February 22, 2013
A timely reminder ahead of the spring bloom that just because something’s pretty, it doesn’t mean you should pick it! Casual passersby can have a major impact on wild plant populations, often because seeing something growing nearby suggests that the plant is “common.” But not everything threatened is kept behind a fence in a nature preserve. —MN yan-ton: The Sea Daffodil (Panacratium maritimum) is an endangered member of the family Amaryllidaceae. Native to the Mediterranean and the southern shores of the Black Sea, the Sea Daffodil grows in sandy dunes just above the high tide line. Its flowers have a very subtle fragrance that only becomes apparent on windless summer nights. Due to its increasing rarity, it has been given protected status in much of its range, but continues to lose vital habitat to tourist development.   Sadly I saw many tourists picking it during my last visit to Greece.  :( This picture was taken by me on Laganas Beach, in Zakynthos, Greece on 8/31/11. 

A timely reminder ahead of the spring bloom that just because something’s pretty, it doesn’t mean you should pick it! Casual passersby can have a major impact on wild plant populations, often because seeing something growing nearby suggests that the plant is “common.” But not everything threatened is kept behind a fence in a nature preserve. —MN

yan-ton:

The Sea Daffodil (Panacratium maritimum) is an endangered member of the family Amaryllidaceae. Native to the Mediterranean and the southern shores of the Black Sea, the Sea Daffodil grows in sandy dunes just above the high tide line. Its flowers have a very subtle fragrance that only becomes apparent on windless summer nights.

Due to its increasing rarity, it has been given protected status in much of its range, but continues to lose vital habitat to tourist development.  

Sadly I saw many tourists picking it during my last visit to Greece.  :(

This picture was taken by me on Laganas Beach, in Zakynthos, Greece on 8/31/11. 

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Filed under: sea daffodil flower plant endangered Mediterranean 
December 27, 2012

Not only does the South American puya plant create spires of flower clusters that some might call alien, but certain varieties produce some of the most otherworldly and mesmerizing bloom palettes seen anywhere. Better still, the rare Puya raimondii boasts one of the longest reproductive cycles of any plant, flowering at around 40 years of age and dying—like many in the Bromeliaceae family—soon after.

Check out this earlier photo that was making the rounds on Tumblr a few months back. —MN

photosfromperu:

The National Sanctuary of Titankayuq, near Ayacucho.

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Filed under: puya plant flowers botany 
September 12, 2012
milesbarger: Pollia condensataStructural coloration at work. You’re forgiven for thinking someone went at these berries with a few shades of fancy nail polish. The fact is, it’s a natural phenomenon. Pollia condensata, or the “marble berry,” uses spiraled layers of cellulose to create this iridescent effect, producing what scientists call the most intense blue coloration of any biological material. The human benefits end with the aesthetic: these African berries aren’t anything you’d want to snack on, and because the blue isn’t the effect of a pigment, you won’t find them coloring textiles anytime soon. —MN

milesbarger:

Pollia condensata
Structural coloration at work.

You’re forgiven for thinking someone went at these berries with a few shades of fancy nail polish. The fact is, it’s a natural phenomenon. Pollia condensata, or the “marble berry,” uses spiraled layers of cellulose to create this iridescent effect, producing what scientists call the most intense blue coloration of any biological material.

The human benefits end with the aesthetic: these African berries aren’t anything you’d want to snack on, and because the blue isn’t the effect of a pigment, you won’t find them coloring textiles anytime soon. —MN

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Filed under: Pollia condensata marble berry plant color botany 
July 16, 2012

fatchance:

Elephant ears (Colocasia sp.), in my garden in Portsmouth, Virginia. 

Please click on any photo in the set for enlarged views.

I didn’t expect to find tiny landscapes in the leaves of plants so often used for landscaping. —MN

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Filed under: elephant ears plant 
July 8, 2012
avocadobaconcheese: Photobotanicus Good plant portraiture. Not as easy to come by as you might think. —MN

avocadobaconcheese:

Photobotanicus

Good plant portraiture. Not as easy to come by as you might think. —MN

(via estoyborracha)

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Filed under: plant photography 
June 28, 2012
brilliantbotany: This is a torchlily, also called red hot poker. It is in the Asphodeloideae subfamily of the Xanthorrhoeaceae family. Its scientific name is Kniphofia ‘flamenco,’ and it produces a large amount of nectar. This attracts hummingbirds, which pollinate the impressive flower. Photo by me. These are sparking up the Perennial Garden with their color. They live up to their name in the best way. —MN

brilliantbotany:

This is a torchlily, also called red hot poker. It is in the Asphodeloideae subfamily of the Xanthorrhoeaceae family. Its scientific name is Kniphofia ‘flamenco,’ and it produces a large amount of nectar. This attracts hummingbirds, which pollinate the impressive flower.

Photo by me.

These are sparking up the Perennial Garden with their color. They live up to their name in the best way. —MN

(Source: brilliantbotany, via scinerds)

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Filed under: torchlily plant flower Kniphofia 'Flamenco' 
June 8, 2012

scelfleah:

Three ways of seeing the one.

How ethereal is the Chinese lantern? Physalis alkekengi covers its fruit in a papery, flame-like basal calyx that shows bright orange through winter and fades in spring, drying to a latticed cage of veins to reveal the “cherry” inside.

And so I thought, “Neat, why not?” —MN

(via theherbarium)

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Filed under: Chinese lantern botany plant 
January 19, 2012
WARNING: Science Content. Sorry—I’ve always wanted to steal a page from the Mythbusters’ playbook. —MN scinerds: Animal? Plant? Actually It’s Both!  Many animals transform themselves almost beyond recognition in the course of their lives. Caterpillars become butterflies and tadpoles become frogs, and if we couldn’t watch them do so we might not even suspect that the two stages were the same creature. Spectacular as these shifts are, they are only shape-shifting. A tadpole and a frog are both animals, so both must take in food from their surroundings. Not so Mesodinium chamaeleon. This newly discovered single-celled organism is a unique mixture of animal and plant.

WARNING: Science Content. Sorry—I’ve always wanted to steal a page from the Mythbusters’ playbook. —MN

scinerds:

Animal? Plant? Actually It’s Both! 

Many animals transform themselves almost beyond recognition in the course of their lives. Caterpillars become butterflies and tadpoles become frogs, and if we couldn’t watch them do so we might not even suspect that the two stages were the same creature. Spectacular as these shifts are, they are only shape-shifting. A tadpole and a frog are both animals, so both must take in food from their surroundings. Not so Mesodinium chamaeleon. This newly discovered single-celled organism is a unique mixture of animal and plant.

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(Notes: 406)
  
Filed under: plant animal 
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