I’ll be out and about this weekend, at Lake City Comicon. It’s a one day comic convention in Coeur d’Alene, ID. This will be their first year, but they’re associated with Lilac City Comicon, which has been going for a few years now. My role is to sit at a book table and accost… I mean, strike up conversations with all passers-by.
Lake City Comicon will be at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds. My table is in the Jacklin Building. We’re open from 10 am to 4 pm. If you’re in the area and love comic stuff, it would be a great chance to meet up.
Now, I can’t just drop the Voodoo theme I’ve had going for the past few posts, so here’s a re-blog of a post from a few years back.
Dragonwort (May 21, 2016)
Here’s a truly spectacular flower that will amaze and… well, maybe not delight you. To be honest, it’s kind of stinky.
Dracunculus vulgaris is native to Mediterranean regions from Greece and the Aegean Islands to the Balkans parts of Anatolia. It’s been known since ancient times and has a number of names: Voodoo Lily, Black Arum, Black Dragon, Snake Lily, and so on. Because it is so showy, it has been transplanted to yards and botanical gardens all around the world.
The plant has just a few big, jagged leaves, with the blossom reaching up to 2 meters tall. The single petal is scooped, somewhat like a calla lily, and deep red or purple. At the center is a prominent spadix, which is black. The flower’s sexual organs are deep inside the base of the flower and emit a “perfume” that smells much like rotting meat. Flies and other insects are drawn to the scent and crawl through a narrow gap to the chamber where the actual flowers are. Unable to escape, the insects are forced to crawl back and forth over the flowers, thus pollinating them.
When enough of the flowers are fertilized, the petals wither. This allows the flies to escape and perhaps carry pollen to another flower of the same species.
Wyrmflight: A Hoard of Dragon Lore — $4.99 e-book or $17.99 trade paperback. Available at Amazon or Draft2Digital.
Read Full Post »
Here’s another “dragon of Hallowe’en” photo for your collection. It was an animated dragon, with wing action and roaring sound effects.
