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December 31, 2006
Aconitum yezoense
From December 16, 2006 to January 14, 2007, Botany Photo of the Day is going to be featuring photo abstracts posted with little or no scientific commentary. If abstracts aren't to your taste, please consider revisiting the site in mid-January. – Daniel
2006 fades away...
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (2)
December 30, 2006
Rosa ×odorata 'Mutabilis'
From December 16, 2006 to January 14, 2007, Botany Photo of the Day is going to be featuring photo abstracts posted with little or no scientific commentary. If abstracts aren't to your taste, please consider revisiting the site in mid-January. – Daniel
Another infrared shot.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (4)
December 29, 2006
Juncus sp.
From December 16, 2006 to January 14, 2007, Botany Photo of the Day is going to be featuring photo abstracts posted with little or no scientific commentary. If abstracts aren't to your taste, please consider revisiting the site in mid-January. – Daniel
Previously featured on BPotD here: Juncus sp..
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (3)
December 28, 2006
Muehlenbeckia axillaris
From December 16, 2006 to January 14, 2007, Botany Photo of the Day is going to be featuring photo abstracts posted with little or no scientific commentary. If abstracts aren't to your taste, please consider revisiting the site in mid-January. – Daniel
Previously featured on BPotD here: Muehlenbeckia axillaris.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (3)
December 27, 2006
Nereocystis luetkeana
From December 16, 2006 to January 14, 2007, Botany Photo of the Day is going to be featuring photo abstracts posted with little or no scientific commentary. If abstracts aren't to your taste, please consider revisiting the site in mid-January. – Daniel
The oft-photographed bull kelp of western North America.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (4)
December 26, 2006
Alnus incana subsp. tenuifolia
From December 16, 2006 to January 14, 2007, Botany Photo of the Day is going to be featuring photo abstracts posted with little or no scientific commentary. If abstracts aren't to your taste, please consider revisiting the site in mid-January. – Daniel
Previously featured on BPotD here: Alnus incana subsp. tenuifolia.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (1)
December 25, 2006
Larix kaempferi 'Blue Dwarf'
From December 16, 2006 to January 14, 2007, Botany Photo of the Day is going to be featuring photo abstracts posted with little or no scientific commentary. If abstracts aren't to your taste, please consider revisiting the site in mid-January. – Daniel
The needles on new tip growth of this larch take a couple extra weeks to colour to orange – catch it at the right time, and you see an odd mixture of blue-green and orange.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (11)
December 24, 2006
Arbutus menziesii
From December 16, 2006 to January 14, 2007, Botany Photo of the Day is going to be featuring photo abstracts posted with little or no scientific commentary. If abstracts aren't to your taste, please consider revisiting the site in mid-January. – Daniel
Please see yesterday's entry for links to other BPotD entries on Arbutus menziesii.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (8)
December 23, 2006
Arbutus menziesii
From December 16, 2006 to January 14, 2007, Botany Photo of the Day is going to be featuring photo abstracts posted with little or no scientific commentary. If abstracts aren't to your taste, please consider revisiting the site in mid-January. – Daniel
Arbutus menziesii reflection in water. Previously featured on BPotD here: Arbutus menziesii and here: Arbutus menziesii.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (10)
December 22, 2006
Liquidambar styraciflua 'Lane Roberts'
From December 16, 2006 to January 14, 2007, Botany Photo of the Day is going to be featuring photo abstracts posted with little or no scientific commentary. If abstracts aren't to your taste, please consider revisiting the site in mid-January. – Daniel
An early-falling leaf of 'Lane Roberts' sweetgum on the brown grass of late summer.
A brief note: the garden's web site will be offline today during part of the late afternoon (local time). The servers hosting the web site and various databases are moving to a new room within the same building.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (3)
December 21, 2006
Pinus ponderosa
From December 16, 2006 to January 14, 2007, Botany Photo of the Day is going to be featuring photo abstracts posted with little or no scientific commentary. If abstracts aren't to your taste, please consider revisiting the site in mid-January. – Daniel
Previously featured on BPotD here: Pinus ponderosa and here: Pinus ponderosa.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (5)
December 20, 2006
Chlorophytum amaniense
From December 16, 2006 to January 14, 2007, Botany Photo of the Day is going to be featuring photo abstracts posted with little or no scientific commentary. If abstracts aren't to your taste, please consider revisiting the site in mid-January. – Daniel
This tropical plant is marketed under what seems like a dozen names. I purchased this one at the garden's Indoor Plant Sale after photographing it. It sits above my computer desk.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (7)
December 19, 2006
Stipa neaei
From December 16, 2006 to January 14, 2007, Botany Photo of the Day is going to be featuring photo abstracts posted with little or no scientific commentary. If abstracts aren't to your taste, please consider revisiting the site in mid-January. – Daniel
The common name is feathergrass. Native to southern South America (Patagonia).
