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UltravioletPhotography

Sisymbrium altissimum [Jim Hill Mustard]: CR MA SA Y-FY


Andrea B.

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Blum, A.G. (2021) Sisymbrium altissimum L. (Brassicaceae) Jim Hill Mustard. Flowers photographed in ultraviolet and visible light. https://www.ultravio...m-hill-mustard/

 

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

11 May 2021 Foliage

11 May & 26 June 2021 Flowers

Wildflower

 

Synonyms:

  • Norta altissima (L.) Britt.
  • Sisymbrium pannonicum Jacq.

Other Common Names:

  • Tall Hedge-Mustard
  • Tall Tumble-Mustard
  • Tumble Mustard
  • Tumbleweed Mustard

Comment:

The sturdy branched skeletons of Jim Hill Mustard do indeed tumble through our area in fall and winter. They must be easily uprooted after losing their leaves and drying out in the fall. The plant begins with a dark green basal rosette of leaves which live through the winter. The upper leaves on branches off the main stalk are much finer and less spiny. The flowers show the UV-dark veining and very pale false yellow typical of so many Brassica flowers in reflected UV light.

 

References:

1. SEINet Arizona-New Mexico Chapter (acc 19 July 2021) Sisymbrium altissimum.

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

2. Southwest Colorado Wildflowers (acc 19 July 2021) Sisymbrium altissimum.

Website published and maintained by Al Schneider and hosted by Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory.

3. Allred, Kelly W., Jercinovic, Eugene M., Ivey, Robert DeWitt (2021) Flora Neomexicana III: An Illustrated Identification Manual, Second Edition, Part 2, Sisymbrium Key, page 292. Print on demand at lulu.com.

 

Equipment [Nikon D610-broadband + Nikon 105mm f/4.5 UV-Nikkor]

 

Visible Light [f/11 for 2" @ ISO-200 with Onboard Flash and Baader UVIR-Block Filter]

sisymbriumAltissimum_vis_flash_20210626laSecuela_2442901.jpg

 

Ultraviolet Light [f/11 for 1/20" @ ISO-400 with SB-140 UV-Flash and BaaderU UV-Pass Filter]

Two flashes were made during the 20" second interval.

sisymbriumAltissimum_uvBaad_sb140_20210626laSecuela_24434pn01.jpg

 

Visible Light [f/11 for 1/2500" @ ISO-400 in Sunlight with Baader UVIR-Block Filter]

sisymbriumAltissimum_vis_sun_20210511laSecuela_22831pn01.jpg

 

Ultraviolet Light [f/16 for 1/20" @ ISO-800 in Sunlight and SEU UV-Pass Filter]

The SEU, a nice fast UV-pass filter, brings out a bit more of the UV false blue.

sisymbriumAltissimum_uvSeuRed_sun_20210511laSecuela_22851crop01.jpg

 

Infrared Light [f/16 for 1/800" @ ISO-100 in Sunlight with B+W 092 IR-Pass Filter]

This is the "director's cut" -- perhaps an artistic version of Jim Hill in IR?

sisymbriumAltissimum_ir092_sun_20210511laSecuela_22857pn.jpg

 

 

Foliage Photos

I made several foliage photos because identifying members of the Brassicaceae family often depends on leaf characteristics.

 

Upper leaves.

sisymbriumAltissimumFoliage_vis_sun_20210511laSecuela_22817pn01.jpg

 

Middle leaves.

sisymbriumAltissimumFoliage_vis_sun_20210511laSecuela_22827pn01.jpg

 

From basal rosette.

sisymbriumAltissimumFoliage_vis_sun_20210511laSecuela_22823pn01.jpg

 

From basal rosette.

sisymbriumAltissimumFoliage_vis_sun_20210511laSecuela_22825pn01.jpg

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The anthers are UV bright before opening and the pollen is UV dark. The pollen sacs split lengthwise, hence the line pattern. Interesting.

 

Just checked and the species is indeed annual. The 'tumbling' behaviour is not seen over here. The origin of S. altissimum is Central and South Europe.

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Birna, I remember that on the Desert Safari you saw a certain brassica and instantly identified it as European! At that time I was surprised because I had not yet realized that many wildflowers might not be US natives. Now, of course, I know that fact. This Jim Hill Mustard is another such European traveler.

 

I found the following photo of some S. altissimum "skeletons" which had uprooted and become tumbleweeds like they do here.There were no copyrights associated with this photo, but here is the link and info: Methow Conservancy, Winthrop, Washington, USA. They have placed this Mustard in their weed section under Tumble Mustard, one of my alternate names. Their write-up confirms my observations. I will note, however, that the Jim Hills here do not seem to have quite such prolific blooming branches. I usually find only a few flowers at the end of a branch. We have a great deal less rainfall here than in Washington, and this probably explains things.

 

From Methow Conservancy, linked above.

tumble_mustard_dried1.jpg

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An artistic? version with the SEU. I used a raw composite from Raw Digger to get a different false-color UV look. Finished in Photo Ninja.

 

The Jim Hill flowers look like pink butterflies.

sisymbriumAltissimum_uvSeuRed_sun_20210511laSecuela_22847rawComp01pn.jpg

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I'll show you the rawest raw version here.

Raw Digger does minimal processing so after pulling a raw composite I usually make some edits for brightening things up and increasing contrast a bit. Then some sharpening. Raw Digger's saturation is also low, so I increase saturation if I'm going to use their raw composite.

 

posting rawest raw here in a minute or two ........

 

Here is the rawest raw from Raw Digger. NO edits.

I did crop because there was a lot of boring background.

 

This looks rather boring, but there is a lot there to be brought out.

 

sisymbriumAltissimum_uvSeuRed_sun_20210511laSecuela_22847rawCompNoEdits.jpg

 

 

Here are some samples of the raw colors. You can see that one of the pink colors has a lot of blue. The other pink color is headed towards red. It does not take much effort to pull those two colors apart by pushing the blue-ish pink more towards blue to get the result I posted above. The remainder of the edits are just sharpening, contrast and a bit of brightening here and there.

 

sisymbriumAltissimum_uvSeuRed_sun_20210511laSecuela_22847rawCompColor.jpg

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Interesting how a white balance can sometimes bring out the colors in images which look almost monochromatic. In your example the bluer magenta is what becomes false blue/lavender and the redder magenta what becomes false yellow with a typical white balance, but you can see how in the RAW image everything is just purple/magenta.
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I think that if the raw non-white-balanced colors are about 15°-30° apart you will get a nice separation in the white balance. But I haven't ever tried to pin that down.

 

I updated the color dot photo to include the bits of actual magenta (small magenta dots).

 

The big reddish-pink dots are around 340°, the big blu-ish pink dots are approximatel 325° and two tiny magenta dots are at 310°. There is lots there to work with either by channel swapping, or by white-balancing or by selecting one color range and pushing it a few degrees clockwise or counter.

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