Phil Garnock-Jones

@theobrominated

Botanist, retired academic. Author of "He Puāwai, a natural history of New Zealand flowers" (Auckland University Press, 2025) illustrated with >500 stereo pair photographs. 🎸🌺🌱 Whakatū, Aotearoa. orcid.org/0000-0002-2539-4152

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Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· 1d

Stereo pair photo of New Zealand native Pittosporum cornifolium, a female flower (3D viewing instructions in ALT). This time of year there's a lot of pine pollen about and I had to clean this up. #flower #botany 🌱🇳🇿

A small wine-red tubular flower with 5 erect tapering petals that spread at their tips; the 5 narrow pale green sepals are sub-erect.
Stereo viewing: use a viewer like the one in my book, or try to relax your eyes to the right eye looks at the right frame while the left eye looks at the left frame. On screen, a couple of cardboard tubes might help or a vertical sheet of paper between your nose and the white line between the two frames, to block each eye from seeing the wrong picture.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· 11d

Ōtepoti First Church. Stereo pair, see ALT for instructions.

An ornate gothic church with gnarly tree branches in the foreground. Stereo pair. To view in stereo, use a viewer like the one in my book, or try to make your right eye look at the right hand picture while the left eye looks at the left picture. It helps to start really close, concentrating on a feature like the steeple, then move away until it comes into focus.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· 18d

My partner took this between Waipara and Amberley on state highway 1 this morning.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· 18d

This motel rocks.

A kitchen tile that illustrates water speedwell flowers. The plant in the picture has long shallowly toothed leaves and racemes of small purplish flowers.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· 19d

Amberley now.

A little brown cottage with a dusting of snow on its roof and on the ground outside.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· 21d

It’s only August 1st but Myosotis brevis is in full flower! Finger tip for scale. This is in a pot in the garden.

A couple of hairy leaves and a tiny cream flower about 1 mm across. Also a small pebble and my finger tip.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· 24d

Delighted to see Duncan Munro's brilliant design work on my book recognised in the short list of the PANZ Book Design Awards.

The cover of my book He Puāwai, a natural history of New Zealand flowers. The cover is black, with five rows of five flowers in shades of white, pink, orange, red, yellow, purple, and green.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· Jul 17

There’s another in Queensland and even one in Mali. #eqnz.

A map of west Africa showing a felt report from Mali for the Fiordland earthquake

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· Jul 1

My parcel from China arrived. It took 2 weeks from order to delivery and tracked postage was NZ$5.30. Here's what NZ Post would charge to send it back.

Three postage options for a small item from NZ to China: Economy $25, Courier $86; Express $181. From China to New Zealand cost $5:30.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· Jun 29

The Traveller by @andreawulf.bsky.social I have to confess I haven’t read it yet but I will soon. I’ve spent many hours trying to document and select types for Forster’s plant names, confused because we have to apply the Code to names published and used long before it was invented.

Screen grab for a review of the traveller by Andrea Wulf. The picture is an engraving of Forster at work on his botanical collections.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· Jun 29

Anyway this is the house. It’s where we grew up in Tawa and it was designed by my Dad.

A white plastic model of a modest 3-bedroom suburban house. It’s one story and has a pitched roof.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· Jun 21

3D aerial photo of Delaware Bay near Nelson, for International #Stereoscopy Day (instructions in ALT). @clintfern.bsky.social maybe your house is there somewhere? @brianmayarchstereo.bsky.social

Pepin island is connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land that closes Delware Bay behind. Forested hills in the background and blue sea of Tasman Bay in front.
INSTRUCTIONS: To view in 3D, try to trick your eyes so the right eye looks at the right picture and the left eye looks at the left. On screen, when they are backlit, a couple of cardboard tobes will help manage which photo each eye is looking at, or even a vertical sheet of paper between the two photos and your nose so that your eyes can't see the wrong picture. Even better, use a viewer like the one in my 3D flowers book or the Lite OWL viewer from London Stereoscopic Co.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· Jun 21

Bird's nest #fungi for International #Stereoscopy Day. Each "bird's nest" contains smooth egg-like structures that contain spore-producing bodies for dispersal. These "nests" are each a few mm across. @brianmayarchstereo.bsky.social. For viewing instructions, see ALT.

Three hairy bird's nest fungus fruiting bodies on a small piece of bark mulch.
INSTRUCTIONS: To view in 3D, try to trick your eyes so the right eye looks at the right picture and the left eye looks at the left. On screen, when they are backlit, a couple of cardboard tobes will help manage which photo each eye is looking at, or even a vertical sheet of paper between the two photos and your nose so that your eyes can't see the wrong picture. Even better, use a viewer like the one in my 3D flowers book or the Lite OWL viewer from London Stereoscopic Co.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· Jun 21

Tall oat grass Arrhenatherum elatius flowers for International #Stereoscopy Day. Tall oat grass is a widespread northern hemispehere grass that's often naturalised elsewhere, like New Zealand. @brianmayarchstereo.bsky.social. Viewing instructions in ALT

A grass spiklet with two florets. Each floret has two white feathery stigmas and three long purplish anthers that dangle on very slender stalks.
INSTRUCTIONS: To view in 3D, try to trick your eyes so the right eye looks at the right picture and the left eye looks at the left. On screen, when they are backlit, a couple of cardboard tobes will help manage which photo each eye is looking at, or even a vertical sheet of paper between the two photos and your nose so that your eyes can't see the wrong picture. Even better, use a viewer like the one in my 3D flowers book or the Lite OWL viewer from London Stereoscopic Co.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· Jun 21

