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April 30, 2006
Prunus avium 'Stella Compact'
'Stella Compact' is a self-fertile cultivar of the wild sweet cherry, Prunus avium. As alluded to by the cultivar name, this is a compact form of Prunus avium 'Stella', a popular cherry introduced as a fruit crop in 1968 via the Summerland Research Station in British Columbia.
The Virginia Cooperative Extension has an excellent resource on Growing Cherries in Virginia, though much of what is in the article is applicable anywhere.
Photography resource link: Understanding Lens Diffraction, a new article by Michael Reichmann of The Luminous Landscape. Fairly technical, but it can help you better understand your lenses.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 2:09 AM | Comments (1)
April 29, 2006
Lunularia cruciata
Crescent-cup liverwort has a cosmopolitan (worldwide) distribution. However, I've found it difficult to determine its native distribution using online resources. At the least, it is apparently native to western Europe, but not native to either of New Zealand or Ontario. I'm certain there are other places where it has been introduced, though – it is a common greenhouse weed. It is easy to imagine how this liverwort could be introduced to much of the world through the exchange of plants.
The small, yellowish-green bodies held within the crescent-shaped cups are gemmae, vegetative propagules of the parent plant that are produced asexually (i.e., they are genetically identical to the parent). Raindrops falling into the cups splash outwards, expelling the gemmae out of the cup. If fortune holds (what if your future depended on a raindrop?), the gemma would be transported to a suitable site and grow into a genetically identical clone of its parent plant.
Photography resource link: Images of southwestern Australia from photographer Alex Bond. Click on “Limited Edition Collection” to view his two galleries of photographs – and yes, there are kangaroos.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:30 AM | Comments (0)
April 28, 2006
Mimulus Creek
Today's image is a digitized hand-tinted lantern slide by John Davidson. Mimulus Creek is one of the many geographical features of the Garibaldi area named by Davidson, as he was among the first people of European descent to explore the region. The naming of places and geographical objects was more than a privilege in Davidson's era and field of interest – it was a necessity. As he collected specimens of plants for the provincial herbarium (of the time), he needed to be able to somehow georeference the areas where he collected the plants. Lacking a geographical location meant specimens would not have a specific provenance (or place of origin), thus reducing their value to science. Davidson therefore needed to first assign a place name and map it before collecting and documenting plants of the area.
Science / history resource link: The Darwin Correspondence Project from Cambridge. Why are the letters important?. Currently contains correspondence from 1856-1859.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:54 AM | Comments (5)
April 27, 2006
Armeria juniperifolia 'Bevan's Variety'
Plants of the genus Armeria are commonly known as thrift. This cultivar of juniper thrift is a dwarf-stemmed selection, and so forms an extremely compact mound (it's also a Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit recipient).
Of the ninety or so species of Armeria, half are endemic to the Iberian Peninsula in Europe. Armeria juniperifolia is one of those endemics, native only to Spain.
Armeria caespitosa is often listed as a synonym for Armeria juniperifolia, but I'm not certain if this is definitive after reading Feliner, G and G. González. 1996. Proposal to Reject the Name Statice juniperifolia (Plumbaginaceae). Taxon 45:709-710. (to summarize the paper simplistically, Statice juniperifolia was apparently thought to be an older published name for Armeria juniperifolia and so would take precedence in the world of assigning plant names if enough evidence was available to verify that the person who proposed the original name had actually meant that plant – it seemingly was rejected, though). In the paper, the authors mention a series of Armeria names and state, “Any of these names, except A. caespitosa, (cf. Garmendia in Anales Jard. Bot. Madrid 39:209. 1982), would, if found to be synonmous, be displaced by A. juniperifolia.” That bit about excepting A. caespitosa has me curious if there's more to the name than what I've been able to uncover so far.
From a photography perspective, I like the subtle vignetting effect in this photograph. This was an early morning image from the Alpine Garden. The sunlight was filtering through tree branches, creating natural vignettes.
Photography resource link: For inspiration, see Sublime Photography, the photography of Mike Mander. I discovered the work of this Vancouver-area photographer over three years ago, when I found a gallery of his UBC Botanical Garden in infrared photographs. I still haven't been able to scratch the itch of wanting to try infrared photography after having been inspired by Mike. One day soon, I hope.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (3)
April 26, 2006
Adiantum aleuticum
The unfurling fronds of Western maidenhair fern in dim, morning light look little like the mature fronds in indirect sunlight.
