Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Rust

I love seeing Rust Fungus on various plants. It's quite amazing what things look like when you take a careful, close look. If you happen to notice a small patch of vivid orange on a plant, take a closer look at it, and this is what you may see. This macro shot shows the orange spore pustules of Rust Fungus on Western White Clematis, growing wild at the Erlton/Roxboro Natural Area. After a volunteer shift on 23 July 2014, I wasn't too far away from the Erlton/Roxboro Natural Area, where I was finally going to go on a botany walk. Having been to this location several times before, I knew it was a short, easy, flat trail, and that I could go as far as I wanted and then turn back early, which is what I did. I've missed pretty well all the botany and birding walks the last few months, which is quite depressing. The main thing I wanted to see were the Nodding / Musk Thistles, as these are my favourite species of Thistle. They are called a "weed", but I love to see them. The sun was unfortunately in the wrong direction, so I was only able to get a handful of shots, but better than nothing. With a couple of hours to "kill", I spent them at the Reader Rock Garden, which was just a few minutes' drive away from the evening botany walk location.

I am absolutely fascinated by the rust that grows on certain leaves - this is a supermacro shot of this fungus and it was growing on the leaves of a Greene’s Mountain-Ash tree (Sorbus scopulina), at the Bragg Creek Natural Area. As Greene’s Mountain-Ash belongs to the Rose family, I think this is maybe Cedar-apple rust. If you pass a tree/shrub that has orange rust spots of the uppserside of the leaves, turn a leaf over and take a look. You might see these very tiny "tentacles". You just never know what might be lurking under those leaves, LOL. The whole process is complicated to explain - maybe I'll add a link or some info later if I remember, but now I have to get myself ready to go to a Volunteer Thank-you BBQ for the Weaselhead Society in just over an hour's time.