71, Summer, 518 a.v.
Sophia peered with wide eyes around the cave, while Uta looked on with a small smile. ”You’ve found all of these yourself?” The young woman was ogling over a vast collection of beautifully preserved plants and seeds, ranging from full branches to single flower heads. Uta nodded, her dual toned hair shifting to fall over her face slightly. “Yes. Before you got here absolutely everything was covered in plants and nobody really knew what any of them were. I’ve been storing every single thing I’ve found down here since the settlement was founded.”
”How come they’re all so perfect still?” Uta moved over to stand next to Sophia before answering. “Ah, well this cave is why. It’s the driest place I have found so far, and it seems to help preserve everything well. If you look at most of the plants, you should notice that they have been dried. That stops them from wilting among other things.” Sophia crouched closer to the nearest specimen to see what Uta was talking about, as the botanist continued on. “You could do this yourself too if you wanted. At a basic level, all you have to do is press whatever specimen you have between paper and under enough weight to press all the moisture out. I don’t mind you leaving specimens to dry here but let me know if you ever come down and don’t mess up anything else. Label yours so I know too.” Sophia nodded before standing.
“Well I need to sort some things out here, why don’t you head back up and carry on working on your notes?”
With another nod, Sophia made her way out of the cave and along the narrow winding path back up to Uta’s Place. She settled herself behind the desk and pulled her journal towards her. At the moment it was a mish mash of pages alternating between copies of excerpts from Uta’s notebooks and notes she had taken herself while the pair had been out in the field. At the moment, Uta had Sophia working on improving both her drawing skills and her note writing. The botanist had told her that there were specific ways to go about writing things, especially when you were out working. She hoped that was what she would learn when Uta was finished down at the cave.
For now, she flipped through the notes until a particular plant caught her eye. The flower was striking, like nothing she had seen before, and Uta had coloured it with a purple stain. Turning to a fresh page in her own journal, Sophia tried to copy the intricate flower herself. She started with the centre first, drawing lines for the prominent stamens. There were five arranged in a star shape, and then three more sat on top of those. Next, there were thin, feathery petals – or what she assumed were petals, around the centre. They were thin enough that she settled on a single line for each. Hopefully she would be able to get some colour down to make it clearer. Finally, she drew in the larger, more normal petals around these. Sophia squinted at her drawing. She was certainly improving, but she still had a ways to go. Hopefully a bit of colour would make it look better.
At the top of the page went the name. Passionfruit. Next, she copied over the appropriate labels for the flower. Stigma, style, petal, anther, corona, sepal. Finally, down went the notes. The passionfruit is a vine plant. It has a large spread – have found a specimen of 25ft. Bright purple/blue petals arranged around a white centre with yellow/green organs. Leaves are bright green, oval shaped and taper to a point with serrated edges. When the flower dies back the vine produces fruits that ripen from green to purple. The inside of the fruit is filled with juicy, seedy pulp.
+647
”How come they’re all so perfect still?” Uta moved over to stand next to Sophia before answering. “Ah, well this cave is why. It’s the driest place I have found so far, and it seems to help preserve everything well. If you look at most of the plants, you should notice that they have been dried. That stops them from wilting among other things.” Sophia crouched closer to the nearest specimen to see what Uta was talking about, as the botanist continued on. “You could do this yourself too if you wanted. At a basic level, all you have to do is press whatever specimen you have between paper and under enough weight to press all the moisture out. I don’t mind you leaving specimens to dry here but let me know if you ever come down and don’t mess up anything else. Label yours so I know too.” Sophia nodded before standing.
“Well I need to sort some things out here, why don’t you head back up and carry on working on your notes?”
With another nod, Sophia made her way out of the cave and along the narrow winding path back up to Uta’s Place. She settled herself behind the desk and pulled her journal towards her. At the moment it was a mish mash of pages alternating between copies of excerpts from Uta’s notebooks and notes she had taken herself while the pair had been out in the field. At the moment, Uta had Sophia working on improving both her drawing skills and her note writing. The botanist had told her that there were specific ways to go about writing things, especially when you were out working. She hoped that was what she would learn when Uta was finished down at the cave.
For now, she flipped through the notes until a particular plant caught her eye. The flower was striking, like nothing she had seen before, and Uta had coloured it with a purple stain. Turning to a fresh page in her own journal, Sophia tried to copy the intricate flower herself. She started with the centre first, drawing lines for the prominent stamens. There were five arranged in a star shape, and then three more sat on top of those. Next, there were thin, feathery petals – or what she assumed were petals, around the centre. They were thin enough that she settled on a single line for each. Hopefully she would be able to get some colour down to make it clearer. Finally, she drew in the larger, more normal petals around these. Sophia squinted at her drawing. She was certainly improving, but she still had a ways to go. Hopefully a bit of colour would make it look better.
At the top of the page went the name. Passionfruit. Next, she copied over the appropriate labels for the flower. Stigma, style, petal, anther, corona, sepal. Finally, down went the notes. The passionfruit is a vine plant. It has a large spread – have found a specimen of 25ft. Bright purple/blue petals arranged around a white centre with yellow/green organs. Leaves are bright green, oval shaped and taper to a point with serrated edges. When the flower dies back the vine produces fruits that ripen from green to purple. The inside of the fruit is filled with juicy, seedy pulp.
+647
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