The distribution of Adiantum aleuticum (map) is a case study in disjunct populations, or populations of a species separated by a wide geographic or ecological distance. Broadly speaking, western maidenhair fern's main distribution range is coastal and inland forests of Alaska south to California. However, as mentioned by the Flora of North America account for the species, it is also “disjunct in wet rock fissures at high elevations in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and Mexico in Chihuahua, and it is disjunct on serpentine in Newfoundland, Quebec, Maine, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.” Your task of the day is to generate a possible explanation for the pattern of this plant's distribution, particularly for its disjunct populations (the map link above gives a clear overview of the distribution).
Landscape architecture / horticulture resource link: Dr. Peter Del Tredici from Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum has two articles worth reading in the February 2006 issue of Landscape Architecture. The first, titled “Because Plants Are At Stake” (PDF), addresses the importance of having a knowledge of plants in the field of landscape architecture. The second, “Brave New Ecology (PDF)”, tackles the question “Can we ever put the invasive species genie back in the bottle, or are we looking at a future in which nature as we know it becomes a cultivated entity?”
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (3)
April 25, 2006
Field of Tulipa
John Harvey has kindly shared this recent photograph of his trip to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival via the BPotD Submissions Forum (original thread | photograph on John's site | John's copyright statement and terms of use). John has previously been featured on BPotD as a photography resource link in this entry; he continues his helpful ways with this: John's Unofficial Guide to Taking Pictures of Tulips on Farms. Thanks John!
If you read through John's article, you'll learn (as I did) that the tulips grown in Skagit Valley are grown for bulb production (cut flowers are secondary, unlike here). For more depth on raising tulips as a bulb crop, read Tom Guffey's article on exploring the area from a touristing photographer's perspective, “A Wonderful Shooting Hotspot in Washington State”.
Photography resource link: Snapshots from Wild Kamloops, the photography of Robert Koopmans. A few of Robert's photographs will be showing up on BPotD from time to time, but that's all the more reason to check out his photo galleries. Don't miss the “fading yellow bell” in his wildflowers gallery, his (better) version of yesterday's plant. Also, this BPotD entry has a Koopmansian counterpart: see the landscapes gallery and look at “dead Ponderosa pine, Cinnamon Ridge”.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (2)
April 24, 2006
Fritillaria pudica
Yellow fritillary, or yellow bell, is native to western North America (distribution map and Flora of North America account). The epithet pudica means “bashful”, which I tried to illustrate with the close-up photograph. As you can see from the second image, the plant is quite small. Despite the size, the diminutive bulbs of these plants were commonly harvested by the First Nations peoples of the area for food.
For local readers, Café Scientifique Vancouver's discussion topic tomorrow evening is “Why Conserve Endangered Species?” with Dr. Arne Mooers from Simon Fraser University. What is Café Scientifique? “Café Scientifique is where you can have a drink and learn about the latest ideas and issues in science and technology in an informal setting. It’s not a lecture! It’s a place for group discussion and audience involvement is the most important ingredient.” (via Café Scientifique Canada).
Botany resource link: Tropical Plant Guides from Chicago's Field Museum is absolutely spectacular if you need to identify tropical plants – features six thousand quality plant photographs and twenty thousand herbarium specimen scans.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 2:05 AM | Comments (3)
April 23, 2006
Fouquieria splendens
These are the remaining photographs for the ocotillo series. As Al pointed out in the comments in the first entry, the leaves of ocotillo are temporary. They appear a few days after a rainfall and will drop when dry conditions resume – a cycle that can occur ten or more times in a year. Al also mentioned that the stems of Fouquieria splendens contain chlorophyll. This allows the plant to continue photosynthesis at a suboptimal rate when leaves are absent.
The angular white streaks in two of the photographs are courtesy of raindrops. Instead of getting the camera equipment wet in the rainfall, I snapped these images from the shelter of the car. Lazy photography, I suppose.
Photography resource link: for inspiration, Scenic Wild, the photography of Guy Tal. In addition to exceptional photo galleries, the site also contains a number of Guy's helpful articles.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:02 AM | Comments (8)
April 22, 2006
Fouquieria splendens
This is the second part of the series on ocotillo. Today's photographs are a conventional specimen shot and an impressionistic shot with the Lenbaby lens. The wand-like stems are instantly recognizable in the southwestern USA as being Fouquieria splendens. This does not hold true if one visits Mexico, where the stems of at least a few of the other ten species have a similar appearance.
