Florid

azalea flower
Florid

Such detail in a single azalea flower, each one trying to be the most beautiful to attract the pollinators first.

Even looking through my camera lens I saw so many details, especially before and after the sun came out. The curving stamens that seem to hang in air, curving up to capture the feet of a butterfly. The speckles inside the top of the flower I’m sure are an evolutionary adaptation for something, though I can’t imagine what at the moment. And then the petal itself where the sun shines through it seems to be speckled with glitter. So many photos, and they will indeed come in handy with upcoming design projects for both myself and for a couple of customers.

“Florid” has at least four meanings that directly apply to this flower. First, it means “flowery,” or as the original meaning was centuries ago, “covered with flowers.” The azalea bush is fairly florid, for sure, but this flower is about as flowery as a flower gets.

From the base meaning of flowers it also came to mean reddish, tinged with red, or ruddy as in a complexion, and this flower is totally reddish and tinged with red, and I would also say ruddy even though a flower doesn’t really have a complexion. From there it became a metaphor with the meaning “healthy;” imagine rosy cheeks being a sign of health.

At some point the word gathered the definition “fully developed,” probably from the image of a flower in full bloom, even if it wasn’t reddish in any way.

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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, visit my galleries of Photography on Portraits of Animals to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “Custom Prints” for availability and terms. I'll be more than happy to make a print for you.

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