Plate XX Papaver rhoeas

Papaver rhoeas

Pressed under glass.

Field poppy. Pressed flat, kept under a single sheet of glass on a cream herbarium card. The petals dried thin enough to let light through; the cover sheet refracts what's behind it, and the studio key throws a soft real shadow onto the paper. Nothing animates except the specimen turning slowly under its own light, the way a botanist would rotate it to read the venation.

Held still, against time.