Pinus banksiana cones are strongly serotinous in populations in the center of the species’ range, but less so at the edges of its range (where fires are less frequent). It's a bet-hedging strategy to ensure seedling establishment. 📷: Taylor Justason CCBYNC4. #Pinaceae #serotiny #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

I just read a paper describing a new species (a fossil, but still a new species), but the actual taxonomic description is relegated to the Supplementary material! 😱😟 Why is the taxonomy being treated like a bibliographic footnote? 😡#Botany #taxonomy

Quite complex, this! Depends on the melting point of the resin seal, but also the width of the resin seal (how deep into the cone the heat has to penetrate). The sealing band is visible as a smooth strip just inside the apophysis on an open scale; varies from ~0.5-10 mm wide depending on species 👍

Pinus radiata releases seeds when the temperature goes above 45°C (113°F). Sometimes that threshold temperature can be reached by passive solar heating of the cones if they are exposed to sunlight on the tree or on the ground. They can open even without fire. #Pinaceae #serotiny #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Serotiny means that the seeds are stored on the mother plant, that they are retained 1+ yr (up to 10+ yr), & that high temp. (usually from fire) is involved in the release of the seeds. 📷: Pinus pinaster. Note 2 generations of seed cones on the shoot. #Pinaceae #serotiny #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Serotiny is the storage of seeds in close cones or fruits, trapping the seeds & preventing dispersal until the cones are heated (usually by fire). Post-fire conditions are ideal for germinating seedlings. These are cones of Pinus clausa of the SE USA. #Pinaceae #serotiny #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

This superb owl is courtesy of the National Diet Library of Japan. It’s a Blakiston’s fish-owl, the largest owl native to Japan. Painter: HATTORI Sessai in Kinka kin Fu (Pictures of Birds by Ito Keisuke), 1872, compiler: ITO Keisuke. vol.11 <寄別11-10> #SuperbOwl

Pakaraimaea dipterocarpacea is an enigmatic tree Cistaceae from the Guianan Highlands. It was formerly placed in the Dipterocarpaceae. It lacks dimorphic sepals. I couldn’t find photos of it alive, but here’s a specimen, courtesy of the New York Botanical Garden Herbarium. #Cistaceae #Botany 🌾🧪

The genus Crocanthemum has an unusual disjunct distribution: much of North America (incl. some of C. America & the Antilles) and southern South America. Here's C. corymbosum as encountered in the sand pine scrub along the Atlantic Coastal Ridge in S. Florida. #Cistaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Stamens of some Cistaceae are sensitive & flex outward when touched. I’d love to see that! Does anyone have a video? This photo by Sarah Gregg CCBYNCSA2 shows the glorious stamens of Helianthemum apenninum. I don’t know if this sp. has sensitive stamens. #Cistaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

The flowers of Cistus monspeliensis (📷: Amadej Trnkoczy CCBYNCSA2) are large & showy. The leaves are strongly revolute (margins curl downward), a feature common in plants from dry habitats. This species is from the maquis & matorral shrublands of the Mediterranean. #Cistaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Yesterday I forgot to post the flowers of Cistus ladanifer, which are fabulous. I love the crumpled petals with their basal spots. The flowers attract bees, beetles & flies, & they must be cross-pollinated to produce seeds. They can’t self. (📷: mxtivoli CCBYNC4) #Cistaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Cistus ladanifer, from the western Mediterranean region, has shiny, sticky, resin-coated leaves. The resin contributes to the characteristic aroma of the garrigue and maquis shrublands. The resin, called labdanum, is used in perfumery. #perfume #Cistaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Cistaceae often have petals crumpled in bud, & Cistus has large, attractive flowers that show the characteristic brilliantly. This is Cistus × incanus, a natural hybrid of C. albidus × C. crispus, native to the western Mediterranean region. #Cistaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Cistaceae are shrubby plants, often in dry, sunny areas on sandy or chalky soils. I first met Cistaceae in the form of Lechea spp. on the white sand of the Florida Scrub. This is L. minor in fruit. The capsules have parietal placentation, a characteristic of the family. #Cistaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

