Euphorbia pulcherrima

Okay, a poinsettia.. I can't pretend I know the Linnaean nomenclature for many plants although I can manage a few bees, whales, big cats and, as of about 10 seconds ago, a tapir!

Wikipedia satisfies my curiosity all the time and you can spend hours hopping from link to link. You search for Aberystwyth and somehow end up with Alfred Nobel (actually there's almost a geographical link there now I come to think of it..)
Of course, the downside is that regurgitating it on a blip can make it look like you are trying to be clever!

One poinsettia fact or two anyway - they are native to Mexico and are named after the first US Minister to Mexico called Joel Roberts Poinsett.. There you go.. no more.. I won't even mention the American poinsettia monopoly...! Who knew??

There's something interesting about a plant on the wane - a bit of faded beauty. Thought this would fit into the 2011 Challenge as it's Macro this week.

What a brilliant idea the Challenge is? Gives a bit of extra focus to your blipping.

School good today - one of the pupils had me crying tears of laughter - they are so funny and happy to be seen being happy. Me, I probably repress it a bit too much so it's good to have someone break through. It wasn't as a result of a joke, more a sound effect (not rude)..

Learning not affected of course - one might even say enhanced.

Gorgeous, blip inviting evening. The cranes (now four of them) were begging to be photographed - they are great, white, stately giants lit from below and they slowly circle through the night sky. Maybe another day.