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Some animals exploit plant wax. Myrica cerifera (the epithet = “wax-bearing”) has waxy fruits. Wax is calorie-dense, but few animals can digest it. The exception is the Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata), which can digest wax & disperse the seeds. Win-win. #Myricaceae #wax #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 5 hours ago • 1 comment

Another function of epicuticular wax is to make plant surfaces slippery for insects. Insects can’t eat a slick, waxy leaf if they can’t hold onto it… or can slip to their death from the waxy rim of a pitcher plant. Nepenthes sibuyanensis by Eric Hunt CCBYNCND2 #Nepenthaceae #wax #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 12 hours ago • 2 comments

In addition to preventing excess water loss, epicuticular wax can serve as sunblock, reflecting part of the blazing sunlight away from the plant. This can prevent water loss AND photoinhibition of photosynthesis. Check out the waxy stems of Euphorbia canariensis. #Euphorbiaceae #wax #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 1 day ago • 3 comments

How many carpenter bees can fit into a squash flower? Three. I count three bee butts. Happy World Bee Day! We need bees (and not just honeybees)! #bees #WorldBeeDay #beeday #Cucurbitaceae

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

What does epicuticular wax do? It can have several functions, but the most obvious is that it prevents water loss, just like the waxy balms we put on our lips. We often see wax sealing the surfaces of succulent plants, like this Dudleya virens subsp. hassei. #Crassulaceae #wax #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Epicuticular wax gets its name from the location: upon the cuticle, which is the plant’s outer protective surface, the protective barrier from the outside elements. On fruits, like plums (📷: Peter Burka CCBYSA2), we call the wax a “bloom”—not to be confused with the flower! #wax #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

This week I’m waxing explanatory about… wax. Epicuticular wax is a mixture of dozens of diverse hydrocarbon chains or rings secreted to the plant’s outer surfaces. When secreted in quantity, the #wax is visible, as on the underside of Berberis gracilipes leaflets. #Berberidaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

I’ll close out Lythraceae week with pomegranate, a fruit that has been used symbolically & materially for millennia. It is often cultivated not for its fruits but for its vibrant orange-red flowers. The cultivar ‘Nana’ is a dwarf that comes true from seed. #Lythraceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

Henna is derived from Lawsonia inermis. The colorant is lawsone, a naphthoquinone, which is also found in the fruits of Juglans (#Juglandaceae). Henna has been used for hair dye & body decoration (mehndi, or henna tattoo) for centuries. #Lythraceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 5 days ago • 3 comments

Cuphea is a genus of tropical plants. Some of its species rely on hummingbirds for pollination. They typically have long tubular hypanthia, which are brightly colored. Many are cultivated as ornamentals, like this one, Cuphea ignea. #Lythraceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Another tropical Lythraceae of note is Duabanga grandiflora, a tree with large flowers pollinated by bats! 🦇 Bats are big pollinators. They need a decent reward if they’re going to work as pollinators. Check out all the hard-working nectaries just inside the stamen whorl. #Lythraceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

These tropical species of Lagerstroemia are cultivated in warm climates. The 1st photo is Lagerstroemia speciosa. Aptly named. Huge flowers. The 2nd photo is Lagerstroemia floribunda var. cuspidata, which has flowers that change color with age (or pollination status?). #Lythraceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

Crape myrtle is (too) common in cultivation, but there are 48 other species in the genus, few of which are cultivated. Some are hardy & have been used in breeding, like this Lagerstroemia subcostata var. fauriei of Japan. It has outstanding bark & charming white flowers. #Lythraceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 8 days ago • 2 comments

We all love the showy flowers of crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica), but if you look closely, you’ll see two kinds of stamens. The 6, long, outer stamens produce dark fertile pollen. The inner, showy stamens produce infertile yellow pollen as a reward for pollinators. #Lythraceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 8 days ago • 3 comments

Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) has an interesting feature: Old trees form a woody boss at the base. (It reminds me of the lignotubers I’ve seen on fire-resprouting chaparral plants from California.) The species is from SE Asia but not from fire-prone habitats. #Lythraceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 9 days ago • 3 comments