Aurora australis a couple of years ago from our house in Nelson New Zealand, in 3D for International #Stereoscopic Day. Instructions in ALT. @brianmayarchstereo.bsky.social

A bright pink aurora fills the sky behind a hill with houses lit up in the foreground. There are a few clouds silhouetted against the glowing sky.
INSTRUCTIONS: To view in 3D, try to trick your eyes so the right eye looks at the right picture and the left eye looks at the left. On screen, when they are backlit, a couple of cardboard tobes will help manage which photo each eye is looking at, or even a vertical sheet of paper between the two photos and your nose so that your eyes can't see the wrong picture. Even better, use a viewer like the one in my 3D flowers book or the Lite OWL viewer from London Stereoscopic Co.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· Jun 21

For International #Stereoscopy Day I'm going international. This is Ceanothus, a North American genus (cultivated in New Zealand). Instructions in ALT. @brianmayarchstereo.bsky.social

A small bright blue flower. The five blue sepals form a cup that holds nectar. Five blue and hooded petals are each adjacent to a stamen. In the centre of the flower are three darker blue styles each tipped by a small stigma.
INSTRUCTIONS: To view in 3D, try to trick your eyes so the right eye looks at the right picture and the left eye looks at the left. On screen, when they are backlit, a couple of cardboard tobes will help manage which photo each eye is looking at, or even a vertical sheet of paper between the two photos and your nose so that your eyes can't see the wrong picture. Even better, use a viewer like the one in my 3D flowers book or the Lite OWL viewer from London Stereoscopic Co.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· Jun 20

For International #Stereoscopy Day, here's a sweet violet flower. Viewing instructions in ALT. @brianmayarchstereo.bsky.social

A small dark purple flower with five petals. It has orange anther appendages showing in the centre, with a small white patch and radiating darker purple lines on the lower petals. To view in 3D, try to trick your eyes so the right eye looks at the right picture and the left eye looks at the left. On screen, when they are backlit, a couple of cardboard tobes will help manage which photo each eye is looking at, or even a vertical sheet of paper between the two photos and your nose so that your eyes can't see the wrong picture. Even better, use a viewer like the one in my 3D flowers book or the Lite OWL viewer from London Stereoscopic Co.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· Jun 13

Now I'm sorry this one didn't make it into the book 🥲

Two stereo pair images of maire tawake (Syzygium maire) flowers. The flowers have many white stamens in a dense ring around a nectar cup. A stingle green style emerges from the centre of the flower.
To view in 3D, you need to trick your left eye into looking at the left picture while your right eye looks at the right picture. On screen, where they are back-lit, a pair of cardboard tubes can help. A 3D viewer, like the one in my book, makes it easy.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· Jun 12

NZ: Hold my beer

A hairy green stem with white cylindrical stinging hairs, each with a very slender and fragile tip. It's New Zealand native tree nettle ongaonga (Urtica ferox).

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· Jun 5

This was last night in Whakatū, but we're still getting heavy rain and it's quite dark. Sound up! 🇳🇿

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· Jun 4

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· May 30

😱

Screenshot DM saying I’ve been added to a moderation list of people why “can’t tell the difference between a technology and a corporation”.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· May 22

3d printing a frame for a new design stereoscopic viewer.

The inside of a 3d printer showing a plastic frame for 3d glasses half made.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· May 19

3D view of Taranaki maunga yesterday from Auckland to Nelson flight. Instructions for 3D viewing in ALT.

A conical volcano peak seen from above. There are patches of snow. Valleys radiate out through the forested lowlands. There's a rounded dome inside the main crater and another crater (Fantham's Peak) on the side of the mountain. See in 3D with the viewer from my book or use two cardboard tubes to separate the pictures one for each eye. You might need to make it smaller on screen.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· May 17

Lucy, Charlie Brown, and the football. This time she’s not going to pull it away at the last minute. And Charlie will trust her, again. Sigh.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· May 13

I spent the best morning in the herbarium at Auckland Museum.

A massive white stone art deco museum building. Palm trees 🌴 and lawns in the foreground and blue sky above.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· May 9

Domatia are tiny pockets on the undersides of some leaves. They're almost always associated with mites; so biologists think they provide a safe home ("domatium" means little house) for mites that clean leaves of fungal spores. Karamu (Coprosma robusta, Rubiaceae) from New Zealand. Explanation in ALT

A tiny oval pocket (a domatium) in the surface of a leaf is fringed by hairs. It sits in the 45 degree angle between the midrib (right) and a secondary vein. Inside the domatium are some more hairs and some detritus that might be from mites or perhaps fungal hyphae. This domatium is 0.68 mm long.
This is a stereo pair for magic-eye viewing, or use the viewer from my book or London Stereoscopic Company's OWL Lite viewer. On a screen, you can just use two cardboard tubes to force your left eye to look at the left picture and your right eye at the right picture.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· May 5

I found this little weevil inside a Beilscmiedia tawa flower (Lauraceae) in 2004 and just got around to trying to photograph it. I’d like relax it and arrange it better, but it’s so tiny.

A tiny brown weevil 2mm long. Its body and legs are covered in short hairs.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· Apr 26

I’ve only read a couple of these but I really liked them.

Book cover of Owen Marshall’s selected stories. There’s a green corrugated iron hut in golden tussock with dark hills behind.

Phil Garnock-Jones@theobrominated· Apr 25

Thank you for sharing that recipe. It’s as good as it says.