August 2023

[Fons Baerken]

Cool Fons
I remember clearly the impression i got from the image with the columns

This is a slighly different, single image the one you refer to is a two images stitch! Thanks Paco!

[Birna Rørslett]

I have signed up for pro bono work as a validator of aquatic plants for the National History Museum of Botany at the  University of Oslo. Got my security clearance and access key card today, so spent the entire day immersed -- literally -- in the herbarium. A quiet and if I'm allowed to say so, rather dusty, place. However, somebody has to do the job and I volunteered. No idea for how long the task will take, but I expect to be busy for some months at least. I have to go through around 10,000 collections. mainly Pondweeds (Potamogeton, Stuckenia, and Groenlandia).

A quick view of my working space there. Now it's between me, the monographs, the Leica binocular microscope (which is excellent), and the herbarium sheets.

[golunvolo]

Birna, that sounds like a big project (understatement)

[golunvolo]

Horses.

 D5, 300mm 2.8 vrII

[Birna Rørslett]

Birna, that sounds like a big project (understatement)

Oh well. Somebody has to take on the challenge and it happened to be me....

Whether this will be tiresome or not depend on the error rate of previous determinations. I hope the error rate is <5%, but for some tricky species or hybrids it could be much higher. All those dubious specimens can require a lot of time in order to arrive at a certified identification.

The sheet in the photo carried a wrongly identified specimen, but getting the correct ID was a breeze (Potamogeton lucens => P. praelongus) in this case. The Pondweeds Potamogeton are my life-long friends.

[Thomas Stellwag]

Oh well. Somebody has to take on the challenge and it happened to be me....

Whether this will be tiresome or not depend on the error rate of previous determinations. I hope the error rate is <5%, but for some tricky species or hybrids it could be much higher. All those dubious specimens can require a lot of time in order to arrive at a certified identification.

The sheet in the photo carried a wrongly identified specimen, but getting the correct ID was a breeze (Potamogeton lucens => P. praelongus) in this case. The Pondweeds Potamogeton are my life-long friends.

good luck, looks challenging with 10k weeds

[Birna Rørslett]

good luck, looks challenging with 10k weeds

'Weed' is in the eye of the beholder

To me, they are old -- and often capricious -- friends.

[Fons Baerken]

Question: Do pondweeds produce seed that travel by air?

Why do I ask i have a small pond with waterplants and pondweeds, and a frog! And i see pondweeds arrive now in several buckets!

[Birna Rørslett]

They produce small drupes plus vegetative dispersal units. so easily disperse into new sites by water currents or birds.

[Akira]

A huge UFO above the metropolis.

[Fons Baerken]

They produce small drupes plus vegetative dispersal units. so easily disperse into new sites by water currents or birds.

Thanks for the explanation!

[Fons Baerken]

August 25

Windows

Zfc, Viltrox 56mm f/1.4

[golunvolo]

Ready to play polo in south spain, August at 17:30h. You need some water

  D3S, 58mm 1.4g

[Bent Hjarbo]

A parking lot in Gjøvik Norway after the storm Hans
I am taking a small Holliday I Norway to visit relatives.

[John Geerts]

August 24

Returned from the printer, 5 photos on dibond for a small expo.

Z7, 20mm f/1.8s

Great. Fons