Examples for botany class
Flowers that look like monkeys, birds, or preying mantises, carnivorous plants, parasitic plants, mimicry, and mutualism -- it's all here. Take a closer look the weird, wonderful, beautiful world of plants.
Pages
-
. This whole genus rocks! These Australian wildflowers are protocarnivorous (the plants are covered in sticky hairs that make some digestive enzymes) and they are cranky: they get pollinated by smacking visiting bees with a pollen catapault. If all that isn't neat enough, they also have exotic, beautiful flowers.
-
- Life …
- Eukaryota
- Archaeplastida …
- Angiosperms …
- Oleaceae …
. Osmanthus fragrans is one of the hardier members of its mostly Mediterranean genus, and is cultivated throughout the southeastern US (and in its native China) for its intensely fragrant flowers. In the US, it is mostly grown as an ornamental, but in Asia, the flowers are used to flavor tea and candy. -
. The Stinking Passionflower is a protocarnivorous plant, discouraging pests by trapping and killing insects on sticky bracts (though whether it also gets nutrients from them is unknown). It gets its other common name -- Love-in-a-mist -- because the bracts surround its edible fruits with an amazing network of feathery filaments, which may give insects pause, but don't slow down the birds and bats that disperse the ripe berries.
-
- Life …
- Eukaryota
- Archaeplastida …
- Gymnosperms …
- Zamiaceae …
cycad. Some of the largest cones in the world are made by cycads, living fossils which resemble palms but are actually gymnosperms. The female cones of Encephalartos ferox are both huge and colorful, making them some of the showiest of cycad cones. The fleshy, red-orange seeds are dispersed by large mammals, such as baboons and fruit bats. -
- Life …
- Eukaryota
- Archaeplastida …
- Angiosperms …
- Fabaceae …
. This Acacia has bizarre, huge stipular spines, which look like they should host ants, but do not. -
- Life …
- Eukaryota
- Archaeplastida …
- Angiosperms …
- Fabaceae …
. This is one of the famous ant Acacias, housing ants in its hollow spines, providing food for them in the form of nectar and protein-rich Beltian bodies, and getting its own personal army of defenders in return. -
- Life …
- Eukaryota
- Archaeplastida …
- Angiosperms …
- Fabaceae …
. This is another Acacia species that has an interesting mutualism with ants. -
. Halophiles (meaning "salt-loving") are organisms that require a very salty environment for survival. Halophilic microorganisms may be found when lakes become salty as water evaporates during droughts (concentrating the salts that remain in the water). Ponds purposely allowed to dry down for salt extraction are also great places for halophiles. Due to the growth of pigment-rich microbes, water in these salty ponds can become red. The eukaryotic algae Dunaliella salina is one species responsible for the intense color of these ponds, but the story is more complex than that. Photosynthetic, red Archaebacteria (in the family Halobacteriaceae) also contribute to the color, and red halophilic Eubacteria (Salinibacter ruber) have recently been discovered in these communities as well. Thus, all three domains of life have microorganisms contributing to the brilliant red growth seen during salt-related "algae blooms."
-
- Life …
- Eukaryota
- Archaeplastida …
- Angiosperms …
- Annonaceae …
. These trees have really cool fruit that split open to reveal a blazing red interiors and periwinkle blue seeds (google some photos-- it's worth it). Contrasting red/blue color in fruit is typically associated with bird dispersal. -
- Life …
- Eukaryota
- Opisthokonta
- Metazoa …
- Deuterostomia …
- Vertebrata …
- Tetrapoda …
- Squamata …
- Gekkonidae …
Pollinator: Gecko (lizard). Question: What do the day gecko, a hummingbird, and a bee have in common? They all like nectar (and pollinate the plant while getting it). The day gecko pollinates a Mauritian plant called Trochetia blackburniana, which is a vague relative of the Hibiscus. The flowers of these plants have brightly colored nectar, which helps attract their lizard pollinators. -
Morphology: phylloclades.
-
seed dispersal: wind. Like the Candelabra Lily of South Africa, Allium schbertii (aka the Tumbleweed Onion) of the Mediterranean uses wind to disperse its seeds. When the seedhead dries, it falls off and then wind blows the ball of seed capsules along the ground, scattering seeds as it goes.
No other collections are associated with this one. You can click on the "associate" button on other collections to have them appear here.