bobfitch.com) and I shall be happy to send you one. Because these books are beautifully hard-covered and hand-bound, they are not cheap at $230, but they are signed by the author, and shipping is free! Here are a few pictures from the book, to give you an idea:
This is the cover of the book; 10 X 13 inches, a nice size for the coffee table.
A smaller version of the book that is 8.5 X
11 inches is available at considerably lower cost - $125.
Typical page with single blossom picture. This blossom (floret) is all of about 1/4 inch in size!
Details of floret and plant size, as well as information about nomenclature, medicinal uses, and other interesting facts.
Here are a couple of pages extracted from the book, so that you can see them in greater detail:
The plants in the book are mostly “circumpolar,” meaning that they are found around the world where similar alpine microclimates exist.
The book also contains details about how the pictures were obtained, such as camera, lenses, lighting and studio setup. There is no other book like it!
That’s all for this week. Contact me at: bobfitch@newmex.com.
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