Plant reproduction is fascinating. No, really! It is! In all of its forms, from beautiful flowers that become delicious fruits, to fungi that smell like roadkill, stationary plants have come up with a myriad of ways to ensure their genetic survival into the next generation. Now, a new study has found that this process isn’t just fascinating, it’s also precise and a ” model of logistical efficiency.” To think that some people find science boring? ~AR
The New York Botanical Garden is a museum of plants, an educational institution, and a scientific research organization. Founded in 1891 & now a National Historic Landmark, it is one of the greatest botanical gardens in the world. http://www.nybg.org/
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May 23, 2012
Pollination With Precision: How Flowers Do It
May 3, 2012
If Peas Can Talk, Should We Eat Them?
At what point does the ethical gourmand’s conscience eschew even vegetables? The question of the “sentience” of plant matter has been tossed around for ages, most notably by 1979’s The Secret Life of Plants (and, to a lesser extent, Maynard James Keenan’s rock album rant concerning “the cries of the carrots”).
But as far off the sane path as the assertion seems, new research hints at a form of conscious life for plants—of stored memories and earnest communication. That’s the case, at least, for the simple pea. —MN
April 27, 2012
Where Did Katniss Get Its Name?
The Hunger Games is ripping up theaters nationwide, and Jennifer Lawrence is redefining the concept of the heroic protagonist. But where did “Katniss” get such an original sobriquet?
“The mud” is probably not the first answer that slips into your head.
While Suzanne Collins’ beloved character may not have earned her name from an aquatic plant, there’s compelling evidence to suggest as much. The Smithsonian’s sleuths dive (somewhat literally) into the story of a little-known arrowroot tuber bearing the same moniker as everyone’s favorite archer. —MN
April 26, 2012
Spring Sprang Early: Should We Worry?
Should we be battening down the hatches and sounding DEFCON 3 over this warmer-than-seems-sane spring? Not quite. So says Robert Naczi, curator of North American Botany here at the NYBG.
Rather than catastrophic evidence of radical climate change, Naczi says that this seemingly drastic shift to warmer weather is well within the range of experience for plants native to our area. Is there a warming trend? Yes, but this year’s bizarro weather is likely less attributed to overall climate change than it is a climate pattern known as the North Atlantic Oscillation.
Confused? It’s okay. Click through for a video interview with the brainiacs behind the science. —MN
April 23, 2012
Anna Laurent’s quest to obtain the most prized seed pod in her collection—that of the lotus flower—leads her through curio shops in Chelsea, daydreams of Far Eastern market stalls, and the garden of a botanically-inclined opera singer known as Madame Walska. It’s a pleasant story to tie into the case of this strange, well-adapted (and edible) plant. —MN
April 6, 2012
Ways to Lure a Lover, Orchid-Style
#3. Gimme Shelter
Male euglossine bees collect fragrances from flowers. “The males with the most complex array of fragrances get all the ladies,” says Mirenda. But when the bees land on male Catasetum orchids, they also get a swift wallop on the head. “The flowers basically mug their pollinator by shooting really large pollinia at them when they touch a little trigger switch in the flower,” says Mirenda.
After being whacked, as a reaction, the bees retreat to shelter—in this case, to the Catasetum’s female flowers (above). The helmet-like flowers, found in Central America, actually resemble the nests that the bees build. There, while feeding on nectar, the bees deposit the pollen.
This reblog was originally snake-long, so I chopped it down. But I beseech you to click through to the full article and read up on some of this stuff—orchids can be downright dastardly. I beseech you. —MN
(via scinerds)
April 3, 2012
Want to discover a new species? Become a botanist
Taylor Kubota of Science Online has a terrific Q&A with NYBG’s Dean and Vice President for Science, James S. Miller. He even divulges one of the coolest parts of being a botanist: You get to name plants after your family members!
March 26, 2012
danceabletragedy: Rafflesia arnoldii
Rafflesia arnoldii is the world’s largest flower having a diameter of about one meter and weighing up to ten kilograms. It is a rare flower and not easily located. It grows only once a year and blooms for around five days. According to researches in discovery news, this flower that looks and smells like rotting flesh is related to flimsy flowers like violets, poinsettias and passionflowers. Hence it also called as “meat flower” or “corpse flower”.
The flower is pollinated by flies and carrion beetles attracted by its vile smell. It contains about 27 species and found in Indonesian rain forests of southeastern Asia and Philippines. Rafflesia is an official state flower of Indonesia, Surat Thani Province in Thailand and Sabah state in Malaysia.
Seymour Krelborn washes his hands of the whole thing.
(via theherbarium)
March 18, 2012
The hook-and-loop fastener was invented in 1941 by Swiss engineer, Georges de Mestral who lived in Commugny, Switzerland. The idea came to him one day after returning from a hunting trip with his dog in the Alps. He took a close look at the burrs (seeds) of burdock that kept sticking to his clothes and his dog’s fur. He examined them under a microscope, and noted their hundreds of “hooks” that caught on anything with a loop, such as clothing, animal fur, or hair. He saw the possibility of binding two materials reversibly in a simple fashion if he could figure out how to duplicate the hooks and loops.
