Red and white... candy stripes. (Click picture to enlarge)
“Once you can accept the universe as being something expanding into an infinite nothing which is something, wearing stripes with plaid is easy.” ~ Albert EinsteinPeppermint candy in red and white stripes is sweet and sugary as it slowly melts in your mouth; but other stripes in red and white are more "candy" for the eye than for the taste buds. And yet they are none the less bright and beautiful.
Clockwise from upper right: Black Swallowtail Caterpillar (Papilio polyxenes asterius Stoll); Forest Tent Caterpillar (Malacosoma disstria);
Monarch Caterpillar (Danaus plexippus ); and Tomato Hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata).
All of these creatures can "change their stripes". The black swallowtail caterpillar goes through several color changes during its growth, adding stripes and brighter color and in doing so, closely mimic the monarch caterpillar with yellow, black, green and white stripes. These two change into beautifully marked and colored butterflies. The tomato hornworm will strip and eat the leaves off of a tomato plant overnight.. it did to mine. It too can change into a large moth, the five spotted hawk-moth and while the colors are shades of brown, there is an almost marbling effect of the color on the wings that is quite handsome. Unfortunately, the most colorful of all the caterpillars here, the forest tent caterpillar... uses all of its pizzaz here. I love the stripes of red and yellow and turquoise blue and the intricate black pattern with stark white along the top. However, this caterpillar can be a severe pest for the hardwood forests and the moth is buff tan and bland and pales in comparison. While I prefer the end product of the swallowtail and monarch caterpillars, I cannot help but be entranced by the colors and undulating movement of the stripes as they slowly move across a twig like a swaying belly dancer.
The Saturday Photo Hunt theme for today is.... you guessed it.... stripes!
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Saturday Photo Hunt
14 comments:
Wow. What great photos. I find caterpillars quite fascinating too. I remember taking clothespins and squishing the ones that were stripping the leaves off the poinsettia bushes in our yard. I remember the caterpillars on the oleander bushes, especially the year that I was in first grade. The boys would take the caterpillars off the bushes at our bus stop and throw them on us. To this day, I do not like oleanders, and i would not have one in my yard.
Ella is doing better. The doctor put her on prednisone, and that seems to be helping. I hope that when she comes off it that she will be o.k.
Amazing photos!... Stunning!
I left a reply to your comment on my photos, along with some links to the rest of the photos from the butterflty shows.
You did a fabulous job with stripes. The striped tulip and the forest tent cantepillar are my favorite two but all of them are great.
Perfectly delightful post. I love all of it. You are always so very creative.
Oh, you've outdone yourself, this is maybe my favorite post of yours ever! Your two collages of stripes are so striking! My favorite caterpillar from the very first is the forest tent one, with the amazing turqioise and white, and the squares.
Wow! Each photo in each collage is just sharp and chilling. I admit the doll kinda freaks me out, but then I can just look at the tulip. Boy would I love to see how it looked when it unfolded. I wouldn't mind having bracelents that have the same coloring of those caterpillars. Thanks for the visual treats!
Su-sieee! Mac
This and That. Here and There. Now, Sometimes Then.
My school plants the swan plants for the monarch caterpillar. Youareverycreative. Ididn'tthinkstripesthisway,
Ooooo, great stripes!!
Beautiful stripes!
Love the caterpillars (except the tomato hornworm—we fight those every summer)!
Wow! what a super selection of stunning stripes!
Beautiful stripes... we never knew the proper names for the caterpillars.. we called the one on the top left a Tobacco worm... that's where we saw them the most... Thanks for coming by to see my stripes... I definitely enjoyed yours !!
who knew they made peppermint flowers. way cool!
Love the photos...amazing macros and the information....
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