Paton
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paton.bsky.social
Paton
@paton.bsky.social
31 followers 16 following 360 posts
Parody botanist
Plant-related blog: http://pattheplants.blogspot.com
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paton.bsky.social
What if they have no symmetry, like the genus Kewa, which have 4½ tepals?
January 5, 2026 at 6:15 PM
paton.bsky.social
Two colour forms of Aristolochia baetica, near Maro in Andalusia, Spain. Growing within a few paces of each other. Also found in south Portugal, Algeria and Morocco. I shot these in 2017.
Bizarre flowers of Aristolochia baetica, a tube flaring to a hairy mouth, chocolate-purple on the inside and flesh-coloured on the outside, heart-shaped leaves climbing through a thorny shrub. More bizarre flowers of Aristolochia baetica, a tube flaring to a hairy mouth, beige-yellow with dark veins on the inside and flesh-coloured on the outside, heart-shaped leaves.
December 25, 2025 at 1:16 AM
paton.bsky.social
The Terry Pratchett Estate have announced:

The Roundworld year for 2026 shall be known as [FX Drum Roll]: The Year of the Curious Squid.

Artwork by Discworld artist Paul Kidby.

www.tumblr.com/terrypratche...
Illustration of the curious squid by Paul Kidby. A squid looking curious, in front of a blank shield, flanked by acanthus leaves and the motto "2026 YEAR OF THE CURIOUS SQUID" on ribbions above and below.
December 1, 2025 at 12:17 PM
paton.bsky.social
This is copied from tumblr user Nudity and Nerdery, not mine.
A cook stirring a large pot with the legend "If you don't have natural planetary rings, store bought is fine".
October 22, 2025 at 2:53 AM
paton.bsky.social
The Council workers seem to have sown their wildflower seed packets one at a time, so the yellow rattle was a little overconcentrated in this part. The Dactylorchis is an actual wildflower that has been on this canal towpath for a very long time, 35 years to my knowledge.
Purple marsh orchid and yellow rattle flowers on a towpath by a canal.
October 18, 2025 at 5:00 PM
paton.bsky.social
Some plants do contrasting colour schemes. Kusagi (Clerodendrum trichotomum) fruits are selected for dispersal by birds. The leaf reflects green & ultraviolet. The persistent calyx reflects red & ultraviolet. The berry absorbs ultraviolet, adding to the reflected blue with more blue fluorescence.
Clerodendrum trichotomum, showing blue fruit backed by a red, star-shaped clayx and bright green leaves.
October 7, 2025 at 8:19 PM
paton.bsky.social
I grew two of the other dragon trees, Dracaena draco from La Gomera and Dracaena draco ssp. caboverdeana but they got too big for my windowsill and I donated them to a local charity-run sort-of botanical garden.
September 1, 2025 at 9:17 PM
paton.bsky.social
Spot the spider. Asclepias tuberosa far from home in Manchester, UK in 2023.
Bright orange Pleurisy Root flowers against a background of a cloudy blue sky and brickwork. A spider hides among the flowers.
July 1, 2025 at 9:26 PM
paton.bsky.social
I am growing the yellow pimpernel. I would have liked the blue one but the wildflower company I bought it from did not have the blue.
A mass of yellow five-pointed star-shaped flowers against green foliage. The yellow pimpernel making a dense carpet. A closer look at the five-pointed star-shaped flowers of the yellow pimpernel.
June 29, 2025 at 9:44 PM
paton.bsky.social
There is a reason nobody recognises those names.
Luigi, Mario's brother.
June 25, 2025 at 9:14 PM
paton.bsky.social
Called Olivilla in Spain - the "little olive". The leaves look a bit like olive leaves. Quite poisonous, not edible at all. Thus called Widow Wail in English. I found it quite difficult to get a good picture because it was very sunny and I am not a photographer just a snapper. Near Nerja, Andalusia.
Close-up of a Cneorum tricoccon flower. Flower yellow, leaves somewhat like an olive. Cneorum tricoccon shrub.
June 14, 2025 at 2:25 PM
paton.bsky.social
Seen on Tumblr
www.tumblr.com/depsidase/77...
"Thank you for contacting the Abyss. Your scream is very important to us." in shades of pink and purple against a starry background. A doll holding a telephone sits to one side of the text.