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (1)
December 18, 2006
Trachycarpus fortunei
From December 16, 2006 to January 14, 2007, Botany Photo of the Day is going to be featuring photo abstracts posted with little or no scientific commentary. If abstracts aren't to your taste, please consider revisiting the site in mid-January. – Daniel
In infrared. Previously featured on BPotD here: Trachycarpus fortunei.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (6)
December 17, 2006
Cameron River
From December 16, 2006 to January 14, 2007, Botany Photo of the Day is going to be featuring photo abstracts posted with little or no scientific commentary. If abstracts aren't to your taste, please consider revisiting the site in mid-January. – Daniel
Riverside deciduous shrubs are reflected in the dappled waters.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (2)
December 16, 2006
Eucalyptus coccifera
From December 16, 2006 to January 14, 2007, Botany Photo of the Day is going to be featuring photo abstracts posted with little or no scientific commentary. If abstracts aren't to your taste, please consider revisiting the site in mid-January. – Daniel
Previously featured on BPotD here: Eucalyptus coccifera (and with the break in BPotD, maybe I can finish what I promised in that entry).
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (5)
December 15, 2006
Ipomopsis aggregata
Scarlet gilia is a native of western North America with a distribution range stretching from British Columbia south to Mexico. According to the Plants for a Future database, the crushed leaves smell like skunk. I wouldn't know, as I was intent on both photographing the plant and being vigilant of my surroundings. Looking back to when I took this image, it was likely the most endangered I felt in 2006 while taking photographs.
Realistically, I was most in danger of being injured when I was walking on unstable rocks and boulders in the rock slide area where I took this photo of Acer circinatum. However, this image of Ipomopsis aggregata was taken while standing in a small ditch between a highway and rocky slope (there was a barrier between the ditch and highway) with semis roaring behind me – a bit unnerving, and certainly distracting. When I returned to the car after the session, I was informed I was bleeding from my legs. Between concentrating on the photographs and keeping an eye out for the relative impossibility of a semi jumping the barrier, I hadn't noticed that the rocks on the slope I was kneeling against had punctured skin.
As noted in the Jepson Manual, the genus Ipomopsis can be found throughout most of southern North America, but at least one species resides in southern South America. I've yet to find a reference explaining the broad, disjunct distribution of the genus.
If you're searching for more images of this species, there's the always-reliable Burke Museum of Natural History: Ipomopsis aggregata.
On the topic of the next few weeks, I'd like to first note that I will be around, so please don't hesitate to comment on or discuss any BPotD entries. In anticipation of not writing much in the next month of BPotD, I'll add this now: thank you to all of you for your support of BPotD and the kind words you send along behind the scenes. It is very much appreciated.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (7)
December 14, 2006
Berberis wilsoniae
The last reader-contributed photograph (original image) of 2006 is supplied by Eric in SF@Flickr. After tomorrow's entry, I'm taking a “writing vacation” from BPotD until January 15, 2007. For the next four weeks, I'll be posting some of my abstract botanical / landscape photographs from 2006 with little or no scientific commentary. If abstracts aren't to your liking, I hope you'll revisit the site in the middle of January when BPotD returns to its more traditional format.
In addition to relaying my thanks to Eric for today's photograph (thank you, Eric!), I'd also like to thank everyone who has submitted photographs for BPotD since its inception. For those who have submitted, you may have noted I can't use every photograph (whether it be for size, or repetition, or lack of imagination on my part to write something about the subject), but I do want to state that I appreciate your generosity and thoughtfulness. Thank you to all of you.
Wilson's barberry is named after the wife of the famous plant explorer, E.H. Wilson (thanks Greg and Peter – see comments below re: my mistake). If you're researching the plant online, it is important that you also search for a misspelling of the scientific name, Berberis wilsonii, a common error which had creeped into the Wikipedia article on Berberis (though I've now corrected it).
Eric also has a photograph of the flowers on Flickr. You may note the strong resemblance to the flowers of Mahonia – Douglas's comment on the Mahonia entry explains some of the differences between the two genera.
If you're interested in reading more about the area of China where Berberis wilsoniae can be found (and some of E.H. Wilson's adventures), Discover magazine published “The Mother of Gardens” in August 2005.
