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February 28, 2007
Gentiana clusii
Today marks the end of an era at UBC Botanical Garden. David Tarrant, host of the former television series The Canadian Gardener and employee of UBC BG for thirty-seven years, retires today. In addition to being on television for over twenty-five years, David's written a number of books and regular columns in newspapers and magazines. Over the course of his career at UBC, he worked as a horticulturist, the education coordinator and the public relations & programs coordinator. He was an integral part of the strong relationship between the garden staff and the FOGs. I know I'm only echoing the thoughts and well-wishes of many others, David, but I'll miss you too.
When I asked David what he would like for today's BPotD, he predictably remarked, “Something blue.” I don't have many blue flower photographs that I haven't already used, but I did manage to dig up this one from a May 2004 trip to the Devonian Botanic Garden in Edmonton, Alberta. Fitting, in a way, that today's photograph is not from UBC. During his time as host of The Canadian Gardener, David touched many lives across the nation – I've seen the boxes and boxes of letters!
Gentiana clusii, or Clusius' gentian, is a plant of calcareous soils in the alpine areas of southern Europe. It is named in honour of Carolus Clusius, a 16th century botanist and doctor. A closely related species to Gentiana clusii, Gentiana acaulis, differs by preferring silicaceous soils and having slight differences in the appearance of the flowers. In areas of mixed geology where the two species occur near each other, hybridization occurs. This is illustrated in Guilhem Mansion's Comical Gentians, a page on the comprehensive Gentian Research Network.
A photograph of the plant showing it with some gravel to scale can be seen here.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 7:00 AM | Comments (4)
February 27, 2007
Purshia mexicana
A thank you to Jon of SMA@Flickr for today's photograph (original image | Flickr BPotD Group Pool). The SMA in Jon's Flickr ID stands for San Miguel de Allende, a historic town in Guanajuato, Mexico – a place which has been very much on my mind lately. I've bookmarked Jon's weblog, San Miguel Photos.
In his notes accompanying the photograph, Jon wrote that the common name for this plant in Mexico is romero cedro. After much searching, I did track down a reference for the name, the Flora Del Bajío Y De Regiones Adyacentes - Rosaceae, or the Flora of Bajío and Adjacent Regions - Rosaceae (Bajío is a region of plains in northern central Mexico). The common name of romero cedro actually applies to two species: Purshia plicata and Purshia mexicana (and presumably the hybrid between the two). Despite my limited ability to translate Spanish, it is quite evident this is Purshia mexicana, as it has white to yellowish flowers (instead of pink) and deeply-lobed leaves. There is a beautiful pencilled rendition of the flowers on a branch on page 115 of the flora, if you are patient enough for the file to load.
The English common name for this plant is Mexican cliffrose (or antelope bush). Following current taxonomy, it is native from Arizona to northern central Mexico, occupying the southern portion of this genus' distribution. A closely related species, Purshia stansburiana is sometimes classified as a subspecies of Purshia mexicana. If that treatment is followed, the range of Purshia mexicana extends as far north as Idaho. A different species, Purshia tridentata, reaches the northern limits for Purshia in the southern interior of British Columbia – expect a photograph of this species in late May after I attend Botany BC 2007 in Osoyoos. I find Purshia to be very photographically appealing due to its architecture.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (6)
February 26, 2007
Pulmonaria rubra 'Redstart'
Red lungwort is native to southeastern Europe. A popular garden plant for many centuries, it can now be found as an introduced exotic in places such as Finland and Poland. Unlike the other dozen or so species of Pulmonaria, red lungwort does not have blue flowers (hence the Latin and common name).
'Redstart' red lungwort was evaluated by the Chicago Botanic Garden in its Appraisal of Pulmonaria for the Garden (PDF) and ranked as “fair” or three stars out of four. If you're considering this early bloomer (or any other Pulmonaria) for your garden, it would be worthwhile to read the evaluation – it grades over fifty species and cultivars. The BBC Gardening site also has a small amount of information specific to 'Redstart'.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:43 AM | Comments (2)
February 25, 2007
Lasthenia fremontii and Downingia insignis
A grateful thank you to Dr. Raphael Mazor, aka raphaelmazor@Flickr for sharing today's images (upon the suggestion of marymactavish@Flickr, another BPotD contributor). If you browse through Raphael's photographs, you'll learn that he was involved with teaching high school students about field biology while a graduate student – an activity profiled in “Close Encounters - Passing Earth Science to the Next Generation”. Original photographs from today are here and here. Thank you, Raphael!