Botany / conservation resource link: Botanic Gardens: Using Biodiversity to Improve Human Well-being, a recently released report from Botanical Gardens Conservation International “which addresses the fundamental linkages between the conservation of biological resources and the reduction of world poverty. The report highlights the important work being carried out across the globe by botanic gardens, who see the protection and sustainable use of plant diversity as the foundation for the improvement of human well-being.”
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:17 AM | Comments (5)
April 21, 2006
Fouquieria splendens
Today marks the start of a small series of photographs of one of my fifty favourite plants, Fouquieria splendens. Commonly known as ocotillo, Fouquieria splendens is distributed throughout northern Mexico and the southwest US (from California to Texas).
The family Fouquieriaceae is monotypic; Fouquieria is the only genus in the family. Eleven species of Fouquieria are recognized, but Fouquieria splendens is the only one that can be seen in the wild outside of Mexico (distribution map for Fouquieriaceae).
Ocotillo typically flowers from March to May. This coincides with the spring migration of hummingbirds, though hummingbirds are not the only pollinators. Many insects and other birds will also visit the plant; not surprising, as ocotillo will have flowers (and associated nectar) available even during the driest of years.
Photography resource link: 10 Tips for the New Digital SLR Photographer from photographer Thomas Hawk. Thomas takes a lot of photographs, so his advice is well-worth following. You can also browse his 4500+ photographs on Flickr.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 1:23 AM | Comments (2)
April 20, 2006
Saguaro National Park
This photograph was taken in the early evening within the Tucson Mountain District of Saguaro National Park. The saguaro cactus, Carnegiea gigantea, grows densely in this district located to the west of Tucson. The larger Rincon Mountain District (east of Tucson) has a more diverse landscape but not-as-dense populations of saguaros.
A note for local readers: if you're in the market for plants (and who isn't, it's springtime here!), Phoenix Perennials in Richmond, BC is holding a Charity Shopping Weekend for UBC Botanical Garden this Saturday and Sunday (April 22 and 23) from 10am to 5pm. Twenty-five percent of the total for each purchase will be donated to the garden to support our education and research efforts. In order for the donation to be applied, you must mention you are there to support UBC Botanical Garden when making your purchase. The chatter around the lunchroom table hinted that both David Tarrant and Douglas Justice will be making appearances (and also that the selection and quality of plants at Phoenix Perennials right now is spectacular).
Conservation resource link: Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance “is an innovative network of public gardens, government agencies, and environmental organizations committed to preserving Georgia's endangered flora”. The site features compelling accounts of their ongoing conservation projects and a good number of online publications. I think the GPCA's “Botanical Guardians” is a great name for a great idea.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:42 AM | Comments (3)
April 19, 2006
Fields of Hyacinthus and Narcissus
I'm loathe to admit it, but I've only now looked at the Flickr Botany Photo of the Day Group Pool of images for the first time since I left for vacation and returned. All I can say is: “Wow! What great photographs!”
Today's photos are contributed via Flickr by Wontolla65 from The Hague, Netherlands. The original photographs, taken in Noordwijkerhout and Voorhout, can be seen here and here. Many thanks for sharing these swaths of colour!
There is big money in flower production. According to An Overview of the BC Floriculture Industry, the worldwide trade in floriculture was 7.9 billion USD in 2001. The Netherlands is the hub of the industry: over half of global exports of flowers either originated domestically from the Netherlands or were imported to the Netherlands, brokered and then resold. Colombia, the second largest exporter, accounted for 7.5% of total exports.
However, competition is increasing around the globe. The industry has recently become established in several African countries and China. The role of the Netherlands in the global marketplace is shifting from a reliance on production toward the brokerage role (taking advantage of the supply networks they've established). For more, see this chapter from “The World Cut Flower Industry: Trends and Prospects”.
Photography resource link: Not just for techies, Camerahacker.com provides some reviews and tips in addition to hacks like building a bicycle camera mount (which I won't do) or making a pinhole lens for SLR cameras (which I'm considering).
