This was a great 2nd grade story, and the class really enjoyed reading it throughout the month of October. This story could be used to teach a unit on Halloween. There is a packet handout that goes along with this story that teaches students how to recall, go over vocabulary, and write about different prompts.

Sea Rocket or Cakile edentula is the subject of today's post. A little bit about the genus, Cakile, first. These perennials are coast-lovers and may often be found growing on dunes there.

Mauve to White Four-Petaled Flowers

Remove the veins from the petals and they resemble the wild radish flower.

The leaves are pretty different and can be used to tell the plants apart.

Looking at the plant, it seems too fragile to be considered a pioneer species, especially one that can colonize  bare coastal sand. (A pioneer species is usually a newcomer to an otherwise barren habitat. They make the place more hospitable to others who think they are delicate freakin' flowers!)

We might like visiting the beach but we sure wouldn't want to grow there either. Sand is unstable and lacks humus. Not to mention the scorching sun and the salt spray (exactly what it sounds like)! So how does this plant survive?

One big reason is that it can put down a long taproot. The root not only anchors the plant, it also forms an extensive network stabilizing the sand.

Those thick fleshy leaves are good for moisture retention.

It grows close to the ground, sort of hunching, to avoid the salt spray and the abrasive, blowing sand.

It is so tenacious that when buried by sand; Sea Rocket responds with increased growth and seed production!

Right, seeds.The seed pod is divided into two sections, both of which contain seeds. Two different seeds forms when produced by the same plant are called dimorphic. The lower park breaks off like a cork, floats, and is dispersed far and wide. The upper part will germinate closer to home. That way, Sea Rocket sows all the wild oats and eats its cake too!

The Seed Pods

Another interesting bit about this plants is concerned with the term Plasticity. The long-distance dispersal seeds grow into plants that are less plastic.

The Short-Distance Dispersed Seeds

The long-distance seeds are also fatter er have larger masses. The term plastic at its simplest means an organism that can mold itself to fit better in the surrounding environment.

Which is practically the only way to define Kady in the movie, right?

Meanness aside, it is thought that while their adaptivity will not be inherited, these mean girl-plants will have a higher contribution towards reproduction in the next generation.

Differentiating between Two Species

If you don't know which of the species, C. edentula or C. maritima, you have come across, there is an easy way to do so:

The inverted V-like pod on the left is from C. maritima while the bowling pin one belongs to C. edentula.

Its Edible Nature

The leaves and young stems of Cakile edentula may be eaten raw or cooked. The flavor of the leaves is like horseradish and they can be used  in salads. Its root is dried and ground and can be mixed with flour  to make bread (famine food).

Nutritious and Smart

This study showed that when this plant grew close to the plants that shared its DNA (clones), it showed lesser root growth to limit competition. However, this is not altruism but reduced antagonism! The plants realize that competing with their own DNA would lead to an impasse, especially in terms of evolution. Instead, they'd rather preserve copies of their DNA as a boost to overall fitness!

Clones never seem to stop Alice, though

This research opened other avenues for more research:

How are the plants recognizing kin?

Is this recognition limited to Sea Rocket?

And more importantly,

Does that mean your broccoli plants know you have been eating their brothers and sisters?

Just another episode or prescience?

#Botany #BotanyandVocab #AoB #Plasticity #BroccoliWillTakeOver #DoNotEatGreens #HardtoFightClones

Stapelia leendertziae is the subject of today's post. The terms that are associated with it and captured my attention are:

This flower is sapromyiophilous:

sapro (putrid) + muia (fly) + philos (loving) i.e. pollinated by flies found on decomposing meat etc.

Since they need dung and carrion flies to pollinate them, the conspicuously sized flowers are red or purple mimicking their pollinators' the food and brood sites. (This evolution is called convergent since various plants from completely different families have evolved this trait independently)

This brings to our next word, rugose. The liver-colored flowers are velvety and rugose i.e. wrinkled.

Of the 31 compounds that they emit, dimethyl disulphide and dimethyl trisulphide are two that make the flowers seem like a buffet to the pollinators whose favorite happens to be dead rats!

Any other ol' flower would have thought smelling like rotten meat would get the job done. Stapelia, however, is considerate enough to keep things specific. (For a host of other smells - from dog poo to horse dung - emanating from other stapeliads, check out this article.)

The next word is corolla and it is what the petals are called collectively. Ever wonder the meaning behind Toyota's different models? This article tells us the reasoning behind naming one after a part of a flower.

This corolla is campanulate (bell-shaped) hence it being given the common name bell-stapelia by The Flora of Zimbabwe.The other less-endearing name is Leendertzi's carrion-flower.

Stapelia sp. can be grown as a potted plant. Since its verdant succulent stems hug the ground, it is difficult to find them in the wild unless it is in full flower. BPotD recommends, "follow the flies--and hope that you are heading towards a Staperlia leendertziae rather than a dead rat".

I tried finding a picture that would give people an idea of the size of the flower but this was the best I could come up with.

I'll end this post with a video of confused goats who either think they are birds or think of themselves as fruits.

#BPotD #Botany #MostlyBotany #GoatWatch #BotanyandVocab

Sometimes, pretty words make me drool. They are not pretty because they describe pretty things, I like them because they sound fun or unique or aren't in common use.

The BPotD post in question, as usual, gave me another chance to express the heck outta my love for words. I imagined myself writing a story that made spectacular use of them. Not happening, I know, but I can dream!

Rhododendron(s) have some of the most beautiful flowers in the plant kingdom. Here are some of them:

Equally beautiful are the leaves and they are associated with the words for today. The lower surface of the leaves is coated with a dusting of fine hairs that is called Indumentum. Looking the term up opened the way to more words. Here's a neat diagram that shows some of them:

The upper surface is also associated with hairdom. It is also a different color than the lower one. The hairs found here are called Tomentum and they are the leaf's defense against insect herbivores. Here is a picture:

The second I read these words, I visualized they would sound pretty awesome in a horror story. Something like:

She knew she would regret it but she could not not know. Wrapping her fingers around the glass, she held it to her lips. Here goes, she thought and not giving herself time to even complete the thought, she swallowed the draught in one big gulp. The turbidity in the glass had resembled nothing she had ever known. It did not behave like a liquid would when she downed it either. As if congealing, the fluid gave an almost sentient pause. Then it started to make its indumental way down the length of her oesophagus. Yes, she could feel it had morphed into something else because those hairs tickled the surface of her gullet as it crept ever southwards! 

#botany #BPotD #vocab Botany and Vocab

Epilobium hirsutum, as its name suggests, has hairy stems and leaves. Hirsute is a pretty word that removes the need to use hairy.

Commonly called Hairy Willow-herb since its leaves resemble that of willow's.

Willow leaf Minus the hair, though

It produces flowers that are abundant, purple, and campanulate. This word is for all the bell-shaped stuff that you come across.

Seems too pink...

That's more like it

The white really obvious stigma that can be seen protruding from the flowers makes Epilobium a very naughty plant. If no bees visit and cross-pollinate them, the flowers do not depend upon the apians. The highly flexibly stigma can curl backwards! Post-pollination are formed capsules full of small seeds that are attached to long white hairs.

The result of the naughtiness

The last word of the day is monotypic, which is the kind of stands that this plant loves to form. Wherever you look, all you will see are the purple blooms of Epilobium.

#BPotD #Botany #BotanyAndVocab