I've attempted to identify both of these to species level, so if there is a misidentification, it's my fault. Both Lasthenia fremontii (Fremont's goldfields) and Downingia insignis (harlequin calicoflower or cupped downingia) are species associated with vernal pools. Vernal pools are temporary wetlands – essentially, shallow springtime ponds that disappear in the summer and autumn.
Vernalpools.org is a stellar resource for learning more about vernal pools and associated organisms in California. The site leads with an 1868 quote from John Muir: “Sauntering in any direction, my feet would brush about a hundred flowers with every step... as if I were wading in liquid gold”. Somewhere between 85% to 90% of California's vernal pools have been lost – statistics like that make the UC Merced campus plan absolutely baffling to me.
More photographs of plants associated with Californian vernal pools can be seen in Plants of Mather Field or the California Native Plant Society's photographs of vernal pools.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 1:00 AM | Comments (2)
February 24, 2007
Phellorinia herculanea (tentative)
Many thanks to Georgie Sharp@Flickr for once again sharing a photograph with us (original image via Flickr BPotD Group Pool). This is part of Georgie's photo set from the Outback.
If you read the comments on the original Flickr image, you'll note that this fungus was tentatively identified as Phellorinia herculanea by Pam Catchside of the Plant Biodiversity Centre in Hackney, South Australia. Browsing the very few photographs of this genus online, it seems these fruiting bodies are not yet fully mature, hence the difficulty in confirming their identity. At maturity, they should be more club-shaped. The tops of these fungi will eventually produce a powdery mass of spores.
The Aboriginal Use of Fungi page from the Australian National Botanic Gardens notes that Phellorinia herculanea was used for body decoration.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 6:38 AM | Comments (6)
February 23, 2007
Petrified Forest National Park
Apologies for the late entry today. I've been waiting for the university's email servers to return to operation before hitting the publish button, since there are nearly eight hundred subscribers of BPotD by email and I wasn't sure what affect the disruption in service might have.
To make up for it, though, I've a few goodies to share with you before getting to today's entry. First of all, visitors to BPotD are now tracked geographically via a Clustrmap. If you've ever wondered about where BPotD is being viewed and read, here's your opportunity to find out. To get continental subsets of the results, click on the continents in the map. I've also added icons linking to the Clustrmap from BPotD's main page and near the bottom of every entry page.
Secondly, I'm now not the only member of the garden staff blogging. Visit the UBC Botanical Garden Blog for a glimpse at what's happening in the garden, courtesy (for now) of Andy Hill. More staff members will be sharing their experiences very soon!
There are no immediately apparent plants in this photograph of Petrified Forest National Park. If you adjust the lens on your mind's eye to look over two hundred million years ago , however, the plain dotted by rocks of petrified wood transforms into an ancient river bed with submerged logs of Araucarioxylon arizonicum (a monkey-puzzle tree / Wollemi pine relative) covered by a thick blanket of sediment. The sediment had a high concentration of silica-rich volcanic ash, which permineralized the fallen logs. The presence of iron and manganese oxides helped to colour the substituting silica, causing the intriguingly-hued quartz one sees today.
To learn more about the park (and its problems with theft), visit the Wikipedia page about it: Petrified Forest National Park. If you've more time to read and learn, either browse through the US National Park Service's site for the park (linked above or specifically visit the page on petrified wood) or read “The Object At Hand”, an article from The Smithsonian Magazine.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 6:21 AM | Comments (5)
February 22, 2007
Unidentified Moss
Conduction of water in bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts) is broadly classified in three ways: ectohydric, mixohydric and endohydric.
Ectohydric bryophytes lack any form of specialized cells for internal conduction. Instead, water is conducted externally, typically through capillary action. Reliance upon external conduction, I'm certain, is correlated with height of these organisms – they tend to be the shortest of the bryophytes.
Today's photograph of an unidentified bryid moss is an example of a mixohydric bryophyte. While some water is conducted externally, these organisms have a measure of internal cell specialization, such as hydroids or stereids, that give them the ability to move water and nutrients within its tissues. It is not bona fide conducting tissue, i.e., it does not form an interconnected system throughout the entire body of the plant (including leaves or entire length of the stem), but it does represent a rudimentary way to transport water internally and decrease reliance on external moisture for growth and reproduction.
