This is my favorite "kidney tree", coming into leaf in early April. I look at these tightly wrapped, unfolding new leaves as the glomerular tufts (detail below) of the kidney. We won't witness this image for long as the green will erupt and cover the branches that nourish them. We will first enjoy the young green and watch as it matures into the deeper shade of summer green, casting shadows on the earth below. The reniform shape, still apparent in full leaf, continues to mesmerize me. I never cross the Magnolia Bridge without acknowledging this beauty; a reminder that everything is connected.
This is an electron micrograph of the glomerulus, an up close view of the "bud", the filtering unit of the kidney. Each kidney contains roughtly 1 million of these structures. I see them in the tight buds of trees in early spring.
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