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:37 AM | Comments (1)
April 18, 2006
Macrocystis pyrifera and Ardea alba
Beds of giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) provide a floating platform for the piscivorous (fish-eating) great egret in the marine waters of California's Point Lobos State Reserve. What you see from above the water as tangled mats of seaweed are the uppermost fronds of organisms which may reach heights of 60m (read more on Macrocystis pyrifera). In favourable areas, dense, underwater kelp forests form; these support a wide diversity of other organisms. For an excellent summary article on the biology of kelp forest ecosystems, see Steneck, R. et al. 2002. Kelp Forest Ecosystems: Biodiversity, Stability, Resilience and Future. Environmental Conservation. 29:436-459.
Kelps, or the Order Laminariales, are most diverse in the coastal waters of the temperate northeastern Pacific Ocean, with twenty species occurring from Alaska to Baja California.
Botany resource link: Plant for the Planet: A Plant Conservation Checklist for Gardeners (PDF file), a small brochure on gardening with plant conservation in mind from Botanic Gardens Conservation International – Canada.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (4)
April 17, 2006
David C. Lam Asian Garden
This photograph was taken last year in the David C. Lam Asian Garden at UBC on April 10. If the weather forecast for this week is correct, a similar scene should be visible this weekend. The cool spring weather in the local area has contributed to a closer-to-average timing of flowering for many plant species, unlike last year's early display. While such phenomena as flowering times vary from one year to the next, studying the long-term trends can help inform about climatic changes on scales from micro- to regional to global. The recording and comparison of the timing of recurring natural events is known as phenology.
One of these days, I'm going to whip up a quick database to help the Friends of the Garden post the results of their fifteen year (or longer?) phenological observations of the magnolias at UBC.
Another note for local readers: I've two presentations in the next two weeks, both to the Vancouver Natural History Society. This Thursday, I'm presenting to the VNHS Botany section on “Plants of the Southwestern United States” featuring photographs from my recent trip. On the following Thursday, I'm presenting on John Davidson at the VNHS Annual General Meeting.
Photography resource link: Artful Vacation Photos, an article by photographer Gloria Hopkins on capturing images with a bit of stylistic flair during your travels.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (3)
April 16, 2006
Washingtonia filifera
California fan palm is native to California, Nevada, Arizona and Baja California. As I was walking the short hike into Palm Canyon within California's Anza-Borrego State Park to see the palm groves, I couldn't help but notice (and wonder about) the dozens of fallen trunks in the streambed on the way up. Wayne Armstrong provides the reason why.
Botany resource link: Images of the flora and vegetation of Chile and South Argentina from a 2003 expedition to the area by researchers from the Jardin Botanique Alpin du Lautaret.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 1:18 AM | Comments (0)
April 15, 2006
Arctostapyhylos refugioensis × Arctostaphylos purissima
The two parent plants of this hybrid, Arctostaphylos refugioensis and Arctostaphlos purissima, both occur within Santa Barbara County of California. I therefore can't say with any certainty whether this is a naturally-occurring hybrid where the ranges of the parent plants overlap or whether this is a garden hybrid occurring as a result of a purposeful cross or proximate cultivated parent plants. To explain the last bit, a hybrid progeny can sometimes occur when two species are grown near each other in cultivation, but will likely never occur in the wild because of the geographic distance between the natural distribution ranges of the parent species.
Photography resource link: Image Deconstruction, an essay by Michael Reichmann of The Luminous Landscape about interpreting the contents of a photograph and finding the stories within. As an aside, the current photograph of Point Lobos on the main page of his site is very striking. Apparently, I was in the same parts of California at the same time, but unfortunately didn't encounter this master photographer. Sorry, I don't have a similar photograph of Point Lobos, though I really wanted one – I had “camera difficulties” that afternoon.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 1:33 AM | Comments (2)
April 14, 2006
Carex montana
In February 3rd's BPotD entry on Erica plukenetii, I asked as an aside if anyone wanted to suggest which genus of plants in British Columbia had the most species. My one hint was a speculation that the same genus likely has the most species diversity in much of Canada and northern US.
Although Eurasian in distribution (but growing successfully in the Alpine Garden), the genus of this plant is the answer to that question: Carex, or the true sedges. This particular species is commonly known as mountain sedge (a literal translation of the Latin epithet montana) or soft-leaved sedge. Not knowing the common name at the time of the photograph, I didn't take the opportunity to test the texture of the leaves; in general, leaves of plants in the genus Carex contain silica bodies and are most decidedly not soft. Considering that silica is a component in glass production, you will likely find it believable that handling the leaves of some sedges can cut your hands in a manner akin to papercuts.