The third grouping, endohydric bryophytes, is represented by this BPotD on Polytrichum juniperinum. In these plants, an internal conducting system exists that is analogous to the conducting system of vascular plants. By no coincidence (as is mentioned in the Polytrichum link), this grouping contains the tallest of bryophytes reaching over a half metre in height.
In all three broad groupings, it is important to note that water uptake tends to be from atmospheric moisture (suggested in today's photo) absorbed via the leaf or stem cells as opposed to uptake in moisture from the substrate (compare with vascular plants, which often uptake moisture via roots in soil). For both ectohydric and mixohydric bryophytes in particular, this means that water is absorbed near the top of organism and passed downward to subtending tissues, the inverse of the way one typically thinks about water uptake in plants.
Photography resource link: For inspiration, the photomicrography of Hans Van Rafelghem.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 6:02 AM | Comments (17)
February 21, 2007
Sarcococca hookeriana var. humilis
A thank you to “Weekend Gardener” on the UBC BG Forums for sharing today's photograph via the BPotD Submissions Forum. More photographs in the series (and an accompanying discussion) can be seen here: Sarcococca. Thank you, WG!
As noted in the thread discussion, one of the most striking features of dwarf sweet box or Himalayan sweet box is its fragrance, described by Weekend Gardener as being “heavenly – but then, that might be a matter of opinion. The point is – you can't help but notice the smell”. Hard to miss, indeed; the fragrance carries some distance from the flowers. Personally, I find it very pleasant to encounter, but not the kind of scent where I would linger in the area to drink more in.
Since it is a late winter, highly fragrant groundcover, it is no surprise that a number of excellent articles have been written about this Great Plant Pick. chuckrkc on the UBC BG Forums suggested this factsheet on Sarcococca hookeriana from the St. Andrews Botanic Garden's Plant of the Month series (which appears to be on hiatus). A factsheet from North Carolina State University recommends Sarcococca hookeriana var. humilis as a groundcover (with relevant photographs). Paghat has also written about her experiences with the plant.
Nature / photography resource link: Prompted by the photo of the lichen on BPotD a few days ago, Scot Mcphee sent me an email noting his similar admiration for natural patterns. He shares his photographs of such here: Natural Forms, with images from Australia and England.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 5:49 AM | Comments (2)
February 20, 2007
Narcissus pseudonarcissus subsp. munozii-garmendiae
At the risk of being repetitive, here's another yellow-flowered springtime bulb currently in bloom in the garden. This particular subspecies of the wild daffodil doesn't have a common name, though I suppose Muñoz Garmendia's daffodil would be acceptable. It is named after Muñoz Garmendia, who seems to have been / is a Spanish botanist or horticulturist, and a participating author in the 1980 “Plantas silvestres de la península Ibérica” and the “Flora Iberica”.
The American Daffodil Society is an excellent resource for learning more about Narcissus; the site includes a tidy list of frequently asked questions.
Interested in bulbs and similar plants? The Scottish Rock Garden Club has a Bulb Log that is now in its fifth year – plenty to keep bulb-plant enthusiasts entertained!
Botany / horticulture resource link: Both Barrie (aka LPN on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums) and Barb (kia796 of same) sent the following link to me. Adventures in Mexico Part III is part of a travelogue series by Paul Spracklin featuring – you guessed it – the plants, landscapes and botanical gardens of Mexico. I very much enjoyed reading the journal and viewing Paul's photos, but if you only have time to visit one page, I recommend the Edward James Garden in Las Pozas. Who was Edward James? In Paul's words, an “eccentric (mad?) English surrealist artist”. Chalk up another place I'd like to visit...
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:28 AM | Comments (4)
February 19, 2007
Eranthis hyemalis
I mentioned spring was on its way a few days ago, and here's some evidence in a photograph from yesterday. True, the common name for this plant is winter aconite and some sites deem it a late winter bloomer. However, the inevitable parade of early-blooming flowers marches on, steadfastly ignoring the sidewalk bystanders attempting to pin down the name of the season.
Today's photograph is dedicated to Kevin Kubeck (another one of UBC Botanical Garden's horticulturists), who participated in a name-game with me last Friday as we tried to remember the genus name of this plant (the label was absent). We fired back a whole series of “E” names before giving up, until Kevin later sent me an email with only two words: Eranthis hyemalis.
Native to southern Europe, Eranthis hyemalis has become naturalized in eastern North America and northern Europe, presumbably after being introduced as an early-season garden plant. Like some other members of the buttercup family (e.g., Aconitum), it is poisonous.
