[bartoli]

I found the leaf surface of Giant Salvina interesting. Each of the cylindrical stalks on the leaf surface has two to four hairs that rejoin at the tip to form an elegant structure.

A hair is made up of segments. Individual segments, and the tip at which the hairs are re-joined, are magnified through water drops.

 

[Sunstar]

Those are exquisit shots. What are the details of those shots? What camera.

 

[bartoli]

Thanks Sunstar. They were taken with a Nikon D90 using a 60mm macro lens. The full shooting detail is at:

http://picasaweb.google.ca/lh/photo/X5V_5dg6OtinpI2jTNMkrw?feat=embedwebsite

Click on the "more info" link at the right.

 

[bartoli]

Here is a macro shot revealing more of the Giant Salvinia physiology:

The hairs are a bit soft on focus because the focus was on the stems below. Also, I bumped the exposure up to give the closely spaced stems a better contrast against the low light background.

Judging from the light reflection on some of the stems, each stem is actually a bundle of strands. At the top of a stem, individual strands become hairs. The hairs first branched out and then back toward the center to re-join at the top.

For the shooting parameters, see:

http://picasaweb.google.ca/lh/photo/UVUQqYsNQlwFNkSAe2zqVA?feat=directlink