Hello everyone! First of all, ... thanks Daniel for allowing me to come in here and mix it up with you guys a bit. Appreciate it! This is an image that I took last summer out at the Clemson Research Center here in the Columbia, South Carolina area. I found a small grouping of these beautiful little flowers along side one of the 3 ponds that I normally shoot at, and is the first time that I have seen them there. The tallest of them were around 6 inches in height with somewhat wire type foliage. I have yet to get a ID from the center. I admit, they have been quite busy! Now, I try to shoot flowers in nature in a more artistic way and a bit less documentary. Not as much detail shown as in most hort type images. The images of the common blue toadflax, "Nuttallanthus Canadensis", is an example of how I shoot many of my subjects out in nature. http://macroartinnature.blogspot.com/ Anyway, ... hope someone can give me an I.D. on this one, as it has really been bugging me for awhile now. Thanks everyone, Michael Brown South Carolina http://macroartinnature.blogspot.com/ http://www.naturescapes.net/portfolios/portfolio.php?cat=10105
Hello Michael, Apologies for the long time in responding - some plant ids require paging through books, and that means a) having the books and b) sitting down with them! I'm fairly certain this is Polygala lutea. Though lutea means yellow, the flower colour ranges from yellow through to orange. Common names are yellow milkwort, yellow bachelor's button, bog button and candyweed. For another glimpse of it, see these photographs from Apalachicola National Forest
I'll add that for these sorts of identifications, I often (and did) use Harold Rickett's Wild Flowers of the United States. There are roughly a dozen volumes, divided regionally, and full of photographs.
Thanks a bunch Daniel! You nailed it down for me!! Did a Google search on it also, and found plenty of info. Will e-mail the center to let them know what I have now thanks to you. They may already have the info and have not got back in touch with me yet, but still, I will send them a quick message. Now, to go adjust the name of the image in my portfolio! Thanks again Daniel, and I certainly will go and find that book. I am going to need it this season for what I have to go out and shoot! Again, .... many thanks!!
You're welcome, and no problem. Tracking down these books might not be that easy, unless you've a good set of used bookstores around. I spotted two of the fourteen volumes in a bookstore a couple weeks ago, but I don't think they were the two for the southeast US. However, if you've access to a university library or a large city library, they ought to have them.