For a botanical illustration of the species, visit the Flora von Deutschland Österreich und der Schweiz.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (7)
February 18, 2007
UBC Food Garden
Tony Maniezzo is the horticulturist at UBC BG who tends the Food Garden. He's responsible for tending these espaliered apple trees, a display that is one of the highlights for many visitors to the garden. As noted in that link, espalier is a style of training fruit trees into compact shapes – a very valuable technique in small urban gardens. Tony has an upcoming course on how to espalier fruit trees on June 15, but he is also teaching a different course this week, “Vegetable Gardens for Beginners”.
I should note that I've attempted to photograph these espaliered fruit trees many, many times and this is the first time I've been satisfied with the attempt, mostly because of the heavy fog masking the background.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (6)
February 17, 2007
Ericameria nauseosa
Ericameria nauseosa, or common rabbitbrush, was previously featured on BPotD here and here. The warm, golden tone in this photograph is due to evening sun and smoke from forest fires.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:04 AM | Comments (5)
February 16, 2007
Lichen Diversity
This is a companion image and written entry to a previous BPotD on lichen diversity, though it was photographed three months earlier and 900 km (~550mi) away from the other image. I was pleased to discover lichen-covered rocks in Grasslands National Park, as it was an unexpected photographic dimension in exploring the area; I'd anticipated the skyscapes, the endangered species and the wildflowers, but not the lichen patterns.
In comparison to the crustose lichen-covered rock in the other entry on lichen diversity, I would expect the process of succession to occur over a much larger time scale. Dessication, temperature extremes, wind abrasion and fewer moss and vascular plant colonizers create conditions where the reign of the lichens is unlikely to be toppled for centuries, if not millenia.
On a different topic, I had the opportunity to walk around the garden for a small time yesterday, and noted that spring is tentatively making an appearance. I imagine 2007 photographs will soon start to become common on BPotD.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 6:04 AM | Comments (1)
February 15, 2007
Sarcodes sanguinea
A thank you today to Mario Vaden of Oregon for sharing this photograph. Mario is a frequent contributor to the UBC Botanical Garden Forums (here's where he posted this photograph), but he's also a frequent traveller in southern Oregon and northern California; browse through his photographs to see images from one of my favourite parts of the world.
Mario took this image of an emerging Sarcodes sanguinea in the Red Buttes Wilderness. Breaking down the scientific name for the plant, Sarcodes means flesh-like, while sanguinea refers to the colour red (typically blood-red or bright red). While you might expect its common name to refer to its colour in some way, snowplant is used instead. Snowplant is so named because of this plant's emergence from the soil at the end of the snow melt season in the conifer-covered hills and mountains of Oregon, California and Baja California (Mario took this photo in mid-May).
Dr. James Reveal has written a comprehensive article about Sarcodes sanguinea, with particular attention to the efforts of 19th century botanists to learn more about the plant. Dr. Reveal also quotes John Muir's writing from “The Yosemite” (1912), which I'll reproduce here:
The snow plant (Sarcodes sanguinea) is more admired by tourists than any other in California. It is red, fleshy and watery and looks like a gigantic asparagus shoot. Soon after the snow is off the ground it rises through the dead needles and humus in the pine and fir woods like a bright glowing pillar of fire. In a week or so it grows to a height of eight or twelve inches with a diameter of an inch and a half or two inches; then its long fringed bracts curl aside, allowing the twenty- or thirty-five-lobed, bell-shaped flowers to open and look straight out from the axis. It is said to grow up through the snow; on the contrary, it always waits until the ground is warm, though with other early flowers it is occasionally buried or half-buried for a day or two by spring storms. The entire plant - flowers, bracts, stem, scales, and roots - is fiery red. Its color could appeal to one's blood. Nevertheless, it is a singularly cold and unsympathetic plant. Everybody admires it as a wonderful curiosity, but nobody loves it as lilies, violets, roses, daisies are loved. Without fragrance, it stands beneath the pines and firs lonely and silent, as if unacquainted with any other plant in the world; never moving in the wildest storms; rigid as if lifeless, though covered with beautiful rosy flowers.
In addition to the photographs on Dr. Reveal's site, Calphotos provides another 72(!) images of Sarcodes sanguinea.
