about Nirin-sou

The photo originally uploaded by Yuichi Momma's photostream in flickr

I'd like to tell you about Nirin-sou (or called wind-flower in English) in the botanical approach today.

This flower is called "Nirin-sou" in Japanese that is one of species in genus of Anemone. The scientific name is anemone flaccida.
As for the characteristic of this plant, two flowers bloom at the same time from one stem.　In other words, the most of this plant grows two flower stalks ( or scapes) from one stem as you can see in the image.

image on left : the place where Nirin-sou grows in colony.

image on right : up-closed image of Nirin-sou. Diameter of this flower is 2 cm at most, and it has five pieces of white sepals which look like petals. This plant has no petal that is another characteristic of this plant.

The flowering time will be end of March to beginning of April in the local area where I live.

in a sunny room

in a sunny room, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

I was a reluctant to take a walk on such cold day.
So I have decided to take photos of potted flower in the sunny room.

Daffodils bloomed under winter sunshine

Daffodils bloomed under winter sunshine, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

I found some daffodils bloomed on a slop of the hill facing south when I took a stroll to the hill near by my house yesterday. It was severe cold day with strong north wind, but I felt spring in my heart when I took this photo.

A springlike atmosphere

>
Gerbera, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

The image above was taken at a florist in my neighbourhood.
The shopfront of a florist was filled with a springlike atmosphere.

hydrangea taken by the light bulb of white balance

hydrangea taken by the light bulb of white balance, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

What do you think about that, is it right or wrong to change the white balance in nature photography?

Thank you for your opinion about the changing of white balance in nature photography.
wishing you all a wonderful Friday and happy weekend!

typical flower in the rainy season

typical flower in the rainy season, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

The Japan Meteorological Agency officially announced yesterday that the rainy season started ten days earlier than usual here in Kanto region.

Flowers of hydrangea become more and more beautiful day by day, because, hydrangea is typical flower in the rainy season here.

Thank you for your stopping by.. and hope you to look the image in lightbox with full-screen( press F11).
Wishing you all a wonderful Thursday.

A rose blooms in blue.

A rose blooms in blue., originally uploaded by photoholic image.

The rose shown in above is a new species which was bred to be blue.
Mr. Moriji Kobayashi, who is a plant breeder, succeeded in breeding of this blue rose in 1992. And he named this rose "SEIRYU (青龍）" which means "Blue Dragon"

Thank you for viewing in large size with full-screen (press "F11").
Have a wonderful day!

Lily of the Valley which bloomed in my yard

Lily of the Valley which bloomed in my yard, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

I planted several lilies of the valley in my garden few years ago. And the lily of the valley has continued to increase every year. Currently, a flower bed has been occupied thickly by lily of the valley.
I enjoyed so refreshing scent of flowers of the lily of the valley while taking pictures.

The hill where Baby Blue-Eyes bloom

The hill where Baby Blue-Eyes bloom, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

The image was taken on 25th April at the Hitachi Seaside National Government Park (国営ひたち海浜公園）.
The park has area of 350ha and one of the Japan's National Government Parks. The park area was the Air Force Base in Japanese army during the World War II.

This hill is called "Miharashi-no-oka" which means a hill with a fine view. When we stand on top of the hill, we can enjoy the panoramic view of 360 degrees including the Pacific ocean view. The whole hill is covered with baby blue-eyes in spring, and Kochia (burningbush) and cosmos will cover up the hill in autumn.

The image above has been optimized to look in the lightbox with full-screen.
Thank you for looking and wishing you all a wonderful Friday and weekend.

Lilac and its sweet smell for you!!!

Lilacs and its sweet smell for you!!!, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

I would like to share the images of sweet-smelling flowers with you for your happy weekend.
I really want to send you a sweet smell of this flowers. I enjoyed the scent of flowers while taking pictures and I didn't want to leave the place.

Best viewing is in lightbox with full-screen.

Thank you for your looking and wishing you all a wonderful weekend!!

a spring ephemeral or fairy of spring

a spring ephemeral or fairy of spring, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

An ephemeral plant seen above is called "Azuma-Ichige" in Japanese and it is one of species in genus of Anemone.

recommend to view on lightbox

Thank you for viewing and happy weekend to you all!!

drops on petals

drops on petals, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

A tulip coming into bloom closed its petals tightly to endure cold rain of spring.
The photo was taken @ yard yesterday.

Thank you for viewing in lightbox and I hope you have a wonderful Easter holiday and a week ahead!

Golden flowers of spring

Golden flowers of spring, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

The plant is called Sansyu-yu in Japanese as I told in my previous upload. The Sansyu-yu is also known as "Haru-kogane-bana" that means "Spring Golden Flower" in word-for-word translation.

burst to bloom

burst to bloom, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

Japanese cornel, called "Sansyu-yu" in Japanese, bloomed like split opened or burst from a husk.
The plant is a species of dogwood family and native to China, and came to Japan via Korea peninsula at early 18the century as a medicinal plant.
It is said that the seeds harvested from the plant are to be effective in treating infertility and poor circulation.
The bud of this plant is wrapped in a hard husk shown in the image below.

Sign of spring

Sign of spring, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

This is called Setsubun-sou in Japanes that is one of species of Ranunculaceae family and an endemic species of Japan.
It is very small flower, the diameter of flower is about 2.0cm from 1.5cm and the height of this plant is 10cm, more or less. You can compare the flower with a honeybee as shown in the image below.
This plant grows in colonies and blooms around middle of February as a sign of early spring.　However, flowering was delayed almost half a month than usual because of the severe cold of this winter.