Linum perennis [Blue Flax]: More Examples

[Andrea B.]

Blum, A.G. (2021) More Examples of Linum perennis L.(Linaceae) Blue Flax. Flowers photographed in ultraviolet, visible and infrared light. LINK

 

El Dorado at Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

May 2021

Wildflower in Home Garden

 

Synonyms:

• Adenolinum perenne (L.) Rchb.
  
• Linum sibiricum DC.
  

Other Common Names:

• Perennial Flax
  

.

Comment:

This non-native Linum perenne, purchased labeled at a local nursery, is so similar to our native L. lewsii that I don't think I could tell them apart if I didn't already know which was which. The morning cloud of Blue Flax flowers in our garden is beautiful, and I never miss a day checking it out.

 

My attempts to photograph Blue Flax have not been completely successful. The thin stems wave in the wind quite easily so shooting outdoors requires that infinite patience necessary for waiting until there is a lull in the prairie winds. But if pick a flower and carry it inside, then the petals tend to fall off within a few minutes. I'm doing better at capturing Blue Flax photos, but I hope to eventually add some better versions here.

 

B. Rørslett^[2] has previously shown L. perenne on UltravioletPhotograpy.com.

 

References:

1. SEINet Arizona-New Mexico Chapter (acc 29 Mar 2021) Linum perenne.

This is a southwestern biodiversity organization making use of the Symbiota portal software.

2. Rørslett, B. 2013. Linum perenne L. (Linaceae). Blue Flax. Flowers photographed in visible and ultraviolet light. http://www.ultraviol...enne-blue-flax/

 

 

Equipment [Nikon D610-broadband + Coastal Optics 60mm f/4.5]

 

 

Visible Light [f/11 for 1/1250" @ ISO-100 in Sunlight with Baader UVIR-Block Filter]

 

Ultraviolet Light [f/11 for 1/15" @ ISO-100 in Sunlight with BaaderU UV-Pass Filter]

There is a lot of UV light at this altitude in New Mexico, but this shot is still 6.33 stops slower than the matching visible photo above.

 

 

Visible Light [f/11 for 1/500" @ ISO-100 in Sunlight with Baader UVIR-Block Filter]

 

Infrared Light [f/16 for 1/640" @ ISO-100 in Sunlight with B+W 092 IR-Pass Filter]

The flowers are difficult to see in IR from this perspective.

I always like the ice blue from this filter. However, the sky might need a color change.

There are a few Very Odd Flowers in this scene. Can you spot them?

 

UV+Blue+Green [f/11 for 1/100" @ ISO-800 in Sunlight with UG5(2.0mm) + S8612(2.0mm)]

As Mom would have said, "Nothing to write home about here".

There are UV+B+G flowers which are much more interesting than this one.

 

Ultraviolet Light [f/11 for 1/25" @ ISO-400 in Sunlight with BaaderU UV-Pass Filter]

The false colours are quite fetching, IMHO.

 

Ultraviolet Light [The preceding photo with increased saturation.]

Yeah, that preceding lavender wall is really a pale blue. Sat it up and you get this. Wow!

[Andrea B.]

In the 4th photo (which is IR) there seem to be a few Flax flowers which are darker than the rest. I do not know whether that is because they are in some kind of IR shadow or because they are absorbing a bit of IR. I think it's gotta be shadow. But difficult to determine exactly.

[Andrea B.]

aha! It is simply a light & shadow thing.

Here are before and after crops showing that the wind blew the arrowed flowers - one from light-to-shadow and the other from shadow-to-light.

Mystery solved.

 

 

Darn! I wanted Blue Flax to have some IR-anomalies. Oh well.

[Stefano]

Nice photos overall, but two things made me think:

- the sky in your infrared photo has a nice "ocher" yellow, very similar to how my point-and-shoot (Panasonic DMC-F3) rendered it. I miss that infrared palette, my Canon EOS M has much weaker colors in IR (although there's no doubt it rocks in UV). Post-processing can help, but if I push the saturation too much I get an axial discoloration.

- that lavender being actually blue is revealing! How many times did we (me included) think something was lavender while in fact being blue? A lot of my photos taken with the DCM-F3 were like this, they had that "lavender" color in them. This maybe explains why I got pure yellows. Complementary colors exist even in UV/IR under a strong WB, it isn't a coincidence that lavender + greenish yellow = white. If you get pure yellows, you get pure blues. I also think that a poor UV reach leads to those colors, and my lens probably didn't go past 350 nm.