Like the previously featured Monotropa uniflora and Allotropa virgata, Sarcodes sanguinea is also a mycoheterotroph (see the Monotropa link for an explanation to jog your memory, if necessary). It was observed that it only grows with a specific fungal symbiont in the Rhizopogon ellenae species complex in two sampled regions – it is possible that a similar pattern of specificity exists throughout its entire distribution.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 5:46 AM | Comments (8)
February 14, 2007
Citrus sinensis 'Cara Cara'
I've developed a reputation at work for being a blood orange fanatic (“the taste of this one has a hint of rose petal” or “mmm... blackberry”), so I'm sure it will surprise everyone at UBC BG that I opted to photograph a Cara Cara navel orange for today's BPotD. There is a reason, though; the blood oranges available in local markets are the cultivar 'Moro'. Moro blood oranges can vary in colour inside from orange to purplish-red, while Cara Cara navel oranges, I've found, are quite consistent in the pinkish-orange colour of their flesh. I chose consistency over the risk of slicing open a number of blood oranges to find the right one. Cara Cara navel oranges are my second favourite orange, so that's why I had both in the kitchen.
Citrus sinensis 'Cara Cara' was discovered in 1976 as a mutation of a Washington navel orange in Valencia, Venezuela. The Citrus Variety Collection at the University of California, Riverside, shares both photographs and an explanation of the pinkish colour on its web page for sweet oranges; note that this page is an excellent resource for comparing orange varieties! UC Riverside also provides the book “The Citrus Industry” online, so if you're interested in either the botany of Citrus or the horticultural varieties of Citrus, you should find what you're looking for in those pages.
A few recipes, if you're so inclined (though I doubt any will beat the blood orange sorbet I had last week): Cara Cara orange & vanilla sorbet (discovered via Lamb Martini weblog) and frozen soufléed oranges from Greg Atkinson for The Seattle Times.
Lastly, for those wondering about the Valentine's Day significance of oranges: somewhere along the way, I've read that ingesting food is one of the most intimate acts. Minutes after these photographs were taken, I ate the sliced orange in a torrid act of love.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:20 AM | Comments (24)
February 13, 2007
Arundo donax
Thank you to Bacopa2@Flickr of northern California for sharing today's photographs with us. The originals were posted here and here on Flickr, accompanied with some interesting commentary from Bacopa2. Some fine photographs!
The Plant Conservation Alliance's Alien Plants Working Group has a site featuring the Least Wanted: Alien Plant Invaders of Natural Areas. The 6m to 9m (20ft to 30ft) tall giant reed is listed as one of the many present day undesirable plants. I note “present day” for two reasons: 1) many of these plants were originally (and naïvely) planted for economic reasons, so at one time were desirable; and 2) the changing climate will doubtless induce more scourges in the future.
The University of California, Davis provides one of the most comprehensive factsheets on Arundo donax available online, including this tidbit: “Giant reed is naturalized and invasive in many regions, including southern Africa, subtropical United States through Mexico, the Caribbean islands and South America, Pacific Islands, Australia, and Southeast Asia (Hafliger and Scholz 1981).” Native to the Indian subcontinent, its spread is due in large part to human introduction into the landscape. Why? The Plants for a Future database cites many economic uses for the species, including control of soil erosion, use in textiles and building materials, commercial paper production and even the production of rayon.
Like the worst of many invasives, giant reed can completely choke out and eradicate native plants (and hence native plant diversity); where once dozens of species might have existed in a particular space, only a monoculture stand of Arundo donax might now remain. The local extirpation of native plants negatively affects nearly every other type of organism in the wetland areas it prefers, from fish and reptiles to birds and insects. The UC Davis link above goes into saddening detail on the variety of problems it causes.
More photographs of this species are available from the USDA PLANTS database and invasive.org.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (11)
February 12, 2007
Cyclamen coum
Persian violet (though it's not a violet) is native to the eastern Mediterranean region, where it grows as a plant of shady forests. It has some stellar qualities which make it well-adored as a cultivated ornamental plant: early-blooming, relatively hardy, a delicate but cheery appearance and low maintenance. No wonder, perhaps, that it is both an RHS Award of Garden Merit recipient and a Great Plant Pick.
The Cyclamen Society has a page dedicated to Cyclamen coum that goes into detail about its subspecies and forms; photographs of a few of these variations can be seen via the Pacific Bulb Society's wikipage on Cyclamen.