This week: Lythraceae, a worldwide family of herbs & trees. They have hypanthia, petals crumpled in bud & inferior ovaries. Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) is a popular summer-flowering tree in the South. ‘Cherry Mocha’ is a cultivar with dark leaves & red flowers. #Lythraceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

I’ll close bract week with Cornus florida, the state flower of North Carolina. This is a lovely pink cultivar. I don’t suppose anyone tried to explain to the NC legislators that each “flower” is a cluster of little flowers surrounded by 4 colorful modified leaves. #Cornaceae #bracts #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 11 days ago • 4 comments

Floral bracts can also be defensive! Bracts below the inflorescences in Asteraceae (given their own name: phyllaries) may defend against fruit/seed predators. Nobody messes with Silybum marianum (📷: Jon Sullivan CCBYNC2) & its spiky bracts. #Asteraceae #bracts #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 12 days ago • 4 comments

But back to floral bracts, the bracts subtending flowers or inflorescences. They can be attractive, adding to the floral display & drawing in more pollinators. Here’s Schaueria calytricha in the #Acanthaceae, another family known for its showy bracts. #Acanthaceae #bracts #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 13 days ago • 4 comments

Happy Birthday to master storyteller Sir David Attenborough! 🎉 We’ve loved working with Sir David as he delivered the narration to the upcoming immersive experience, Our Story with David Attenborough. Tickets go on sale in just two weeks. Keep an eye out for the announcement!

submitted 13 days ago • 26 comments

Many temperate plants were described as “perulate” meaning that the overwintering buds are covered by bud scales (nowadays rarely called perulae). You can see the brown bud scales here on this shoot of Hydrangea quercifolia. They are just modified leaves. #Hydrangeaceae #bracts #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

Modified leaves that subtend vegetative structures have other names, but they’re still bracts in the broad sense. Between pulses of leafy growth, Clavija domingensis produces tiny, needle-shaped cataphylls, which are reduced leaves. #Primulaceae Bromeliaceae #bracts #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 14 days ago • 1 comment

Bracts, by some definitions, must subtend a flower or inflorescence. Nobody does bracts better than the Heliconiaceae and Bromeliaceae. Here are H. collinsiana and Aechmea fasciata serving bract realness. The red & pink bits are #bracts—modified leaves. #Heliconiaceae #Bromeliaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

Bracts that are small when they subtend the flower can become enlarged (accrescent) in fruit. The fleshy, dark-staining tissue that surrounds black walnuts is comprised of accrescent bracts. This is Juglans nigra. #Juglandaceae #bracts #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 15 days ago • 4 comments

Bracts are modified leaves, so they aren’t the same shape/size as leaves but can still be photosynthetic. The bracts of Agave bracteosa (so named because it is so bract-y) subtend the flowers on the inflorescence. They have long-extended (caudate) tips. #Asparagaceae #bracts #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 16 days ago • 1 comment

Let’s dive into bracts, which are modified leaves. Modified how? So many modifications! We’re all familiar with the bracts of Bougainvillea spectabilis (#Nyctaginaceae), which are colorful & attract pollinators to the otherwise insignificant flowers. #bracts #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

submitted 16 days ago • 1 comment

The enigmatic Haptanthus hazlettii was first described as a new genus and species in 1989, unassigned to a family! Molecular data later placed it in the Buxaceae (in some analyses, sister to all #Buxaceae). Haptanthus is endemic to #Honduras & endangered. 📷: Cyril Nelson CC0 #Botany 🌾🧪

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

Didymeles is a poorly known genus of 3 spp from Madagascar. This lineage is sister to all other Buxaceae. It’s noteworthy for having single (monomerous) carpels. You can see the single stigmatic scar in these fruits of D. perrieri 📷: Patrice Antilahimena CCBYNC3 #Buxaceae #Botany 🌾🧪

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Styloceras are 6 species of Andean trees & shrubs. The genus name means “stylar horns.” The prominent styles are obvious in the fruits (1📷: jorgeluispaez CCBYNC4) but just as impressive in the flower (2📷: CE Timothy Paine CCBYNC2). Note the scale-like perianth. #Botany 🌾🧪

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments