vivid secret

•

 

Today, we turn to Diane Ackerman:

“A turning leaf stays partly green at first, then reveals splotches of yellow and red as the chlorophyll gradually breaks down. Dark green seems to stay longest in the veins, outlining and defining them. During the summer, chlorophyll dissolves in the heat and light, but it is also being steadily replaced. In the fall, on the other hand, no new pigment is produced, and so we notice the other colors that were always there, right in the leaf, although chlorophyll’s shocking green hid them from view. With their camouflage gone, we see these colors for the first time of the year, and marvel, but they were always there, hidden like a vivid secret beneath the hot glowing greens of summer.”

- From “The Natural History of the Senses” by Diane Ackerman

- Photo of fothergilla taken at Ijams Nature Center


•

looking back 14

•


Ten favorite photos of 2009 in chronological order, number 14:

The fothergilla near the Visitor Center at Ijams goes through an amazing array of color in the fall: green to red to gold to yellow. Here it was during the green to red stage.

•

fother-thrilla

•
I first introduced fothergilla to this blog in a post last April.

In addition to having a remarkable flower, this native shrub's autumnal leaves can be spectacular.


-Photo taken at Ijams Nature Center.

•

What's in a name?

•


As the Bard of Avon might have written for his Juliet, “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, and fothergilla would, were fothergilla not call'd, retain that dear perfection without any other title.”

Fothergilla? Perhaps I've bent the Bard a bit too much. But I’m sure he wouldn’t mind; he also borrowed heavily from the classic Greek and Roman tragedies. He had to. But here’s my naturalist's query: What in the world is fothergilla? And to whom does it owe its name? And would it retain its dear perfection without such a fancy title?

Fothergillas are shrubs native to the American Southeast that are grown as ornamental plants for their puffy-white flowers in spring and bright color of their fall foliage. (There are several in bloom near the Visitor Center at Ijams.)

John Fothergill (1712-1780) was an English physician, plant collector and philanthropist. As a physician in London, Fothergill had an extensive practice noted for successfully treating patients during the epidemics of influenza in 1775 and 1776. Fothergill’s hobby was botany. At Upton, near Stratford—hence my earlier reference to Shakespeare—Dr. Fothergill had an extensive botanical garden (today known as West Ham Park) with many rare plants collected from various parts of the world. Dr. Fothergill also helped finance the travels of American naturalist William Bartram, who collected plants from the Southeast to be shipped back to England.

Fothergillas, the shrubs collected in America, are named for the English physician. We all should be so honored.

•