A few more sources of photographs, if you're interested: 1) I posted a close-up of the flowers to the forums a couple years ago; and 2) the North American Rock Garden Society featured Cyclamen coum as its Plant of the Month in March 1999.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 1:00 AM | Comments (3)
February 11, 2007
Pinus nigra subsp. salzmannii var. corsicana
Today's photograph is courtesy of Josh, aka joshbailey@Flickr, submitted via the group pool (original image). Josh photographed this in (or near) the Holkham National Nature Reserve in Norfolk, England. I chuckled when I saw the photograph as I'd taken something similar in intent recently without having first seen Josh's image. I'll save sharing mine for another year, perhaps. Thank you, Josh!
Corsican pine is a variety of the (European) black pine, Pinus nigra. While the species has a distribution range including much of southern Europe and parts of Asia Minor and north Africa, variety corsicana is restricted to the island of Corsica and parts of central Italy, according to the Gymnosperm Database entry on Pinus nigra subsp. salzmannii and its varieties. The always-excellent Gymnosperm Database also has a page on Pinus nigra for further reading (as does Wikipedia).
The identification of the pines in today's photograph is courtesy of Michael F, frequent contributor to the UBC Botanical Garden Forums and commenter on BPotD.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (4)
February 10, 2007
Populus tremuloides
I must be a fan of Maureen's poplar photographs, since this is the second time one has been featured on BPotD. Maureen, or MontanaRaven@Flickr, shared this image via the BPotD Flickr Group Pool | original). Don't forget to visit Maureen's weblog, raven's nest. Appreciated as always, Maureen
Please (re)visit the previous entry on Populus tremuloides for reading and links. I also highly recommend (re)visiting the resource link in that entry – Marc Adamus has done some stunning work in the past year.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (6)
February 9, 2007
Leptospermum rotundifolium
The last photograph in this series on Australian plants is again supplied by Eric in SF@Flickr (original pic | BPotD Flickr Group Pool). I emphasized this series because it's likely we'll revisit Australian plants in a shorter series later this month – for reasons to be revealed, I couldn't share a few of the photographs I've recently received (yet). Thanks once more, Eric.
Tea trees are not the source of conventional tea, but were used by early European settlers of Australia in a similar fashion to make a tea substitute. Use by the Aborigines ranged from wood in weapons and tools to medicines. Modern use of the round-leaved tea tree, today's photo, extends into ornamental horticulture where it is described by the Australian National Botanic Gardens as “one of Australia's best Leptospermum sp. and one with great potential for hybridisation” and “a fine screen or feature plant”.
The medicinal uses identified by the Aborigines are, at least in part, reflected by another economic byproduct of Leptospermum: tea-tree honey, which is highly anti-bacterial.
Technical descriptions of this species (and distribution) are available from the New South Wales Flora Online, Leptospermum rotundifolium, while a more general description of round-leaved tea tree is provided by the Australian National Botanic Gardens.
Botany / history resource link: the UBC Library has digitized some of the Charles Darwin Letters and they are now available online for the first time (press release).
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (9)
February 8, 2007
Hakea epiglottis
Hakea epiglottis, a relative of the Hakea laurina previously featured on BPotD, is endemic to Tasmania. These photographs are from early May of last year in UBC's Alpine Garden.
Though some references suggest that this species' common name is white hakea, most (if not all) Australian sites instead use beaked hakea – so my preference is the latter.
The Flora of Australia Online's record for Hakea epiglottis notes that most wild populations of the plant consists of plants with flowers that are either functionally male or functionally female. Exceptions do occur, though, where individuals have flowers that both produce viable pollen and form fruit. In other words, while a few plants are hermaphrodites, most are unisexual. The lead paragraph in the following paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of being either hermaphroditic or unisexual: Fetscher, AE. 2001. “Resolution of male-female conflict in an hermaphroditic flower (PDF).” Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B. 268:525-529. It boils down to either conserving resources (hermaphroditism) or increasing the likelihood of outcrossing.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (2)
February 7, 2007
Marsilea mutica
Seventh in the series on Australian plants comes to us courtesy of Eric in SF@Flickr (original image) via the BPotD Flickr Group Pool). As always, it's appreciated, Eric.
Despite resembling plasticky four-leaf clovers, these are actually aquatic ferns. The strong resemblance, though, is reflected in some of its common names: water clover or floating water clover. It is also known as the banded nardoo.
