seeing stars

Spider? starfish? fireworks? roots? neuron dendrites? a map of the internet? turns out all sort s of things in nature, and man-made, use radial symmetry*. I dragged this image into Google image search, and it came back with a whole host of similar images. This photo is a collection the dried umbels from wild parsnip flowers. This subject is begging for some sharp shadows to show the dimensionality of these stars. Alas, the gray blanket of clouds that has been helping to keep our fair city unseasonably warm, denied me the opportunity for shadows today. Needless to say, you will see this image again soon in all it’s three dimensional glory. As soon as the sun comes out.

* P.S. For my fellow weirdos out there, the Wiki page on “symmetry in biology” which discussed the evolution of symmetry in nature was a good read :-)

dried wild parsnip umbels