A couple of days ago I cut two stalks of ‘grass’ while I was out and about. I thought that they might make a good photograph.
This afternoon, I set up the stalks on our deck railing and made some photographs. I envisioned making black and white photos of the stalks and eventually salted-paper prints.
As I was framing up my first exposures, I had an epiphany… the leaves attached to these stalks are “flag leaves”!
I recently learned about flag leaves from the current issue of The Limrik, Antrim’s quarterly community newsletter/journal. It just so happens that Joan is the managing editor of this esteemed publication. I am, by virtue of being married to Joan, the photo editor and business manager.
One of the articles in the June 2022 issue is about the “Flag Leaf Bakery”, a new bakery that will be opening soon in downtown Antrim. During Joan’s interview with the owners of the bakery they described the origin of its name. I quote…”The name “Flag Leaf” comes from the last leaf to develop on the wheat stalk before the seed head forms. The emerging flag leaf signals the end of the plant’s vegetative growth phase and its photosynthesis provides a large fraction of the energy needed for seed production.”
I am not sure if the stalks I collected are wheat, but the leaves attached to these stalks are clearly flag leaves.
Life is full of interesting convergences!
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Flag leaves are very interesting. I did not know this. Thank you.
Comment by Mary Jo Kelly Wilhelm — 13 June 2022 @ 9:27 AM
Who knew? Guess I’ll have to think about subscribing to the Antrim quarterly.
Comment by Joe Kennedy — 14 June 2022 @ 1:14 PM