This is a plant of ponds and riverbanks throughout most of Australia, including Tasmania. The flat, broad leaves are representative of one of the two typical leaf morphologies for aquatic plants. Large, flat leaves aid in both flotation and optimal capture of sunlight, and are often found at the water surface. The second typical aquatic leaf form of submerged, fine, narrow leaves is not observed in Marsilea (for an example of such, see Elodea)
Photographs of the plant in habitat can be seen on the New South Wales Flora Online: Marsilea mutica.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (4)
February 6, 2007
Brachychiton acerifolius
There are two independent contributors for today's photographs. In an intriguing coincidence, both took photographs of this plant at Ganna Walska Lotusland in July of last year! Thank you to Mike Bush, the executive director of Lotusland, for photographs 2 and 3 and “yousatonmycactus”@UBC Botanical Garden Forums (aka Guy Webb) of Ventura, California for the first image. Guy is one of the kind docents at Lotusland and has also shared a more images of the plant in this thread. Thanks to both of you for helping to continue the series on Australian plants – more to come!
If you're visiting Lotusland (follow the instructions on their web site re: booking a tour), Mike notes that this plant “is growing in our Visitor Entry area, next to the Parking Lot. Planted in 1993 the tree is now about 25 feet tall and is covered with flowers in mid-July when it is nearly leafless.”
Illawara flame tree is native to the coastal forests of eastern Australia, ranging from the tropical rainforests of Queensland south to the (more) temperate forests of New South Wales. Like the Dombeya from over a week ago, it is a member of the mallow family (or Malvaceae), though much literature will instead state it belongs to the Sterculiaceae, as Michael F noted in the comments on that entry. The Malvaceae Info web site delves deep into the reclassification of the Malvaceae and (former) allied families, if you'd like to read more.
The Malvaceae Info web site also provides an illustration of why this plant has the epithet acerifolius, or “leaves of Acer (maple)” in its photo gallery of the genus Brachychiton.
For more reading about the Illawara flame tree, please visit the Association of Societies for Growing Australian Plants' page on Brachychiton acerifolius or Wikipedia. Dias com árvores also has an entry on Brachychiton acerifolius – if you don't understand Portuguese, you can still appreciate the photography.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (8)
February 5, 2007
Banksia baueri
Numbers five and (tomorrow's) six in the series of photographs of Australian plants take us to Ganna Walska Lotusland in Montecito, California to visit a couple plants in cultivation.
When last I posted a banksia on BPotD, Banksia baxteri, I used a common name for that species which should have instead been applied to today's species: woolly banksia or woollybear banksia. A third common name is also used, possum banksia.
While the common name is perhaps obvious, the scientific name deserves a bit of explanation. Banksia baueri was named in honour of Ferdinand Bauer (more) by Robert Brown. I haven't been able to track down the source of the quote, but Ferdinand Bauer has been described as “the supreme botanical draughtsman, the Leonardo of natural history painting”. Professor David Mabberley, well-admired by us here at UBC for his botanical work, wrote a book about Bauer, Ferdinand Bauer – The Nature of Discovery (link to Amazon), featuring 62 colour plates of Bauer's famed illustrations.
Banksia baueri is native to Western Australia, where it grows in sandy soils. Two other links of note about this species: 1) “Banjorah” aka Cathy, an Australian terrestrial orchid enthusiast and photographer, has a web site full of interesting photographs, including this series on the development of a Banksia baueri inflorescence; and 2) the technical description of Banksia baueri from the Flora of Australia Online.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:27 AM | Comments (5)
February 4, 2007
Stylidium productum
Continuing the BPotD series on Australian plants, number four is shared with us by Margaret Morgan of Sydney, Australia. Margaret's previously contributed some photographs of Australian plants to BPotD. Don't forget to visit her weblog, Growing Passion, though I imagine updates will remain infrequent over the next month while she completes a Plant Science Internship at the National Herbarium in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney (I'm hoping to read her account of the internship, one day).
Margaret has written about the trigger plant on her weblog, so I'll simply quote her regarding the reason for the common name: “The column extending from the centre of the flower to the right is a fusion of two stamens with the style. When an insect lands on the flower, the column is triggered and flicks across the insect. It can be reset a number of times.” This mechanism both bathes the insect with pollen and potentially transfers pollen (from a different individual) to the stigmatic surface of the insect-slapping flower. Wikipedia has an extensive article on the pollination mechanism of triggerplants. A few more factoids: the touch response by the flower can occur in as little as 15 milliseconds, and the action takes place via turgor pressure.
An unrelated tidbit of information gleaned from the Wikipedia article is that the genus Stylidium is considered protocarnivorous.
Read a bit more about the southeast Australian Stylidium productum via the New South Wales Flora Online.