May 13, 2025 at 11:33 PM
paton.bsky.social
Or without the extra full stop, damn its eyes.
Stick figure cartoon of a classroom with a teacher and three students. The teacher is indicating a diagram showing one person pressing down on a plunger connected by a tube full of liquid to a much wider liquid-filled chamber with a much wider piston being pressed upwards despite being loaded with a human and a huge 1000 something weight. Text above, spoken by one of the student stick figures (who is bald): "No, that can't be right. If hydrostatic pressure worked that way, then you could use it to make machines that exert near infinite force. And ancient people could have demolished entire mountains just by drilling small tunnels and filling them with water." Text under the cartoon: When I first learned about Pascal's Law, I tried to disprove it by showing that it would lead to absurd consequences, but it turns out hydraulic presses and ruina montium [both words in italics] are both real things.
May 10, 2025 at 1:07 PM
paton.bsky.social
Like this. Open the picture and the text should be displayed below it, depending on your device. That text can then be converted to voice, if needed. It can also be used to label things that many might not be interested in, like the correct species, location, date, etc. of a flower in a photo.
Stick figure cartoon of a classroom with a teacher and three students. The teacher is indicating a diagram showing one person pressing down on a plunger connected by a tube full of liquid to a much wider liquid-filled chamber with a much wider piston being pressed upwards despite being loaded with a human and a huge 1000 something weight. Text above, spoken by one of the student stick figures (who is bald): "No, that can't be right. If hydrostatic pressure worked that way, then you could use it to make machines that exert near infinite force. And ancient people could have demolished entire mountains just by drilling small tunnels and filling them with water." Text under the cartoon: When I first learned about Pascal's Law, I tried to disprove it by showing that it would lead to absurd consequences., but it turns out hydraulic presses and ruina montium [both words in italics] are both real things.
May 10, 2025 at 1:04 PM
paton.bsky.social
You chose a bumblebee rather than a worker honey bee for your symbol? I wrote a very long article about the symbolism of the bees of Manchester and Salford. It might be of interest to you. To read, not to publish - illustration rights would be complicated.
pattheplants.blogspot.com/2023/10/on-o...
Drawing of a golden worker honey bee against a blue background.
May 5, 2025 at 7:23 PM
paton.bsky.social
Seen on Tumblr.
April 8, 2025 at 1:57 AM
paton.bsky.social
I corrected your spelling mistake.
Purple background with faux stained glass window of Trump as a bishop with the legend "St. Upid" above and "Patron Stain of Economic Collapse" below.
March 16, 2025 at 7:47 PM
paton.bsky.social
Still the name used on all that oil sold in the UK. I don't know how many people know it means turnip.

www.coop.co.uk/products/mac...
A bottle of Mackintosh Glendaveny Extra Virgin Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil from the Coop website.
February 2, 2025 at 2:02 PM
paton.bsky.social
Gulf of Cuba
A large marine gulf surrounded by Cuba, Mexico and the USA, labelled "Gulf of Cuba".
January 23, 2025 at 6:09 PM
paton.bsky.social
Star Carr pendant coloured in to show the resemblance to a cartoon duck.
January 6, 2025 at 9:30 PM
paton.bsky.social
Kewa salsoloides (Kewaceae) grown under lights in Manchester, UK. Anybody else grown these (apart from
Kew Gardens obviously)? 2½ petals, very odd. Seed from Ladysmith, South Africa. More photos and info (and Kewa bowkeriana) in my blog article: pattheplants.blogspot.com/2024/01/kewa... #flower
A small potted plant in a 7cm square black pot against a maroon shirt background. Lots of small pink flowers, buds and faded flowers on long flowerstalks held above the small blue, succulent-leaved cushion of short branches clumped tightly together. Close-up of two Kewa salsoloides flowers with pale pink petals and stamens tiped with yellow pollen masses.
February 6, 2024 at 8:42 PM