Botany Photo of the Day

Botany Photo of the Day will have brief written entries on weekends, holidays and my vacations from April through September. – Daniel

A thank you to JPierre of Préaux, France, for sharing today's photograph (submitted via this thread on the UBC BG discussion forums). Merci beaucoup!

Creeping fuchsia is native to the North Island of New Zealand, where it is sparsely distributed and sometimes considered threatened. JPierre originally posted this taxon as Fuchsia procumbens var. kirkii, a name which I'm uncertain was ever scientifically published (Fuchsia kirkii Hook. f., though, was published but is now typically considered a synonym of Fuchsia procumbens). There is a reason for recognizing it as something distinct, though it seems most taxonomists do not feel the distinction warrants separating the species into forms or varieties. Fuchsia procumbens is heterostylous, meaning different morphological forms of the flower exist. In the case of the morph in today's photograph, the flower is short-styled (this is referable to what was once known as Fuchsia kirkii). Two other flower morphs exist, one with a style of intermediate length, and another with a long style that greatly exceeds the stamens in length. Wikipedia has an explanation of the function of heterostyly.