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Greater and Lesser Celandine

daily sketching ink and watercolor nature sketchbook watercolor Jun 01, 2019
 

Now that I've started a perpetual plant sketchbook I want to make sure that the identification of the plants I'm drawing is accurate.  What is a perpetual plant sketchbook? It's a sketchbook that is added to year after, journaling what plants I see during the same week year after year.  My friend Jill enters only plants from her own garden.  Since I travel so much, I decided to add the plants selected from the terrain I find myself in during each week of the year.

This week's entry led to a journey down a rabbit hole.  It was clear to me that the celandine in Wales is quite different from the celandine I have growing in my garden in New Jersey. I sketched the New Jersey variety directly from my garden.  The Wales variety I sketched from photos I took last month in Wales.  Though related, the two celandines are distant relatives, the Lesser Celandine I saw in Wales is in the family Ranunculaceae (Buttercup).  The Greater Celandine in my garden in New Jersey is in the family Papaveraceae (Poppy).  

I've learned to be more careful when I research a plant online.  I first identified my garden plant as being Stylophorum diphyllum which is incorrect.  It is Chelidonium majus (L).  Both belong to the Family: Papaveraceae

Sketching opens up so many worlds to me!

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