Lastly, I submitted the recent photograph of the varied thrush and Chinese mountain ash to the I and the Bird Blog Carnival, “a carnival celebrating the interaction of human and avian, an ongoing exploration of the endless fascination with birdlife all around the world”. It's made an appearance in the text of I and the Bird 38 on the Ben Cruachan Blog. If you're interested in birds at all, I and the Bird is certainly worth following.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 5:30 AM | Comments (8)
December 13, 2006
Crataegus douglasii
Many thanks to Lotus J. aka ngawangchodron@Flickr for sharing today's photograph with us (via BPotD Flickr Group Pool | original image) – appreciated, as always.
How many species of Crataegus (or hawthorns) exist? The answer is, “It depends on what you mean by species.” Depending on the taxonomic interpretation, there may be a couple hundred species or there may be over a thousand. Charles Sargent, first director of the Arnold Arboretum, described 732 new species. Dr. Tim Dickinson of the University of Toronto cites W.H. Camp as pronouncing the determination of number of species as “The Crataegus Problem”.
Dr. Dickinson provides excellent resources about hawthorns on his lab and teaching site. A broad description of hawthorns is available on this page: Crataegus. A paper specifically about the black-fruited hawthorns (of which Crataegus douglasii is one) can be found here: North American Black-Fruited Hawthorns.
Landscape architecture / art / design resource link: Pruned, recently listed as one of the Best Blogs of 2006 That You (Maybe) Aren't Reading. Hours and hours of readings and wanderings available here.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (8)
December 12, 2006
Joshua Tree National Park
One of four US National Parks (+ 1 US Nat'l Monument) named after plants, the roughly 800 000 acres (324 000 ha) of Joshua Tree National Park is solely located in southern California. Despite its size, that's less than 1 acre for each annual visitor – 1.25 million. Many of the visitors are photographers, and the body of photographs for this place reminds me of a question asked by Guy Tal in his essay: “Does the World Need Another Aspen Image?” (applied to the Joshua trees, of course).
Excellent descriptions of Yucca brevifolia can be found in the Flora of North America and Wikipedia.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 6:16 AM | Comments (5)
December 11, 2006
Abies koreana
As its scientific name implies, this fir is native to Korea (and indeed, is commonly called Korean fir). It can also be found in Russia's Sikhote-Alin mountain range, described by the World Heritage Committee as “(one of) the richest and most unusual temperate forests of the world. In this mixed zone between taiga and subtropics, southern species such as the tiger and Himalayan bear cohabit with northern species such as the brown bear and lynx.” – sounds like an intriguing place.
Species in the genus Abies, or true firs, are restricted to temperate regions of the northern hemisphere or, occasionally, high elevation mountainous areas in subtropical regions. Abies koreana is one of fifty-one species recognized in the genus according to Aljos Farjon's taxonomic treatment in “Pinaceae: drawings and descriptions of the genera Abies, Cedrus, Pseudolarix, Keteleeria, Nothotsuga, Tsuga, Cathaya, Pseudotsuga, Larix and Picea”. To learn more about the genus, visit the Gymnosperm Database reference page on Abies (you can also see a page specifically on Abies koreana).
Wikipedia also has an informative article on Korean fir.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 1:05 AM | Comments (4)
December 10, 2006
Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens
I spent most of the past eight hours preparing BPotD entries for my upcoming vacation from BPotD, so I've selected an image of a previously featured plant today. To learn more about the greater yellow lady's slipper, visit the BPotD entry from October 2005: Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 1:18 AM | Comments (3)
December 9, 2006
Puya santosii
You receive a special treat today from Andreas of Bogotá (aka Quimbaya@Flickr | original image 1 | original image 2 |BPotD Flickr Group Pool). I know I'm not likely to ever see this in the wild, so I'm thankful for your sharing, Andreas! (As an aside, Andreas, Steve Swinscoe is trying to contact you re: Ceroxylon quindiuense).
There is very little online information about this rare species. For example, other than a few small photographs in the Flora Illustrada del Páramo de Chingaza (here), what you see today is the extent of what's available online for images.
I did find one species-specific tidbit of information from – believe it or not – the California Department of Fish and Game; it appears California DFG hosted an international conference on bears. This PDF on bear habitat assessment posters displayed at the conference makes mention (page 11) of research about the spectacled bear and its role as a dispersal agent for seeds in its habitat, including the seeds of Puya santosii. I imagine Puya santosii is not the only bromeliad to benefit – plants in the family Bromeliaceae are an important component in the diet of this second-most endangered bear species in the world.
