Insects and Plants
July 26, 2007
Foeniculum vulgare and Rhagonycha fulva
Ask most people about the various kinds of flower pollinators and the first responses you are likely to get are bees and butterflies. Beetles, however, are also important pollinating organisms. One site uses the figure of beetles contributing to the population of up to 88% of the world's flowering plants (source: Beetle Pollinators via the USDA's Pollinators site), though I haven't been able to find a scientific reference to back up that number (and considering the number of exclusively bee-, butterfly-, moth-, bat-, wind- and water-pollinated plants, I find it a bit hard to believe). Beetle pollination is scientifically known as cantharophily, coincidentally named after the soldier beetle family, Cantharidae, to which the beetle in today's photo belongs.
My observations, later verified upon researching, were that this beetle is an incidental pollinator. In its quest for seeking out small edible insects, the common red soldier beetle (photo in flight | Wikipedia) inserts its head into the diminutive flowers and brushes up against the anthers. Pollen sticks to the head of the beetle and is subsequently transferred to other flowers as it continues its grazing behaviour. In the span of ten minutes, I observed this beetle visiting approximately twenty flowers — quite a pace!
Rhagonycha fulva is often found on members of the Apiaceae, or umbel family, like the plant in today's photograph: Foeniculum vulgare, or fennel (previously featured on BPotD here with a link to Gernot Katzer's spice page on fennel). Interestingly, Gernot Katzer notes that it is not only the fruits of fennel that are used in cuisine; the pollen of fennel (aka “Spice of the Angels”) is a small-scale exotic (and expensive) herb crop in Italy and California. If only the beetles could be trained...
Lastly, thank you to both BugGuide and What's That Bug? for enabling me to identify the beetle.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 6:03 AM| Comments (7)
August 1, 2006
Danaus plexippus and Asclepias tuberosa
Today's image is courtesy of Janet Davis, garden writer extraordinaire and author of the Beautiful Botany web site (previously featured as a resource link). Janet used this image of butterfly milkweed and a monarch butterfly to illustrate her article on butterfly plants. Please keep in mind that the usual copyright terms apply to this image since it is from someone not employed by UBC Botanical Garden. Thank you, Janet!
As mentioned in a previous entry, milkweeds are the exclusive food of monarch butterfly caterpillars. Toxins in the milkweed sap accumulate in the tissue of the caterpillar, rendering it (and the subsequent adult) poisonous and inedible to birds.
Asclepias tuberosa has two features that distinguish it from other milkweeds: 1) its sap is not milky, and 2) its leaves are alternately arranged, instead of opposite. The Shenandoah National Park in the US has an excellent factsheet on Asclepias tuberosa for more information.
On a final note, monarchs have been in the news and editorials recently regarding an international agreement to conserve monarch habitat. “Is the mighty monarch butterfly on its last wings?” is an editorial questioning the utility of the agreement in the face of other dangers to the monarch.
Photography resource link: The Making of a Fine Art Photograph, an article by Pete Myers for The Luminous Landscape web site. It examines the process and time spent in “digitally developing” an image for fine art after pressing the shutter.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (4)
October 13, 2005
Zinnia haageana 'Old Mexico' and Autographa californica
Zinnia haageana 'Old Mexico' is an All-America Selections Winner from forty-three years ago –, a cultivar that has stood the test of time. Considering its performance in trials done by The Gardens at the University of Georgia, that decades-long popularity is no wonder. It has performed similarly well this year at UBC.
Autographa californica is the moth, commonly known as the alfalfa looper. The sickle-shaped white spot on the wing is an easy diagnostic feature.
The adult moth does no damage, while the caterpillar is rarely present in numbers large enough to have an economic impact on crops. In fact, the University of California Integrated Pest Management Program for cotton and loopers states: “Moderate populations of loopers may be more beneficial than harmful, as they support populations of natural enemies that also attack the more destructive bollworms, budworms, and beet armyworms.”. Similar statements are made on the site regarding loopers and other Californian crops such as lettuce, artichoke and tomatoes. Along with a suite of predators, alfalfa looper is also susceptible to a baculovirus.
Botany / conservation resource link: Botanic Gardens Conservation International “brings together the world’s botanic gardens to work for plant conservation through science, education and horticulture.”