Botany resource link: Interested in tracking down books about particular groups of plants? Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew has merged its bibliographic databases creating a one-stop search tool: Kew Bibliographic Databases.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:19 AM | Comments (2)
April 13, 2006
Desert Garden in Huntington Botanical Gardens
A small scene packed with diversity of form and colour from the 4ha (10 acres) Desert Garden at Huntington Botanical Gardens. Instead of me pointing out the desert adaptations visible in the photograph, I'll open it up for you to identify and elaborate in the comments today. I quickly count five visible phenomena that help these plants survive in the desert, but there are likely more.
For local readers of BPotD, I've been informed that tickets remain available for tonight's lecture by Robert Bateman on “Thinking Like a Mountain”. The event is part of a biodiversity lecture series hosted by the in-construction Beaty Museum of Natural History at UBC. I highly encourage you to attend.
Photography resource link: I missed out on attending / promoting a few local photographic highlights while away, including Ron Long's Cedar Series Lecture about last year's wildflower display at Death Valley (this year was a below-average to average year) and David Blevin's workshops – I've previously linked to David's work on BPotD, but there's been a new addition to the site worth investigating: “A Nature Guide to Boundary Bay” promotes a book with David's photography and Anne Murray's writing. However, it also stands as a resource web site in its own right, particularly since the site includes a number of photographs which didn't make it into the book.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:08 AM | Comments (18)
April 12, 2006
Magnolia sprengeri 'Copeland Court'
If you live in the Vancouver area, this upcoming weekend is likely the last “good” weekend to see the magnolias in bloom at UBC. Many trees will still be in flower, but I think the peak blooming period is nearly over.
This cultivar is one generation removed from seed of Magnolia sprengeri collected by Ernest Wilson in Hubei, China in 1901. Of the seed collected and distributed to Caerhays Castle in Cornwall, one individual plant produced flowers and seeds; this plant goes by the name of either Magnolia sprengeri var. diva or M. sprengeri 'Diva', depending on your reference. Magnolia sprengeri 'Copeland Court' is one of many seedlings of Magnolia sprengeri 'Diva' that have become named cultivars. Douglas Justice has described this plant as “a small to medium-sized tree with a symmetrical, spreading habit and ample, uniformly deep, clear-pink flowers”.
Botany / photography resource link: I included it in yesterday's post, but it deserves to be highlighted. Calflora.net, by Michael Charters, is titled humbly as the “Home Page of California Plant Names: Latin and Greek Meanings and Derivations and Southern California Wildflowers”, but it is oh-so-much more. Nearly 2000 photographs of southern California wildflowers are supplemented by web pages on topics such as southern California wild places, immensely valuable field trip logs (which I'm going to start doing when I go on field trips this year) and a glossary of botanical terms.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (3)
April 11, 2006
Langloisia setosissima subsp. punctata
Great Basin langloisia or lilac sunbonnets is an annual plant native to California, Nevada, Oregon and Idaho. The epithet setosissima means “very bristly-hairy”, which doesn't really require an explanation for why it's pertinent for this species. See Calflora.net for more on this plant and definitions of the other Latin terms.
The Polemoniaceae, or phlox family, contains 18 genera. This family is very closely related to the Fouquieriaceae, a monotypic family (only one genus). Keep Langloisia in mind when you see a member of the Fouquieriaceae featured on BPotD sometime in the next week.
Photography resource link: Alex Waterhouse-Hayward is a good friend of UBC Botanical Garden (he's previously contributed to BPotD). Alex has recently started his own weblog, and it's a daily visual treat. Although there's an emphasis on the sort of people you'd find in the newspapers, Alex features plants and plantspeople on occasion, always with an interesting story. Entries from March include: Rhododendron racemosum, local plantswoman Francisca Darts, and a kind tribute (deservedly so) to the late Frank Dorsey, a UBC Friend of the Garden for sixteen years.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 1:01 AM | Comments (0)
April 10, 2006
Cycad Collection in Lotusland
The cycad collection of Ganna Walska Lotusland in Montecito, California was purchased with the proceeds from the sale of some jewelry – a million dollar's worth, in fact. The species of cycad in sharp focus (more on this later) was previously featured on BPotD: Encephalartos horridus.
