ALL THINGS ARE BEAUTIFUL, IN THEIR OWN WAY

BLACKBERRY BRAMBLE, INFECTED LEAF...

UNDERSIDE OF LEAFLET...

WHY IT'S CALLED "RUST"

Tuesday, 7:30 AM.  65 degrees F, wind NE, light with much stronger gusts.  The sky is overcast but the barometer, now at 29.75", is rising fast, and it should clear later on.  We had several quick showers late yesterday afternoon, but they only produced enough rain to interrupt my lawn mowing, which I will have to finish this morning when it dries out a bit.
   The last thing I wish to do at present is get into the differences between brambles (blackberries) and raspberries, and most certainly not the technicalities of fungal rust diseases and their life cycles.  Suffice it to say that I came across (I could say stumbled upon, or over) a very beautiful orange rust on low brambles on the beach.
   I have learned that in nature there is beauty in all things, if we view them without prejudice, considering color, complexity of design, functionality and other factors that touch our sense of esthetics.
   Orange rust of brambles is caused by one or both of two different genera of rust, which complete their entire life cycle on one plant (no alternate hosts).  Orange rust does not, evidently, affect raspberries.  
   The rust spreads during cool, wet weather, which we have had much of.  When I rubbed the infected leaves, the orange spores clung to my fingers, exactly as though I had rubbed a rusty piece of iron.
   As the song says, "All things are beautiful, in their own way."