Natural Phenomenon. Mazus japonicus, Japanese mazus, North bank of the Shirakawa River, Kumamoto, Japan
The other day I stood contemplating in Nagasaki at the Hypocentre above which the infamous plutonium bomb exploded on August 9, 1945 (see my former photo of Urakami Cathedral). The memorial is surrounded by a wealth of trees and very green grass. This would have been incongruous to anyone in 1945, for the pessimistic prediction then was that nothing would be able to grow here for 75 years. But Nature is a Phenomenon all its own and has remarkable powers of regeneration. As a lover of small wildflowers I got on my knees in the grass to have a better look. Indeed, I saw a multitude of little beauties. Among them Mazus pumilus - Dwarf Mazus, earlier called by our Carl Per Thunberg (1743-1828) Lindernia japonica. This pretty little flower went by other names as well and it wasn't until 1958 that the great Dutch botanist of East Asia Cornelis Gijsbert Gerrit Jan van Steenis (1901-1986) clarified all and gave the final - inasmuch as anything in science is 'final' - description. He named it Mazus pumilus. The name means more or less 'Dwarf Teat', with reference to the breast-like appearance of the two protusions on the flower's lip. (As for Greenlapwing's much appreciated remark: the Dutch-German botanist Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel [1811-1871], didn't as far as I know use the name 'Mazus'; he called our Mazus 'Vandellia japonica'.)
As I was looking at the Hypocentre Mazus, I'd noted indeed that it and those around did justice to the adjective 'dwarf'. Elsewhere I'd seem them larger. Moreover, I didn't get a postable shot.
Still in the grip of the awfulness of war, I left Nagasaki and today walked on the banks of the Shirakawa River here in Kumamoto. To my delight I soon saw Mazus again. This time about twice the size (some 6 by 8 mm.) of the Hypocentre ones. And this photo is acceptable...
Natural Phenomenon. Mazus japonicus, Japanese mazus, North bank of the Shirakawa River, Kumamoto, Japan
The other day I stood contemplating in Nagasaki at the Hypocentre above which the infamous plutonium bomb exploded on August 9, 1945 (see my former photo of Urakami Cathedral). The memorial is surrounded by a wealth of trees and very green grass. This would have been incongruous to anyone in 1945, for the pessimistic prediction then was that nothing would be able to grow here for 75 years. But Nature is a Phenomenon all its own and has remarkable powers of regeneration. As a lover of small wildflowers I got on my knees in the grass to have a better look. Indeed, I saw a multitude of little beauties. Among them Mazus pumilus - Dwarf Mazus, earlier called by our Carl Per Thunberg (1743-1828) Lindernia japonica. This pretty little flower went by other names as well and it wasn't until 1958 that the great Dutch botanist of East Asia Cornelis Gijsbert Gerrit Jan van Steenis (1901-1986) clarified all and gave the final - inasmuch as anything in science is 'final' - description. He named it Mazus pumilus. The name means more or less 'Dwarf Teat', with reference to the breast-like appearance of the two protusions on the flower's lip. (As for Greenlapwing's much appreciated remark: the Dutch-German botanist Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel [1811-1871], didn't as far as I know use the name 'Mazus'; he called our Mazus 'Vandellia japonica'.)
As I was looking at the Hypocentre Mazus, I'd noted indeed that it and those around did justice to the adjective 'dwarf'. Elsewhere I'd seem them larger. Moreover, I didn't get a postable shot.
Still in the grip of the awfulness of war, I left Nagasaki and today walked on the banks of the Shirakawa River here in Kumamoto. To my delight I soon saw Mazus again. This time about twice the size (some 6 by 8 mm.) of the Hypocentre ones. And this photo is acceptable...