Photography / biology resource link: After viewing some of the images from yesterday's resource link, I noticed there was a local (to me) microphotographer in the batch. Ron Neumeyer of Delta, BC is that person – visit his gallery of microphotography images!
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (2)
February 3, 2007
Acacia flexifolia
Again, a thank you to Katy S for sharing her photographs with us. This is the third in a series of six (or more!) featuring plants of Australia. Much appreciated!
I first have to mention I find this photograph reminiscent of last week's Isomeris arborea, particularly in terms of colour. Interesting, perhaps, that both the bladderpod spiderflower and this, the bent-leaf wattle, are species of dry, sunny habitats. Other similarities exist: leaf shape, habit (both are shrubs) and glaucous leaves (covered with a waxy coating, in this case causing a whitish colour). All in all, this is a textbook, if unspectacular, instance of convergent evolution: the accumulation of similar traits occurring in independent species as a result of adapting to similar ecological niches.
Where the two species diverge, e.g., in the flower shape and structure, it is generally safe to assume that dissimilar ecological conditions exist. Acacia flexifolia, like many wattles, is insect-pollinated by beetles, wasps and bees. Isomeris arborea, on the other hand, is visited by hummingbirds and bumblebees. Of course, it isn't as simple as that (if it was, there'd be fewer variations in flower shape and structure) – genetic barriers and restraints, along with additional ecological factors, contribute to the difference.
To read more about bent-leaf wattle, visit the Australian National Botanic Gardens page on Acacia flexifolia. World Wide Wattle has a more technical description of the species, as well.
Photography / biology resource link: 16 Mind-Blowing Microphotographs of Living Things, suggested by Stannous F. Thank you!
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (4)
February 2, 2007
Eucalyptus rhodantha
Today's photograph is again courtesy of Katy S – thanks again! Katy photographed this plant last January in the Kings Park Botanic Gardens in Perth, Australia. This is the second in a series of (now) five featuring Australian plants.
Rose mallee is a Declared Rare species of eucalyptus native to the northern part of Western Australia and within the bounds of the Southwest Australia Biodiversity Hotspot. Fewer than four hundred plants are known to exist in the wild (source: Australian Dept. of the Environment and Water Resources).
The Australian Dept. of E&W also notes the major threats for this species: “Threats to the Rose Mallee include land clearing and the drift from herbicides and pesticides sprays. The Rose Mallee is also threatened by the Root-rot Fungus (Phytophthora cinnimonii), a fungal disease that causes its roots to rot. Other threats include weed infestation, commercial seed collection, and predation by feral rabbits.” The conclusion? Any sort of plan to manage the remaining wild plants is necessarily complex, due to the number and scope of threats. It also suggests that because of the human mistakes of the past, the future of this plant species is dependent on the actions of the humans of the present, i.e., an interventionist approach is required, as opposed to a preservationist one.
Photography resource links: two different interpretations on the photographic adage, “If your photographs aren't good enough, you're not close enough”: Michael Reichmann of the Luminous Landscape on Understanding the Art of Cropping and Paul Butzi on Getting Closer.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (3)
February 1, 2007
Acacia baileyana
For the next four days, perhaps more, BPotD will feature plants from Australia. Today's photograph is courtesy of Katy S, taken somewhere in Australia.
Where in Australia isn't too important. As noted in the comments on last year's BPotD entry on Cootamundra wattle, this species has invasive potential. Though the comments discuss its spread in California, it is similarly invasive in parts of its native Australia, making it one of those infrequent “invasive natives”. It is a fine illustration of the ambiguity of the word native. It is accurate to say it is native to Australia, but far more precise to say it is only native to a narrow ecoregion – a small corridor perhaps 50km (30 miles) wide – in southern New South Wales. Elsewhere in Australia where it has been introduced, it has proven to be invasive (information sourced from World Wide Wattle's page on Cootamundra wattle).
Strictly speaking, some might disagree with my use of the terminology invasive native, as a definition (see native weed) of the term suggests a different interpretation. In that glossary, invasive native is defined as a species that historically occurs in a certain area, but for some reason has exploded in terms of its population. One example cited is white-tailed deer in parts of North America, with present populations far exceeding historic numbers due to human-created landscape changes. Personally, I think the two terms should not be equated, with invasive native being reserved for those imprecise (but often necessary) instances when nativity is not defined by ecoregional areas, but rather by political boundaries.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM | Comments (7)
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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.