Flowering Plants (10)
June 25, 2006
Raphanus sativus hybrid
Many thanks to Cliff aka The Marmot@Flickr for today's photograph (original image | via Flickr BPotD Group Pool). As a reminder, don't forget to see Cliff's photographs of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. Thanks again!
Radishes are thought to have been in cultivation for nearly five thousand years. Like much of the rest of the plant, the flowers of radish are edible. Although not as hot as the root, my experience is that the flowers do have a similar “bite”. As the Plants for a Future database mentions, the only part which isn't generally edible is the fruit capsule as it matures and becomes tough.
For more information on this root vegetable, see Wikipedia's entry on Raphanus sativus.
Photography resource link: Luminous Lint, whose purpose is “...to create the worldâs leading collaborative knowledge-base for the history of photography showing significant vintage and contemporary photography.”
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (2)
June 24, 2006
Maxillaria speciosa
Thank you to Andreas from Bogotá, Colombia (aka Quimbaya@Flickr) for today's photograph (BPotD Flickr Group Pool | original image). Much appreciated!
Roughly five hundred and seventy species can be found in the genus Maxillaria (list). These rainforest-inhabiting orchids are plants of the neotropics, being found only in Central and South America.
Maxillaria speciosa is an epiphyte native to Ecuador and Colombia. Its flowers are fragrant (like many others in the genus), but I don't know what sort of fragrance it has – perhaps Andreas will comment and share that information.
Botany resource link: Fungi, from the Australian National Botanic Gardens, provides a wealth of information about mushrooms, mycelia and more!
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (1)
June 23, 2006
Cornus kousa
This is the fourth dogwood to be featured on BPotD. By revisiting the other three, you can get some idea of the diversity of floral structure within the genus: Cornus chinensis, Cornus macrophylla and Cornus 'Eddie's White Wonder'. The white petal-like structures seen here are actually modified leaves called bracts. A plant in a closely related family, the Nyssaceae, also has subtending bracts: Davidia involucrata 'Sonoma'.
The fruits of kousa dogwood are edible (see the Plants for a Future entry on Cornus kousa), but I wouldn't eat them in quantity. Apparently, members of both the Cornaceae and Nyssaceae share the characteristic of being aluminum accumulators (source: description of “Cornaceae + Nyssaceae” on the Cornales page of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group site).
Photography resource link: Nature Revealed, the photography of Jeff Jessing. Browse through the galleries for inspiration.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (5)
June 22, 2006
Dierama pulcherrimum
The South African “angel's fishing rod” or “fairy wand” is a plant I photograph every year. I've yet to take a photograph I'm entirely happy with, because a two-dimensional representation of this plant in an image pales in comparison to witnessing it in person. To my mind, Dierama pulcherrimum is about movement – it dances in the slightest breeze. The effect of a hundred plants doing so at one time in UBC's alpine garden is enchanting. I can only imagine that a grassland with thousands of plants is magical (see “Dierama pulcherrimum massed on Gaikas Kop east face.jpg” on this page).
Botany resource link: If I was living in Florida, I know where I'd be visiting on July 8/9 this year: Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden (and its annual mango festival). The Fairchild BG web site is content rich, with quite a few articles to read if you are interested in tropical plants. To add to my small weblog interview from a few days ago, I see Fairchild is taking the first few steps into weblogging.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 3:58 AM| Comments (11)
June 21, 2006
Xerophyllum tenax
The first of today's two photographs was taken yesterday morning of a plant in UBC's Alpine Garden. I wish I could claim credit for the second photograph, since that would mean I observed these plants en masse, but I can't. It's a public domain work from the US National Park Service, found via the Wikipedia entry for Xerophyllum tenax.
A native to dry, open coniferous forests at medium- to high-elevation mountains in some parts of western North America (distributon map | FNA treatment), Xerophyllum tenax is one of two species in the genus. An eastern North American counterpart, Xerophyllum asphodeloides, grows in similar habitats: pine barrens and dry mountain forests.
The leaves of bear-grass were (and are) used by indigenous peoples as material for weaving baskets and apparel (see the Plants for a Future entry on Xerophyllum tenax).
Photography resource link: Mastering the Histogram, an article by Chris Gamel for PhotoMigrations. “Mastering” is a fairly strong word to use – I'd prefer understanding, myself. Nevertheless, it is one of the most important things to comprehend about digital images. I look at the image's histogram immediately after taking each photograph to reduce disappointment when I later examine the images on my computer.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:14 AM| Comments (5)
June 20, 2006
Geranium 'Gerwat'
Thank you to Johnson Farms, Inc@Flickr for today's image of a hardy geranium. The original image can be seen here, and it was shared via the BPotD Flickr Group Pool.
The cultivar name of this hardy geranium is 'Gerwat', but it is sold under the trade designation Geranium Rozanne. Trade designations add yet another layer of complexity (and some might say confusion) to answering the question, “What is the name of that plant?” The Royal Horticultural Society has a tidy summary on trade designations and trade marks; it is worthwhile reading it to understand why a plant can have two or three different names on the same label (e.g., common name of Rozanne hardy geranium, cultivar name of Geranium 'Gerwat' and trade name of Geranium Rozanne).
For gardening information on this meritorious hardy geranium, visit the Kemper Center for Home Gardening's page on Geranium 'Gerwat' Rozanne or see this page from Blooms of Bressingham in New Zealand. Interested in geraniums? Visit the web site of The Geraniaceae Group
In UBC garden web site news, you might be interested to read this blog interview with me about Blogging at UBC Botanical Garden on The Little Garden.
Small tidbit from the resource link from two days ago regarding Lomo-style images: I forgot to mention I discovered it via Darren Barefoot's weblog.
Botany resource link: Desmids in the Netherlands is a site dedicated to the unicellular green alga in the Desmidiaceae and Mesotaeniaceae. Includes a Desmid of the Month – I'm a fan of Euastrum humerosum, myself. Little green beauties.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 4:30 AM| Comments (7)
June 19, 2006
Strelitzia reginae
Thanks to two people on Flickr for today's images: Van in NYC@Flickr for the first image and springgal@Flickr for the abstract second image. Original images can be seen here and here. Many thanks to both of you!
Bird of paradise or crane flower is a short shrub native to South Africa, though its flowers are commonly seen in fairly expensive cut flower arrangements around the world. At first glance, its flowers may confuse as to how they are structured, but it isn't too difficult to decipher. The orange-yellow parts are sepals, not petals. It does have petals, though, and they have two forms. One is the thumb-shaped nub at the base of the long dark-coloured structure in the centre of the flower – this is the “free petal”. The other petals are united into the structure that resembles a toothed bird's beak. If you were to peel these united petals back along the toothed groove, you'd find the pollen-producing anthers. The stigma, or pollen-receiving surface, extends outwards beyond the united petals.
Botany / photography resource link: Kurt Stüber's Index of Four Thousand Botanical Images, indexed by numerical order, plant name and family.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (0)
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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.