Botany Photo of the Day

Adding to the recent trend of south of the Equator images, this photograph from Tasmania is courtesy of Ray in the town of Launceston (sparramc@Flickr | BPotD Flickr Group Pool | original image). Thanks for sharing again, Sparra!

Another day, another plant with a name that's flip-flopped back-and-forth for nearly half a century. Chocolate lily (to Australians – that name means something else to North Americans) has been known as both Dichopogon strictus and Arthropodium strictum over the years. Though many still use Arthropodium strictum, I've opted to use the name suggested by the Census of Australian Vascular Plants. Still, that's tentative – if I could find the resource alluded to by the Pacific Bulb Society (don't forget to check out the image of its roots, quite unique), I might be convinced otherwise.

This species is native to southeastern Australia and northern Tasmania. Unlike the North American chocolate lily, which is described as having an “odour not unpleasant” in the Flora of North America, the Australians sagely call this chocolate lily because it smells like chocolate. I do admit some curiousity in that the scent is sometimes also described as being that of vanilla; I've made a similar association of “smells like chocolate or vanilla” with the South American shrub Azara microphylla (to be featured on BPotD sometime before mid-March). I don't know enough about scents to discern whether the two smells are chemically related in some manner. However, while researching it, I did find this interesting article: Vanilla patch cures sweet tooth: “Scientists have come up with a way to beat chocolate addiction – a vanilla-scented patch.”. It seems like there is some sort of relation, at the least. If you happen to know that the chemistry of these two scents is somehow similar, please add a comment.

For Vancouver area folks: you might like to consider attending this Thursday's meeting of the Native Plant Society of BC South Coast Group. Ron Long is presenting a set of his photographs of British Columbian plants from locations around the province. Who's Ron Long? In his words: “For thirty-six years I have been employed as a full time photographer at Simon Fraser University. For fifteen of those years I photographed exclusively for the Biological Sciences Department so I have a considerable amount of biology in my background and an abiding interest in nature photography.” The meeting is at 7:15pm at the Vancouver Museum, and non-members are welcome to attend! If you'd like more information, please see the link to the NPSBC page.

Botany resource link: Trillium and the Trillium Family – if only information on all genera would be so handily gathered and organized!