Are you ready for your close up, Ms. Purpurea?
Ain't she pretty? Look at that very interesting red throat-band. It is intriguing how the hood hairs end right at that
border. There is another interesting horiozontal red pigmentation line paralleling the red band, but deeper into the pitcher.
I like the presence of an eensy-weensy
ant on the pitcher's lip, right at the junction with the ala. The ant is so tiny
you might not be able to see it on this scan. But for me, focusing on the little ant, then looking at its location on the
giant and potentially malevolent pitcher is thrilling. The pitcher plant becomes cyclopean in comparison!1
This is, by the way, certainly not an original device. Christoph Belanger, for example, has online a
photograph very similar in all respects,
but he uses a shallow depth of field to effectively focus attention
on the comparatively larger ant.
With this set of photographs complete, John and I talked more about future plans for the NECPS, shared smack about various
well-known (in a little puddle sort of way) carnivorous plant personalities, and in general had a good time. If you live in
New England, you surely must hook up with the NECPS. Here is the url again:
http://www.necps.org.
The day was drawing to a close, and I had to return to my hotel to prepare for the advent of a few days' worth of meetings.
So John and I said goodbye, and went our ways.
(Two days of interesting meetings at the University of Connecticut omitted.)
1I have to say it. The tiny dwarfed creature crawling about on the strangely twisted, cyclopean geometry--can you
say R'lyeh???
