Today's image is a digitized hand-tinted lantern slide by John Davidson. Mimulus Creek is one of the many geographical features of the Garibaldi area named by Davidson, as he was among the first people of European descent to explore the region. The naming of places and geographical objects was more than a privilege in Davidson's era and field of interest – it was a necessity. As he collected specimens of plants for the provincial herbarium (of the time), he needed to be able to somehow georeference the areas where he collected the plants. Lacking a geographical location meant specimens would not have a specific provenance (or place of origin), thus reducing their value to science. Davidson therefore needed to first assign a place name and map it before collecting and documenting plants of the area.
Science / history resource link: The Darwin Correspondence Project from Cambridge. Why are the letters important?. Currently contains correspondence from 1856-1859.
I found a site that might intrest you, it shows flowers under ultraviolet lights.
http://www.naturfotograf.com/UV_flowers_list.html#APOCYANX
Thanks Patricia, very cool. It'll be a future resource link, since I know not everyone reads the comments.
Very nice!
Oh, very nice. Our lupine's a summer plant, and you're north of me down here in Oregon. I don't know how that works. Was this photo taken today, or some other time? Looking forward to seeing more of these.
Kathy - no, the original photograph was likely taken in July roughly eighty years ago. There's a bit more information on the first linked page in the write-up.