Science—sort of! Some of the best things in modern convenience seem to take their design cues from nature. Evolution is good like that. —MN
(via scinerds)
March 11, 2012
![Little Green ‘Aliens’ Invading Antarctica
Passing through customs on your way to the very bottom of the world generally goes beyond the simple “anything to declare?” inquiry. There’s actually an international treaty that precludes you from bringing anything foreign to the continent, for fear of invasive colonization by bugs, plants, and other critters that shouldn’t be traipsing around down there.
But what about the things visitors don’t know they’re carrying?
With sub-arctic species beginning to intrude in Antarctica, scientists decided it was time to figure out just where these invaders were coming from. And it took a vacuum cleaner, nearly a thousand volunteers, and endless pairs of pants, backpacks, and shoes.
“Often [the volunteers] were amazed at what they had left in their pockets and had missed for some time.”
At the end of the day, over 2,800 individual plant seeds were found, averaging about 9.5 per tourist and far more for scientists among the group that “tested positive” for vegetative hitchhikers.
My advice is to bring a dust buster if you plan on hauling yourself to the southern pole. —MN](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0l30gBfCu1qe7zkco1_1280.jpg)
Little Green ‘Aliens’ Invading Antarctica
Passing through customs on your way to the very bottom of the world generally goes beyond the simple “anything to declare?” inquiry. There’s actually an international treaty that precludes you from bringing anything foreign to the continent, for fear of invasive colonization by bugs, plants, and other critters that shouldn’t be traipsing around down there.
But what about the things visitors don’t know they’re carrying?
With sub-arctic species beginning to intrude in Antarctica, scientists decided it was time to figure out just where these invaders were coming from. And it took a vacuum cleaner, nearly a thousand volunteers, and endless pairs of pants, backpacks, and shoes.
“Often [the volunteers] were amazed at what they had left in their pockets and had missed for some time.”
At the end of the day, over 2,800 individual plant seeds were found, averaging about 9.5 per tourist and far more for scientists among the group that “tested positive” for vegetative hitchhikers.
My advice is to bring a dust buster if you plan on hauling yourself to the southern pole. —MN
March 8, 2012
Botanists Becoming an Endangered Species
It seems not only the leafy things they love, but the botanists themselves are being threatened by today’s climate. Or at least its scientific climate.
The Natural Areas Association has come to the conclusion that the U.S. will lose more than half of its working botanical experts within the next ten years, leaving a dearth of specialists to look after our natural resources and environment on the whole.
The inimitable Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson answered a question recently on the plight of science as it’s progressing today. It seems apt right about now:
“All the adults are saying, ‘We need to improve science in the world. Let’s train the kids.’ I’ve never heard an adult say, ‘We need more science in the world. Train me.’”
Looking for a new career? I might suggest taking a few courses in botany. We certainly offer more than enough ways for you to start through our adult education programs. —MN
February 21, 2012
Ancient Plants Brought Back to Life After 30,000 Years
After 30,000 years spent squirreled away (quite literally) in the permafrost of Siberia, ancient Silene stenophylla—or narrow-leafed campion—has found new life in 2012.
A team from the Institute of Cell Biophysics was successful in resurrecting the plant not through its intact, mature seeds, but by “placental” material pulled from the fruits themselves. The possibility that sucrose in the fruit acted as a preservative for its cells is of particular interest to the scientific community. But there’s more to it than that:
Silene stenophylla still grows on the Siberian tundra; and when the researchers compared modern-day plants against their resurrected cousins, they found subtle differences in the shape of petals and the sex of flowers, for reasons that are not evident.
The scientists suggest in their PNAS paper that research of this kind can help in studies of evolution, and shed light on environmental conditions in past millennia.
While scientists are still working on bringing woolly mammoth’s back from the ice, the success of this ancient campion spells out an interesting future for other plants—particularly those that have gone extinct. That’s assuming, of course, that the subjects botanists hope to revive happened to be on the squirrel’s menu thousands of years ago. —MN
February 14, 2012
I’ve become a big fan of this Tumblr over the last few weeks. The razor-sharp simplicity of the photography reminds me of the best of botanical illustrations, only far more…palpable—I guess that’s the word I’m looking for, or at least a pretty suitable substitute. —MN
(Source: whatiseewhenirun)
January 31, 2012
Yes! Slime molds are amazing.
Can I spend the rest of the day looking at slime molds, please?
January 28, 2012
Find Joy in Learning Latin Names for Your Plants
Wisconsin master gardener Bonnie Orr (or should I say Orrous bonnia) has written a very pleasant primer on why you should learn botanical Latin, and I couldn’t agree more. ~AR
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Wish you were here. (Taken with Instagram at Monet’s Garden at The New York Botanical Garden)
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A few shots from the New York Botanical Garden’s Monet’s Garden special exhibit.
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Brighten up your garden with a bright object
New York Botanical Garden, April 2012
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Waiting for water lilies to bloom in the Hardy Pool #monetsgarden (Taken with Instagram at New York Botanical Garden)
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monet’s garden
from now through october 21, stop by the new york botanical garden and check out the stunning tribute to claude monet’s idyllic... -
What to buy at the New York’s Botanical Garden Gift Shop
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Recreation of the Grande Allee in Monet’s Garden (Taken with Instagramat New York Botanical Garden)
“It is here, in this perpetual feast...
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A pair of pansies 😁
#flower #beautiful #nature #newyork #nybg #NYC #photography
(from @cmp381 on Streamzoo)