Photography resource link: for inspiration, Daily Walks, the photography of Californian Diane Varner. After spending some time viewing the photographs, you might be curious to read about Diane and her postprocessing technique.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 6:29 AM | Comments (5)
December 8, 2006
Echinocereus rigidissimus (likely var. rubrispinus)
A thank you to billy liar@Flickr (starter of the Flickr “Fat Plants” group) for sharing today's photograph (BPotD Flickr Group Pool | original image). Much appreciated!
The simplest name to apply to this plant is the common one: rainbow hedgehog cactus. I made an attempt to figure out the most recent accepted scientific name and had to abandon it. “billy liar” stated this plant's name was Echinocereus rigidissimus var. rubrispinus (the varietal epithet meaning red-spined), but when checking the nomenclature, I ran into a few problems. The USDA Plants Database entry on Echinocereus rigidissimus doesn't subdivide the species into subspecies or varieties. However, the distribution of this taxon extends from southwest USA into Mexico, so it is quite possible that the variety rubrispinus only occurs in Mexico, and so wouldn't be covered in the USDA database.
This does seem to be the case after browsing through Echinocereus Online where it lists the taxon Echinocereus pectinatus var. rubispinus as occurring in Chihuahua, Mexico. This reference suggests that Echinocereus rigidissimus var. rubrispinus is an outdated name. However, looking back at the USDA database, it seems those taxonomists would make the opposite conclusion, based on their listing of Echinocereus pectinatus var. rigidissimus as a synonym for Echinocereus rigidissimus. Conclusion? Confused.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 6:36 AM | Comments (4)
December 7, 2006
Alnus incana subsp. tenuifolia
Stumps with the jarring linear patterns of chainsaw cuts are one of the sad results of last week's storm at UBC Botanical Garden. Now that most of the snow is melted, it is easier to assess some of the damage to the plant collections (another round of losses will take a couple months to determine – damage from temperature). My unprofessional observations, confirmed in a casual conservation with one of the horticulturists, suggest the following numbers:
- 1) the low dozens of woody plants need to be removed outright
- 2) woody plants with minor to severe damage number in the hundreds
- 3) if the garden had a formal design, where plants had to be replaced by others of the same species and a similar size or shape to retain structure, the assessed damage would be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars
Since the garden components with the most damage tend to be more informal or naturalistic in design, the lost plants yield an opportunity to grow something different in those areas. Still, the cost to the garden in the lost investment of time into the plants (growing, pruning, interpretation, labelling and so on), the replacement cost of new plants and the time to clean up the damage (time taken away from other projects) will easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars.
I generally try to avoid pop culture references on BPotD, but I have to admit to thinking of Treebeard's rumblings when I walk around the garden: “Many of these trees were my friends” (from the Lord of the Rings movies).
Thinleaf alder (the subspecies tenuifolia) is native only to northwestern North America, while the broader range of the entire species spans much of North America and Europe. The Flora of North America reports on this taxon: Alnus incana subsp. tenuifolia. The Burke Museum unfailingly contains an excellent set of images: Alnus incana subsp. tenuifolia.
Botany resource link: Weeds of Mexico (Malezas de México), a project by Dr. Heike Vibrans Lindemann of the Colegio de Postgraduados en Ciencias Agrícolas. The site contains factsheets and photographs on over three hundred species in a clean, easily-navigable format. If you've time to spare and can translate between Spanish and English, you can help the project by offering to translate the Spanish factsheets into English.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 6:39 AM | Comments (7)
December 6, 2006
BC Native Garden
Another quiet scene from the BC Native Garden, taken a couple weeks ago before the still-lingering snow.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 7:00 AM | Comments (0)
December 5, 2006
Physarum cinereum
On rare occasion, I ask to use a photograph from the UBC Botanical Garden Forums for BPotD, particularly when it's shows an intriguing subject. Such is the case today with this image of a slime mold from some anonymous folks in England via their garden installer, “Souren”: Weird Growth on Lawn Grass – What Is It?
If you missed the explanation on slime molds from a previous BPotD entry, see Fuligo septica for details and a comprehensive set of links. Physarum cinereum belongs to the same family as Fuligo septica. According to The Hidden Forest, this means both species contain deposits of lime (calcium carbonate), apparently a defining characteristic of the family.
Christine Baker of Iowa State University Extension writes about slime molds and backyard plants in Slime in the Yard and Garden (scroll down for the photograph that makes me believe my identification of this slime mold is correct). I was glad to have found a similar photograph of the organism covering grass blades, as close-up photographs such as the ones found on The Hidden Forest: Physarum and Discover Life: Physarum cinereum appear deceptively dissimilar to the submitted photograph because of scale.
