Photographic Rarity

As some of you may know, from reading my forum posts, I document all the plants and critters that I see. If I find something new, I photograph it, then research it and find out what it is. The subject of this posting is the Viper's Bugloss, an invasive wildflower that is found in waste areas and along roadsides in Canada. Although you may recognise it as that annoying weed that got tangled in the sprockets of your bike when you were a kid, you may not know it by name. Up close, it is quite beautiful and is almost always blue, hence it's nickname: Blueweed.



However, after doing research on it (I didn't know it's name either), I discovered, on rare occasions, it occurs in white. Ah, the quest has begun. Not long after, guess what? Found one! Here it is in white:



So I found a white one ... big deal, right? Read on. My original research sent me to several different websites. Most of them showed them as mainly blue, rarely white, but none of them ever mentioned any other colour at all. So, here's where it starts to get interesting. I also found a pink one:



I've still never seen a reference to the pink ones. So, I have photographed the normal blue, the rare white, and the unreferenced pink. Big deal, I got lucky. Still not impressed? What if I told you that I found all three of these colours growing in the same 10 ft square area of a ditch beside the road and have not seen them anywhere else ... and only in 2008? Since then, only blue ones have been there. I guess it was my time of glory. Here are all three colours in the same image:

wow, that's impressive. What a great find. Did you submit the pictures to a national plant periodical to see just how rare the pink ones are? Great pics BTW.

Maria21 wrote: wow, that's impressive. What a great find. Did you submit the pictures to a national plant periodical to see just how rare the pink ones are? Great pics BTW.

I might now. The only images I've ever sent were what I thought to be bear tracks. I sent them to The Ministry of Natural Resources. Because the footprints were in mud and appeared to be overlapped (too many claws for one foot), they couldn't identify what kind of animal may have produced them.

I'm considering these images now. I'm wondering if weather conditions might play a role in why odd colours would appear one year but not the next ... from the same plant.

Check into it, you might very well have found a new plant...if it's a anniversary plant, it may only occur once every so many years & you just happened to capture it.

Wow, that's an amazing story. You may never see them other colors again! Good thing you have them documented. Many people see amazing things yet get no record of them.

Two weeks ago I spotted my own oddity (though not as rare as your sighting). Ever hear of a 'piebald' deer? I know strange name but I didn't come up with it.

No. Never heard of it, how does it differ from other deer?

They are a genetic defect were the deer is colored brown and white. I first thought of an albino but quickly dismissed it because they are ALL white. I didn't know what I had seen until I googled them.

Got to love google!

That's pretty cool. Maybe a "semi-bino."

...and yes, gotta love Google.

I'm wondering if the soil's PH has anything to do with the coloration (like Hydrangeas)...Nice lloking blooms though. I like looking for assorted wildflowers as well (read weed blooms)

Screamin Scott wrote: I'm wondering if the soil's PH has anything to do with the coloration (like Hydrangeas)...Nice lloking blooms though. I like looking for assorted wildflowers as well (read weed blooms)

Can't find "weed blooms" in the forum search ... only this post comes up.

WTG. Keep us posted.

Having started to photograph flowers I must start to identify them, thats a great story about the three different colours, maybe if you found a new plant they would name it after you

I have found this site www.mywildflowers.com/

Can anyone recommend any other sites please

I would send your story and photos to DNR or local University and ask their staff to take a look. Fascinating.

White and red clover have mixed into Alsike clover .- or at least that's what they taught me at agricultural school. I though maybe that's what's happened here?

I found this site , showing a pink species in France.

Thanks for sharing!

The Time Capturer wrote:

Screamin Scott wrote: I'm wondering if the soil's PH has anything to do with the coloration (like Hydrangeas)...Nice lloking blooms though. I like looking for assorted wildflowers as well (read weed blooms)

Can't find "weed blooms" in the forum search ... only this post comes up.

I meant in my personal collection, only some of which are on here....There are some more on my Flickr stream, but since I let the "Pro" account expire, even that stream doesn't show most of them...I also like to identify my finds & use davesgarden.com/ as a resource guide ...