For Easter, I thought I’d post photos of some Pink Lady’s Slippers. These were all taken at a local nature center almost a year ago. This orchid is generally difficult to find, but abundant where conditions permit.

January 18, 2011 | Gandoca-Manzanillo NWR, Limon Province, Costa Rica

I spotted quite a few trees with leaves like these plastered to their trunks. After some searching, I believe this is probably a plant in the Monstera genus. This adhesive climbing behavior is known as shingling. Interestingly, the leaves of the grown plant take on a very different form (follow the wikipedia link above).

Looking up from a forest trail at a nearby nature center, I saw the leaves of a beech tree backlit by the afternoon sun. I picked off a few of the interesting ones and held them by hand so as to take some closeups. I find the patterns interesting in the same way ink blots are interesting.

What do you see in these abstract images?

Flames? | Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA | September 5, 2010

Mandelbrot Fractal Set?

Stained glass window?

Leaf within a leaf?

What do you see?

Can anyone explain what’s going on here? Is this how leaves start to turn in the fall? A disease of some sort?