Blue Wall Weekly: May 17, 2021

I stop midstride when I see it, step backwards onto a rock slimed slick with blue-green algae, catch myself, and lean over for a better look. What is that? Nothing I ever remember seeing around Lake Jocassee, yet here it is, right in the state park, hugged tight to a rock the size of my head. Some kind of barnacle?  Whatever it is clearly breathes through a center hole. and appears to have something like arms radiating like spokes from the center. I’d linger for more information but I’m on a mission with a boat that needs to be at the dock. I snap a couple of quick pics and promptly forget about it… until now, seeing that second picture, and laughing myself off this chair. The first picture, right, is what I saw, but the second picture, below, solves the mystery!~K

From high-speed videos, Dr. Callen Switzer found that mountain laurels launch pollen at 3.5 meters/second for an average maximum speed and achieved average maximum acceleration at 4,100 meters/second2. Mountain laurels thus have "one of the fastest-moving floral parts recorded"!