I don’t see the family very often, but I always enjoy seeing Cistaceae. This week, let's look at the family. They often have dimorphic sepals: 2, small, outer sepals & 3 larger ones. This Fumana ericoides (📷: Sonja Bouwman-Gringhuis CCBYNC4) shows the sepals brilliantly. #Cistaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Want to read more about palms that are variable in endosperm condition, homogeneous vs. ruminate? There is an old publication on the topic: Zona, S. 2003. Endosperm condition and the paradox of Ptychococcus paradoxus. Telopea 10: 179–185. #Arecaceae #seed #endosperm #ruminate #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

When I used a band saw to cut Nypa fruticans seeds in half, I was surprised to find ruminate endosperm. The literature said this palm has homogeneous endosperm. It turns out, it has both. Endosperm condition can vary within a species. #Arecaceae #seed #endosperm #ruminate #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Endosperm condition (homogeneous vs. ruminate) can vary within a genus. The seeds of Yucca aloifolia are clearly ruminate, but many other species of Yucca lack rumination & are homogeneous. #Asparagaceae #seed #endosperm #ruminate #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

What is the function of ruminate endosperm? How did it evolve? Nobody knows for sure. One hypothesis: The ruminations are distasteful to seed-boring beetles & prevent them from riddling the seed. Maybe.🤷‍♂️ 📷: Adonidia merrillii. #beetles #Arecaceae #seed #endosperm #ruminate #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

You might have some ruminate endosperm in your kitchen. Nutmeg is from the seed of Myristica fragrans, & that seed has ruminate endosperm. 🧵 📷: Dan Brekke CCBYNC2. #Myristicaceae #seed #endosperm #ruminate #Botany 🌾🧪🌱 1/2

As extraordinary & beautiful as the fruits of Raphia taedigera are, the endosperm ruminations are just as unusual: They are finger-like penetrations, quite unlike what I’ve seen in other palms. #Arecaceae #seed #endosperm #ruminate #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

An endosperm is described as ruminate when it is penetrated by the seed coat. The nature of the ruminations varies somewhat across the plant kingdom. Sometimes the ruminations are plate-like or laminar, as in Asimina triloba. #Annonaceae #seed #endosperm #ruminate #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Seeds of some species, like peanuts, are mostly embryo (exalbuminous); others are mostly endosperm (albuminous). Adonidia merrillii, an albuminous species, has a tiny bullet-shaped embryo & endosperm penetrated by ingrowths of the seed coat. #seed #ruminate. #Arecaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Two weeks ago, I posted this photo of Guiacum sanctum seed, which prompted a viewer to ask, What is the function of ruminate endosperm? This week, we’ll look at ruminate (not ruminant 🐄) endosperm. 🧵 #Zygophyllaceae #seed #endosperm #ruminate #Botany 🌾🧪🌱 1/2

These are the champions. Four bees and one hoverfly. The five most abundant pollinators in Cazorla, which account together for ~14% of all individuals and flower visits, yet they represent a tiny 0.6% of all species (845). [Yep, no honeybee, lucky me] Their names in the response post.

My most frequent interaction with Proteaceae is eating macadamia nuts! 😛 Here's Macadamia integrifolia. Note how the perianth curls back to reveal the exserted style. The tip of the style scrapes pollen from the anthers as it elongates & presents the pollen to visitors. #Proteaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Mainland Africa is home to 107 spp of Protea. Again, having never botanized there, I know the genus only from cultivation. This is the magnificent Protea cynaroides at the University of California Botanical Garden in Berkeley, California. Spectacular! 😍 #Proteaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Few Proteaceae grew in the limestone soils where I lived in Miami, FL & none grows here in central NC, so I am always thrilled to see them in cultivation when I travel. #Proteaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱 1. Banksia solandri in San Diego Botanic Garden 2. Leucospermum 'Scarlet Ribbon' Tresco Abbey Garden

Banksia gardneri var. gardneri - the Prostrate Banksia Inspired by @scottzona.bsky.social, here's a fire tolerant #Proteaceae found in the southwest of Western Australia. The large flower spikes of this banksia species grow very close to the ground. #ozflora #wildoz #inaturalist #nature