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 3:18 AM| Comments (0)
September 3, 2005
Lupinus sulphureus subsp. kincaidii
(Quentin Cronk, Director of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research has kindly offered to guestblog today -- Daniel)
A crabspider (Misumena vatia) is here seen capturing a bumble bee (Bombus sp.) on the rare Kincaid's lupin (Lupinus sulphureus subsp. kincaidii) in the Willamette Valley, Oregon. Kincaid's lupin is interesting as it is the host of the even rarer Fender's Blue Butterfly. The lower flowers of the Kincaid's lupin are turning brown. Surprisingly, this is natural pigmentation and not an indication that the flowers are dying. Another rare plant of the Willamette Valley, the thin-leaved peavine (Lathyrus holochlorus), has the same brown colour in the petals but both the function and the biochemical basis of this trait are unknown. Photographs of some of the Rare and Endangered Plants of the Willamette Valley are available online, thanks to the Institute for Applied Ecology. The Willamette Valley in Oregon is a fertile mosaic of drained farmland interspersed with remnant wetlands of immense nature conservation importance.
(I'm adding this part -- Daniel). Nature resource link: David Neiwert, a Seattle-based freelance journalist, has posted a written and photographic account of his recent experience with killer whales near Vancouver Island. A bit off-topic for this weblog, perhaps, but I can't help but share this fine piece of nature writing.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 5:45 AM| Comments (2)
August 24, 2005
Antheraea polyphemus
Updated September 30, 2005 at 10:22 pm: This entry was Botany Photo of the Day's contribution to the first-ever Circus of the Spineless, a monthly gathering of online essays and photographs about invertebrates.
The discovery of this caterpillar on a Nothofagus antarctica (southern beech) tree in the alpine garden yesterday provoked some excitement among the staff (and a comment that it has good taste in trees). Eight centimetres long and as thick as my forefinger, this caterpillar is the larval stage for the polyphemus moth (more, with distribution map). Leaves of deciduous hardwood trees and shrubs form the diet of this caterpillar. It has been observed that the caterpillar cuts the petiole of leaves it has skeletonized, so that (purportedly) no traces of its presence remain on the tree to alert predators.
Antheraea polyphemus belongs to the subfamily of moths known as the saturnids (Saturniidae), or giant silk moths. The Saturniidae, it can be argued, are the most striking of moths. Photographs of moths in this subfamily can be seen here: Saturniidae Moths from Thailand and the What's That Bug? gallery of saturnids.
Entomology / Botany resource link: Caterpillars of Pacific Northwest Forests and Woodlands. The life cycles of plants and insects are often intertwined, so knowledge of insects can give depth to understanding of plants; this link provides details on caterpillar morphology and ecology, as well as keys for identification.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 1:11 AM| Comments (21)
August 10, 2005
Salix sp.
“Pine-cone willow gall” is caused by a gall midge, Rhabdophaga strobiloides. This dipteran (related to flies and mosquitoes) deposits an egg in the developing terminal leaf buds of the willow in early spring. The larva releases a chemical which interferes with the typical leaf and branch development of the willow, instead causing the formation of this cone-like structure. The adult dipteran emerges the following spring, after having spent the winter in the gall.
Check out a few more photographs of pine-cone willow gall via the Cornell Plant Pathology Herbarium or read more about galls courtesy of the Michigan Entomological Society. Douglas Justice has also identified the phenomenon in the past on the garden's discussion forums.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 2:20 AM| Comments (5)
July 4, 2005
Populus tremuloides
I'm a fan of trembling aspen. Few plants can be said to make a memorable noise or movement, but the flutter of aspen leaves in a breeze is oft a subject of prose, including Shakespeare.
The culprit behind the designs on these leaves is another matter. I believe no one has yet written “An Ode to Phyllocnistis populiella”, the aspen serpentine leafminer. The larva of this moth will tunnel and eat its way through both the spongy mesophyll and the chlorophyll-dense palisade mesophyll of a leaf, leaving behind a whitened snake-like pattern bisected by a brown trail of excreta.
When there is a mass infestation of aspen serpentine leafminers, whole stands of trembling aspen will change from green to silver in appearance. This is what I observed in the area surrounding Merritt, British Columbia, a couple weekends ago, and I regret not getting a landscape shot of these “silver ghosts”. It was a phenomenon I'd never seen before.
However, it seems like I'll have more opportunities in the future. It has been anecdotally reported that mass infestations are on the increase, speculatively due to a rise in winter mean temperature (source: “Leafminer Impacts on Photosynthetic Ability of Populus tremuloides” (PDF), a research paper by Kaarle Strailey as part of coursework at Berkeley).
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:07 AM| Comments (11)
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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.