Unmoving. Peacock Butterfly, Aglais io, and Tithonia rotundifolia, Mexican Sunflower, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Well yes... I've given this photo the title 'Unmoving". That's in deference to innovative René Louiche Desfontaines (1751-1833), botanist in Paris. He liked to experiment with plants. Notable is his Carriage Experiment. He knew and had observed, of course, the 'movements' of Mimosa pudica. Its leaves close on being touched. Desfontaines decided to observe that phenomenon more closely so he took his Mimosa pudica on a carrage ride through Paris. He was curious whether the jostling of that vehicle would cause for the infolding of Mimosa's foliage. Indeed, it was. But he noticed, too, that after a time in the carriage they'd erect again.
Anyway, that 'movement' came into my mind as I gazed on this pretty picture of a Peacock Butterfly, quite motionless on an unmoving Tithonia, known by Desfontaines as Tagetes rotundifolia (1768), But at least half a century earlier the brightly flowering plant has already been cultivated in Europe. It was apparently first scientifically collected by Scottish botanist William Houstoun (1695(?)-1733) at Vera Cruz, Mexico. Whatever the case: Butterfly soon fluttered away leaving Tithonia motionless in the wind-still air.
Unmoving. Peacock Butterfly, Aglais io, and Tithonia rotundifolia, Mexican Sunflower, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Well yes... I've given this photo the title 'Unmoving". That's in deference to innovative René Louiche Desfontaines (1751-1833), botanist in Paris. He liked to experiment with plants. Notable is his Carriage Experiment. He knew and had observed, of course, the 'movements' of Mimosa pudica. Its leaves close on being touched. Desfontaines decided to observe that phenomenon more closely so he took his Mimosa pudica on a carrage ride through Paris. He was curious whether the jostling of that vehicle would cause for the infolding of Mimosa's foliage. Indeed, it was. But he noticed, too, that after a time in the carriage they'd erect again.
Anyway, that 'movement' came into my mind as I gazed on this pretty picture of a Peacock Butterfly, quite motionless on an unmoving Tithonia, known by Desfontaines as Tagetes rotundifolia (1768), But at least half a century earlier the brightly flowering plant has already been cultivated in Europe. It was apparently first scientifically collected by Scottish botanist William Houstoun (1695(?)-1733) at Vera Cruz, Mexico. Whatever the case: Butterfly soon fluttered away leaving Tithonia motionless in the wind-still air.