365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Ranunculus Aquatilis Var. Diffusus
Day 287: Tentatively identified as Ranunculus aquatilis var. diffusus (White Water Crowfoot), this teeny-tiny treasure was another score from Arnie and Crow's bog adventure. The flower in the main image is imperfect; there should be five petals like those shown in the inset (lower right), but I could not capture the moss-like foliage with a perfect blossom. This aquatic species has thread-like, filamentous leaves on the portions of the plant which are submerged, so very different from the leaves above the water that they appear to be two different types of plant. In fact, the submerged leaves resemble those of the invasive Fanwort (Cabomba caroliniana). If Arnie had not pointed the flowers out to me, I would have dismissed the emergent foliage as a moss. Compare the leaves with the brown Douglas Fir needles in the upper right for size.
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The Crowfoot I get, but white (WHITE) water? Looked pretty murky to me.
ReplyDeleteOr is that not named after you?
ReplyDeleteI did a double-take on the "white water" as well..."white" for the flower, "water" because it's aquatic, "crowfoot" because I got both mine stuck in the mud...no, forgive me..."crowfoot" for the shape of the leaf!
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