As warmer weather embraces the US Mainland, trees, shrubs, weeds, and bulbs are beginning to signal the arrival of Spring. One of the first to bloom, the White Dogwood has been tied to the Easter season and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ through legend and folklore. However, the state flower of the Commonwealth of Virginia is not exactly as it seems.
Cornus florida | © 2012 David Allio
At the University of Virginia in a local flora class, I learned that the Flowering Dogwood is a member of the Cornaceae family. Cornus florida has a small, perfect, greenish-yellow flower with four large white (or pink) obovate, involucral, subtending bracts. These bracts are commonly mistaken as the flower. (I hope Dr. Rex Baird, the course instructor, appreciates the fact that I was paying attention in class when this discussion took place and still recall some significant elements of that study.)
From the time I began playing with cameras in the 1970s, flowers have been a great and constant diversion. Lighting, depth of field, and composition have been the primary challenges to the success or failure of my flower photography. This photograph was made using a Nikon D60 camera body fitted with a Nikkor AF VR Zoom 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED set to the maximum focal length. The exposure data included an aperture of f/9 for adequate depth of field, a shutter speed of 1/2500th of a second to avoid blur of the wind-shaken Dogwood, and a film speed of 400 ISO in the bright sunlight.
For those interested in the identification of the bug on the bract in this photograph, remember that my class and studies were limited to the local flora, not fauna. As such, it would be inappropriate for me to even hazard a guess.
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