On the strong encouragement of David Tarrant, we fit a visit to Lotusland into our trip (having to spend an extra day in Santa Barbara to do so since they were already fully booked on the day we hoped to visit the garden – book well in advance!). If you ever visit Santa Barbara, a trip to Lotusland is worth every penny. I say this despite the fact that you can't wander to your heart's content; the only option available is the two hour guided tour. This is difficult for anyone who wants to admire the plants and gardens for more than a few minutes in a particular place, and absurdly so if you want to attempt to photograph it (speaking from experience!).
Bold gardens are usually the creations of bold gardeners (or bold personalities). To read more about Lotusland and Ganna Walska, here are two articles: Forget About Rubies – She Wanted Cycads from the Christian Science Monitor and What The Diva Wrought, published in the Wall Street Journal.
Lotusland was one of four gardens I visited on my vacation (along with Huntington BG, Santa Barbara BG and the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum). Other numbers from my trip: I visited 6 US National Parks, 6 State Parks, 2 US National Forests (that I photographed in – passed through a few more), 1 US National Seashore (Point Reyes) and 3 US National Monuments. I travelled over 10 000km (6000 miles); the southernmost point was Rodeo, New Mexico while easternmost was Albuquerque, NM.
In terms of photography, I pressed the shutter button on the camera nearly 2500 times (I'll probably keep a thousand or so of these images). This number would have been higher if the weather had cooperated. In general, I was accompanied by cool weather with milky clouded skies, so photographs of landscapes were unspectacular. Those sorts of skies are usually great for flower photography – except there were few flowers thanks to the extremely dry winter in the southwest US. Anyway, I did the best I could with what I had available to me.
In preparation for the trip, I purchased a few lenses: a wide-angle lens (for landscape photographs), a quality telephoto lens and the one I used for today's image: the Lensbaby 2.0.
Photography resource link: Flickr photographs tagged with “lensbaby” and “flower”, to give you an idea of what this lens does.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:30 AM | Comments (9)
April 9, 2006
Cercidiphyllum japonicum 'Morioka Weeping'
You probably expected a photograph from my recent travels today. Alas, no – all in good time. Instead, I thought I'd share a photograph taken late Friday in UBC's Asian Garden, where the early evening sun illuminated the cascade of still-growing leaves. I don't often take images with human constructs in them (i.e., the bench), but it seems appropriate today as I return from vacation. Perhaps I was sitting in the bench and now I'm back to work? Or perhaps the empty bench is inviting you to stay and enjoy? Or...? Let's leave it open to interpretation.
In the local urban landscape, I sometimes think katsura trees are overused. That sentiment changes once I smell the burnt sugar scent from the decaying leaves in late autumn – then there can't be enough of them. The garden's interpretative sign for Cercidiphyllum goes into more detail about the genus. You can also see photographs of this particular katsura tree taken from a different perspective in both late spring and winter in this thread on the garden's forums.
Science resource link: Science Buzz from the Science Museum of Minnesota (and its weblog commenters!) won the 2006 Best Overall Museum Web Site at the Museums and the Web conference I attended in the middle of my vacation. Kudos to them and their commitment to science education!
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:31 AM | Comments (10)
April 8, 2006
Anguloa dubia
Last of the abbreviated entries due to this vacation! – Daniel
Many thanks to Andreas from Bogotá, Colombia (aka Quimbaya@Flickr) for today's photograph (BPotD Flickr Group Pool | original image). This orchid was cultivated by Colombian orchid grower Sócrates Forero.
Species in the genus Anguloa are collectively known as the “tulip orchids” – an image search for Anguloa reveals why.
Photography resource link: Compositional Exercise by Paul W. Faust for Nature Photographers Online – suggests a method to practice for improving the composition of your photographs.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
April 7, 2006
Camellia japonica
I'm on vacation, so only a short written accompaniment today. – Daniel
Similar to the “species tulip” from two days ago, this flower belongs to a “species camellia”, i.e., it is what would be encountered in the wild. In cultivation, however, over 2000 variants or selections of Camellia japonica exist (source: Wikipedia) – an image search gives a hint to the different ornamental forms.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (4)
April 6, 2006
Cheilanthes gracillima
I'm on vacation, so only a short written accompaniment today. – Daniel
Lip fern, or lace-lip fern, is native to western North America, from British Columbia south to California and east to Montana. Given the diversity of environments within that large area, it is not surprising that it isn't found everywhere within the region. Using Cheilanthes gracillima as an example, here's a small survey of how different databases present the distribution information.
