Pulsatilla Koreana

[alaeaja]

Hi this is EJ! This is my first thread. Took this a while ago in Spring.

This is Hal Mi Flower(Grandma Flower); in proper terms, Pulsatilla Koreana.

It is a native perennial plant growing in Korea and used as a traditional Korean herbal medicine.

There is a tale: A long tome ago, according to a fairy tale, there was a widow who had two daughters. The older daughter married a rich man but the younger daughter married a man who wasn’t as luxurious. Time passed and the widow was now very old and she decided to visit her two daughters. However the older one refused to let her stay and she was forced out of the house. So the widow turned to her younger daughter. But she lived very far away over many mountains. The widow fainted while going over the mountain from exhaustion. Some hours later, the younger daughter found her mother but it was already too late and she ended up dying. The younger daughter was extremely sad and buried her near the house. The next spring, a flower bloomed over her grave. The flower was bent like her mother’s back. So the daughter believed her mother had come back as the "grandmother flower".

[Iguanasan]

That's quite the story, alaeaja, and quite an interesting looking flower with all the fuzzy bits. I'm not sure how big your images were, however, if they were over 275KB or over 1024 pixels wide then the forum software will resize them and it doesn't do a great job of it leaving the image a little less sharp than it could be. You can alternatively post them to Flickr and then link to them from here as well.

[Marko]

Interesting story and cool flower for sure.

[QuietOne]

I especially like how the second one shows the details of the leaves just in back of the flower.

[Barefoot]

Very nice photographs and story. The second one is especially pretty.

I so much want to see more of South Korea. Please don't disappointment me.

[Matt K.]

Nice, real nice, dig it big time ... love the detail in the hairs ...

[Runmonty]

Welcome EJ. Thanks for posting these and for the story. I am liking these Hal Mi Flowers.

One of the things I like about this forum is the sense of community from members around the world. I am looking forward to seeing and learning more about South Korea through you and your photos.

[asnow]

That's some story. Thanks for telling it to us. Beautiful flower and pics. Like both of them with a possible edge to the second one.

[Hillbillygirl]

Beautiful flowers, and lovely captures of them, with another vote for that second one. Really enjoyed the story behind them also.