OK, taxonomists, I think it’s time you staged an intervention. silver swords, daisy trees, sunflowers, and now this? Get your shit together Asteraceae, you’re a family not a friggin’ phylum. www.npr.org/2025/02/26/n... - ThreadSky

About ThreadSky

jrossibarra.bsky.social • 21 days ago

OK, taxonomists, I think it’s time you staged an intervention. silver swords, daisy trees, sunflowers, and now this? Get your shit together Asteraceae, you’re a family not a friggin’ phylum.
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/26/nx-s1-5308248/wooly-devil-new-species-genus-big-bend

Comments

jghodge.bsky.social•20 days ago

Asters have aspirations of being the “non-avian dinosaurs of angiospermae” should the rest of flowering plants have an, accident… If you want a fun one you should check out Hecastocleis, basically reinventing a graminoid spikelet out of a sunflower head inflorescence

jrossibarra.bsky.social•20 days ago

But seriously. They wanna do trees, fine. Mimic yuccas? Sure. But you start coming for my grasses…

jannicefriedman.bsky.social•20 days ago

Hmmm… Ambrosia (ragweed) does wind pollination as well as the best of them grasses

jrossibarra.bsky.social•20 days ago

🙉🙈

briandilkes.bsky.social•19 days ago

Plural?

jrossibarra.bsky.social•20 days ago

Oh yeah totally what I picture when someone says asteraceae. What the heck!?

jghodge.bsky.social•20 days ago

The beauty of that morphology is each of those involucre whorls around a flower represents an inflorescence reduced down to one floret which have reconsolidated into “head of heads”, gives off serious grass panicle of spikelets vibes.

jghodge.bsky.social•20 days ago

Ooof, my final braincell of yesterday evening didn’t do that first bit justice, asters are definitely “avian dino” equivalent, they clearly have enough phenotypic plasticity to resettle the Earth if required.

jrossibarra.bsky.social•20 days ago

I figured that’s what you meant!

Posting Rules

Be respectful to others
No spam or self-promotion
Stay on topic
Follow Bluesky's terms of service

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply