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November 17, 2006 : Hedychium spicatum
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Keywords: Zingiberaceae | Hedychium spicatum Buch.-Ham. | 027830-0011-1989
Abstracted, this pair of leaves from a spiked ginger-lily reveals little about the nature of the plant on first glance. However, a closer look at the pattern of venation reveals this plant is monocotyledonous instead of dicotyledonous (having one seed-leaf as opposed to two). The parallel veins directed from the midrib (the two bold green lines in the two leaves of this photograph) outward to the leaf margin is described as peniparallel venation. For comparison's sake, the venation of grasses (another monocot) is simply termed parallel – the veins run parallel along the length of the blade (lamina) in either the presence or absence of a midrib. The presence of a type of parallel venation (including peniparallel) is a typical trait of monocots.
Hedychium spicatum is native to southeast Asia. The Flora of China has a comprehensive description of Hedychium spicatum, while its economic botany is detailed in the Plants for a Future database: Hedychium spicatum.
Environment resource link: I feel fortunate to have been able to photograph this image yesterday. Heavy rain and harsh winds have dominated the weather in British Columbia and the northwesten continental US the past few weeks. For some photographs of the extent of the damage, the US National Park Service has a few photo galleries online: Glacier National Park, Nov. 7, 2006, Glacier National Park, Nov. 8, 2006 and Mount Rainier National Park, 2006 Flood Images. On the last page, I found this image compilation in PDF to be the easiest way to view all of the images of damage in Mount Rainier NP.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at November 17, 2006 12:34 AM
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Comments
Posted by: Manuela Vanini at November 17, 2006 2:08 AM
I was eager to see what you would choose to post after the inspiring presentation by Freeman Patterson last night and as often is the case your photo and accompanying text provide an 'ah!'
Thank you, Daniel!
Posted by: Beverley at November 17, 2006 8:44 AM
This reminds me of false colour close up images of the planet Jupiter. A little less vivid and less defined certainly, but reminiscent.
Posted by: Brent at November 17, 2006 9:00 AM
Daniel, I look forward to your pictures and your botany tidbits.
What is the technical term for Trillium venation? I guess it may vary by species, but I was looking at one last year (in the East Bay Regional Park Botanic Garden, so presumably a California native), and I thought it was a dicot for a minute, because there was nothing obviously parallel about the veins.
Posted by: max at November 17, 2006 3:11 PM
Thanks all. Max, the Flora of North America entry for Trillium describes it as palmate-reticulate. Other sites simply use reticulate (i.e., forming the pattern of a net).
Posted by: Daniel Mosquin 
at November 17, 2006 3:53 PM
So (not to abuse you as botanist to the internet), the parallelism-monocot connection is more a rule of thumb than a diagnostic? Or does this have something to do with the fact (as I learned from your link) that Trillium "leaves" are really bracts?
Posted by: max at November 21, 2006 10:01 AM
Hi Max – it is not diagnostic for the entire group of monocots, no. I suppose a rule of thumb is a better way of saying it.
I don't think the “foliaceous bracts” of Trillium would be the reason for the difference, since bracts are modified leaves. To be fair, though, perhaps the modification is the change in venation.
On a somewhat related note, this article on Alternative Modes of Leaf Dissection discusses how slight changes in leaf development in monocots can cause patterns to arise that are different than the norm. It's not precisely applicable to what we are discussing here re: Trillium, but it does relate.
Posted by: Daniel Mosquin at November 21, 2006 10:29 AM
Thanks Daniel. That article is very interesting. It never occurred to me that Araceae were monocots.
For the record, in case some (crazy) person is interested, these T. ovatum "leaves" are what I'm talking about.
Posted by: max at November 22, 2006 10:46 AM
Please share your comments about the photograph(s) and accompanying write-up. Telling a story about the subject of the photograph(s) is also much appreciated! If you have a gardening question, the best place to ask is on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Thank you!
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