Oenothera glazioviana [Large-flowered Evening Primrose]

[Nico]

Chalwatzis, N. 2013. Oenothera glazioviana Micheli (Onagraceae). Large-flowered Evening Primrose. Flowers photographed in visible and ultraviolet light, with simulated bee-colours and fluorescence. http://www.ultraviol...ening-primrose/

 

Oenothera glazioviana Micheli

Synonyms: Oenothera erythrosepala Borbás, Oenothera lamarckiana Ser.

 

DE: Rotkelchige Nachtkerze

EN: Large-flowered Evening Primrose

 

The genus Oenothera is mainly native in America. Several species have been brought to Europe as ornamental plants and some have escaped from there. Interestingly, there are stable hybrids in Europe that are not found in America. Tokhtar et al. (2011) have published a paper about the microevolution and invasiveness of the genus. The species O. glazioviana is probably a hybrid that emerged in Europe. In contrast to most other Oenothera species O. glazioviana does not seem to be self-pollinating (http://de.wikipedia....hige_Nachtkerze).

The species was determined with the following key: http://www.bvnh.de/b.../oenothera.html

 

Plants were collected in Bensheim, Germany July 2013 (growing in the garden of the author, as a weed).

 

The flowers show a very prominent UV-signature with a dark centre and dark veins while the outer parts of the petals show a strong UV reflexion. In the simulated bee-colours the petals appear bee-magenta (green plus UV) with a bee-red centre (only green reflexion), while the pollen is bee-yellow (reflecting green and blue but no UV). – Interestingly, the UV-signature becomes also visible to the human eye when the flowers are illuminated with a UV torch (see induces fluorescence image).

 

Visible light: Panasonic Lumix G1, broadband modified, EL-Nikkor 80 mm/f5.6 at f8.

Image reference: CHA_P1090665_130702

 

 

Ultraviolet light: Panasonic Lumix G1, broadband-modified, EL-Nikkor 80 mm/f5.6 at f8. Baader U2" (Venus) filter, flash: “UV flash-it”.

Image reference:CHA_P1090669_130702

 

Simulated bee-colours: Composite image with a greyscale version of the UV-image and the blue and green channels of the visible light image.

Image reference: CHA_P1090666_RGB_UV_bw_II_130715

 

UV-induced fluorescence: Panasonic Lumix GH2 with Leica Macro Elmarit 45 mm/f2.8.

Image reference: CHA__P1190611_130710

 

References:

V. K. Tokhtar, Yu. K. Vinogradova, A. S. Groshenko (2011) Microevolution and invasiveness of Oenothera L. species (subsect. Oenothera, Onagraceae) in Europe: Russian Journal of Biological Invasions, October 2011, Volume 2, Issue 4, pp 273-280.

 

 

[Published 17 July 2013]

[Andrea B.]

The UV shot looks really nice made with your new UV flash. :D

 

I like the links for extra information. I'm going to use them when I have time.

There is always the long, cold winter ahead. When there are no flowers to shoot in UV, we can always sit and link up our existing posts while sipping on a nice hot chocolate or hot cider.

[Nico]

Thanks, Andrea,

 

After some testing I decided to buy the flash, since it allows me to get decent photos that I could not get without it.

With appropriate filtering (cutting of UV and IR) I could also do UV induced fluorescence images like the one in this post, but I'm still experimenting with these.

 

Best, Nico

[Andrea B.]

I agree that we need to have a UV-flash for some of these flowers. Even in strong sunlight, I find UV-flash useful for bringing out microcontrast and detail.

 

Do you have the Baader UVIR-Cut filter to use for UVIVF ? Or is your UV-flash filtered?

 

Shooting fluorescence is time-consuming because of the need to shoot in the dark, so I have gotten a bit lazy about it recently due to all my outdoor activities.