I am in awe of the dazzling diversity of Proteaceae in Australia. Hakea sericea has tough, awl-like leaves, a world away from the broad leaves of H. victoria that I posted earlier today. Just amazing! 📷: Dave Richardson CCBY4. #Proteaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

I’ve never botanized in Australia, so I’ve never seen anything like this in the wild: Hakea victoria has magnificent, cabbage-like leaves that look like glowing embers. The small, white flowers, hidden by the leaves, are not showy. Photos are by don_vincent CCBYNC4. #Proteaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

I had seen Embothrium coccineum cultivated in the UK, but in Parque Nacional Alerce Andino, Chile, I saw this beautiful plant in the wild. It is pollinated by birds, incl. hummingbirds & the flycatcher Elaenia albiceps. #pollination #Proteaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Chile is a great place to see some South American representatives of the family. Here is Lomatia hirsuta at Parque Nacional Laguna del Laja. The genus is disjunct in Australia & S. America. This species may be pollinated by ants 🐜 (but more research is needed). #Proteaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

My first encounter with the family in the wild was in Vanuatu. I collected a few fallen fruits of a forest canopy tree. 17 years later, I had the thrill of seeing the tree, Finschia chloroxantha, grown from those seeds flowering in Fairchild Tropical Bot. Gard. #Proteaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Up this week: Proteaceae. Flowers are 4-merous, stamens fused to the uniseriate perianth, 1 carpel with a long style & pollen presentation. This Gondwanaland family is found throughout the S. Hemisphere but is most diverse in Australia. 📷: Leucospermum sp/cv. #Proteaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

A surface is described as 𝗴𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 when it’s covered with glandular hairs. In the case of this Petunia exserta, the glands are tiny but sticky enough to trap lots of fungus gnats! (This is a great plant for gnat control in a greenhouse.) #Solanaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

The surface of the seed of Guiacum sanctum is pitted, or “𝗳𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲.” In this case, the foveae (pits) correspond to the ruminations (ingrowths of the seed coat) of the endosperm. Whether it is foveate (with pits) or foveolate (with small pits) is a judgment call. #Zygophyllaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Aloe ‘Lime Fizz’ is a hybrid cultivar that displays a 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘂𝗰𝗼𝘀𝗲 surface. It means “covered with small bumps or warts.”

Stunning images by @alexwild.bsky.social of ant plants, extrafloral nectaries, and lots and lots of ants!🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜

Look closely (zoom in!) at the leaves of Ehretia microphylla to see the pointed hairs that give these leaves an 𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲 surface. “Echinus” is Latin for hedgehog. #Boraginaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

This year, why not publish your research with a Society Journal? The Linnean Society is committed to publishing high-quality and groundbreaking scientific research across the four themes of botany, zoology, biology and evolution, striving to make these accessible & engaging to a global audience.

𝗕𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 leaves are found in lots of plants. It’s such an interesting surface texture: 1. Anthurium veitchii #Araceae 2. Rhynchoglossum azureum #Gesneriaceae 3. Amischotolype cf. monosperma #Commelinaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

𝗕𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 is the term we use to describe the puckered or quilted-looking pattern we see on the leaves of ‘Nero de Toscano’ kale (sometimes called “dinosaur kale” to get kids to eat it). #Brassicaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

The bumps on the leaves of Psychotria punctata are called “punctae.” The leaf surface is described as 𝗽𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲. Hence the epithet. #Rubiaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Last week, I posted about flower terms; this week, we’ll look at surface descriptors, which are usually applied to leaves. We’ll start with 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗼𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲, as seen in this Macadamia integrifolia, meaning “having areoles,” which are the spaces bounded by veins. #Proteaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Just a gentle reminder that museum and society journals continue to be excellent alternatives to the over-priced, high-profit academic journals and the pay-to-publish-anything predatory journals. Full disclosure: I am an editor of a society journal.

Orchid flowers are so specialized that they have some orchid-specific terms. The sepals are distinguished as lateral or dorsal, and the one petal that is highly modified and differentiated is the lip or labellum. This hybrid is Cattleya Sheila Lauterbach 'Equilab' #Orchidaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Snapdragons (Antirrhinum spp.) have those anther-mimicking raised bumps on their lower lips. That’s the palate. 📷: Antirrhinum ‘Summer Carnival.’ #Plantaginaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