The USDA's PLANTS database operates on a state-by-state presence/absence mapping system, like so: Cheilanthes gracillima. While useful in a broad context, it isn't very precise; if you make the assumption that you might find the plant in eastern Montana or south of the California border, you will be searching for a very long time.
The Flora of North America improves upon the PLANTS map by delineating the extent of the distribution: Cheilanthes gracillima. If you are familiar with regional geography, these types of maps can often give some hint as to what limits the distribution of a species. For this fern, it seems it grows in hilly or mountainous areas that are not subject to extreme heat or cold.
That presumption seems to be borne out by examining both the county-by-county distribution map in Washington state and the Jepson Manual's distribution map in Californian Floristic Provinces. These distribution maps allow better inference about the habitat and ecological requirements of the species, particularly the Californian map as it uses ecological similarities for map subdivisions.
A different approach is taken by the British Columbia E-Flora Atlas Page for Cheilanthes gracillima, which uses point data to map the location of documented collections of the plant (i.e., herbarium specimens). Interestingly, you can add to the map the “BEC Zones” (or Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification) layer (similar, though not equivalent to the California Floristic Provinces) and discover that lace-lip fern is found in a half-dozen or so different ecological regions in British Columbia, but only one or a few known records of Cheilanthes gracillima exist for each region. In all of the other distribution mapping schemes, the notion that this species is relatively uncommon is masked by the presentation of the data.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (1)
April 5, 2006
Tulipa urumiensis
Today's entry marks the one-year anniversary of Botany Photo of the Day. I'll add a small retrospective when I return from vacation next week. Again, only an abbreviated entry today. – Daniel.
The story of the tulip and the economic bubble of the 1630s in The Netherlands is well-known, but worth revisiting from time to time. Barbara Schulman of the University of Minnesota has written a concise summary of “Tulipmania”, while the Wikipedia entry for Tulipmania adds a few dissenting opinions regarding the conventional history. On a different tack, Frontline's “dotcon” documentary web site has a compilation of various economic bubbles, including Tulipmania.
Today's photograph is of a tulip that would have been exempt from Tulipmania. Not only was it not discovered until nearly three centuries after the event, but it is also a “species tulip”, i.e., it is recognized as a natural species and (accordingly) has no history of human-induced hybridization. The tulips of Tulipmania were seemingly all hybrid tulips, many generations removed from their natural cousins.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (13)
April 4, 2006
Neomoorea wallisii
I'm on vacation, so only a short written accompaniment today. – Daniel
Thanks to Eric in San Francisco (Eric in SF@Flickr) for today's contribution. Since it was submitted via the BPotD Flickr Group Pool, you can see the original image (and all the comments!) here: Neomoorea wallisii.
If you'd like to see the drawing of this orchid from the 1892 edition of Curtis's Botanical Magazine, the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, Glasnevin has scanned the image.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (1)
April 3, 2006
Sphagnum squarrosum
I'm on vacation, so only a short written accompaniment today. – Daniel
Spread-leaved peat moss or rough peat moss is native to wet, acidic areas of Asia, Europe, North America, northern Africa, New Zealand and Greenland according to the Moss Flora of China entry on Sphagnum squarrosum.
Although it is very easy to recognize the distinctive peat moss from other mosses, identification of individual Sphagnum species often requires the use of a microscope. Complicating matters is that a sample of peat mosses may contain more than one species growing within the same clump (a personal observation).
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (5)
April 2, 2006
Ranunculus californicus
I'm on vacation, so only a short written accompaniment today. – Daniel
Many thanks to Dale from California (aka Dfunk@Flickr) for today's photograph. To see it larger, check out the original image submitted via the Botany Photo of the Day Flickr Group Pool.
Formerly thought to only be native to Oregon and California, (relatively) recent discoveries on the San Juan Islands and Gulf Islands have extended the range into Washington and British Columbia. The author of the Flora of North America account for California buttercup hypothesizes that the populations in Washington and BC are the result of introduction into the islands, and therefore not part of the native distribution of the species.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (4)
April 1, 2006
Asarum caudatum
I'm on vacation, so only a short written accompaniment today. – Daniel
Asarum caudatum, or wild ginger, is distributed in western North America, from northern California to British Columbia and east to Montana. Read more on its ethnobotany via the Washington State Department of Transportation (!).
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (2)
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Botany Photo of the Day is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems within The University of British Columbia.