Sunday, August 15, 2010

CHICORY

In his "Humble Bee" Ralph Waldo Emerson, too, sees only beauty in the "Succory to match the sky;"

Chicory is an elusive flower. Highly reactive to weather conditions, one has to be vigilant to find them blooming. Most of the summer the chicory blooming near my home was very pale and washed out. I wanted to find that lovely, unmatched, periwinkle blue color for which chicory is known.
I finally came upon chicory early one morning as the blooms were opening with the morning sun. They were in a field in the country, and in a shady spot. There was that blue I'd been searching for all summer! I did a tight macro of this bloom on the tips of the opening petals.

I love this shot because it looks like there is a glowing light in the center. The stamens have beautiful blue lines, and the tips sport curliques like the dandelion -- in fact, chicory and dandelion are both in the same family.

Another macro emphasizing the center of the flower. In this one you can see the tips of the stamens that will eventually curl.


Do you recognize Chicory in these languages?
French - chicoree
Spanish - achicoria
Portuguese - chicoria
Italian - cicorea
German - chicorie
Dutch - cichorei
Swedish - cikorie
Russian - tsikorei
Danes - cicorie

1 comment:

Adam said...

Wow, great shots of the poor man's coffee. You really captured the essence of that vivid color.