Photography resource link: The Essential Landscape – The Visual Handicap, an article by Guy Tal for Nature Photographers Online, on acknowledging the limitations and utility of photography.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (1)
December 4, 2006
Hesperantha coccinea
A shot of colour today from two months ago.
Names galore for this species. The long-standing scientific name Schizostylis coccinea has been dropped by many in favour of Hesperantha coccinea. Eric La Fountaine cites the relevant papers here, while a quick summary of the rationale behind the name change is available from the Pacific Bulb Society's mailing list archives.
The common name is also the subject of some disagreement. The South African National Biodiversity Institute uses river lily. Similarly, the Pacific Bulb Society prefers scarlet river lily. On the other hand, Wikipedia notes Kaffir lily as a common name; personally, I'd avoid this, now that I've learned how kaffir is an ethnic slur.
Art resource link: While at an art supply store on the weekend, I noticed a poster advertising an upcoming art show and sale by local painter Rachel Daws. Visit the paintings and recent work to jump straight in.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 6:31 AM | Comments (2)
December 3, 2006
Musa (unknown hybrid)
Today's photograph is courtesy of Mary Farmer, aka miconia@Flickr (BPotD Flickr Group Pool | original image). Mary has diligently and expertly documented the development of flowers on the banana plant in her Panama backyard, using both photographs and words. I find the whole set of photographs fascinating, so I highly recommend spending the time to browse through them.
Mary expands her commentary on this banana plant and other Panamian plants she encounters in her weblog, A Neotropical Savanna. Again, well worth visiting, as she invites you along on her journey to learn about tropical plants.
Bananas and banana plants have previously been featured on BPotD here and here, so I won't repeat the excellent links contained in those entries today.
Photography resource link: Eric Fredine has updated his web site with photographs from his newest exhibition, Horizons. I briefly entertained the thought of flying to Edmonton to see the exhibit (he is one of my favourite photographers), but I thought it more environmentally-sensible to wait until circumstances necessitated a trip. The web exhibit will do for now!
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:13 AM | Comments (1)
December 2, 2006
Nicotiana glauca
Many thanks to Dale Hameister (Dale Hameister@Flickr) for contributing today's image (original photograph | BPotD Flickr Group Pool). Much appreciated!
The highly poisonous tree tobacco is native to Bolivia and Argentina, but it has naturalized elsewhere, including Hawaii, southern USA and the Mediterranean. Cal Lemke's Plant of the Week highlighted Nicotiana glauca 6.5 (!) years ago, so do visit PotW for more info.
On another topic, I mentioned the Festival of the Trees blog carnival a few weeks ago. I submitted this BPotD entry on Thuja plicata for yesterday's festival, and it made it in. Go check it out: Festival of the Trees 6 at Arboreality. Be warned: there are a lot of fine links in this edition, and you'll find your weekend slipping away.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (6)
December 1, 2006
Sorbus hupehensis
It was something special to stand near this Chinese mountain ash on Wednesday morning. While most of the garden was still and (dare I say it) frozen, this tree was alive with activity. Thirty American robins (Turdus migratorius) or so and three varied thrushes (Ixoreus naevius) assembled on it, eating the fruit. Although a few birds would sit on the branches of the tree and down a half-dozen or more fruit before flying off briefly, the more timid of the birds would swoop in, pluck a fruit, and return to perch on neighbouring more-sheltered conifers. The effect was a small scene full of motion, which I was not expert enough to express in photographs. Sound was also present – a stream flows nearby, and its gurgle was interrupted with the hushed punctuation of flapping wings and, not very often, the occasional vocals of the robins and varied thrushes.
The snow beneath the tree was also marked by the activity, with fallen fruit and chunks of icy snow creating a pock-marked scene unlike anywhere else I observed in the garden that day. There was also an odd smell (again, the only one I noted while taking photographs); it took me back about 17 or 18 years, to when I used to shovel grain on the farm. The grain bins would sometimes leak, and there would be a small clump in the pile of grain where the water caused a mix of germinated seeds and mould to mass together. These had to be shovelled out and tossed aside, but the smell from disturbing them was the same smell I noticed under the Sorbus hupehensis. Strange.
Photography / art resource link: I linked to the photography of Edward Burtynsky earlier this year in this entry – if you felt a connection to his photographs, you might consider seeing the documentary Manufactured Landscapes. The film follows Burtynsky as he travels in China, and has just been nominated in the documentary category in the Sundance Film Festival.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 6:54 AM | Comments (17)
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Botany Photo of the Day and all associated images are licensed under a Creative Commons License.
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.