After almost four months I’m back with a new Friday Fellow! It’s been some busy times and I had little to no time left to dedicate to the blog, but I always come back!
Anyway, today’s fellow is a beautiful but also nightmarish shrub that you may know, at least in tropical regions of the world. Its scientific name is Lantana camara, known in English as the common lantana.
Forming sort of a mix between a shrub and a vine, the common lantana can grow up to 2 m in height if standing alone and up to 6 m if climbing through another plant. The leaves are broad, ovate, somehow rough and have a strong scent when crushed.
Specimen with yellow flowers in Argentina. Photo by iNaturalist user Fede y Vani.
The flowers are tubular, with four petals, and arranged in clusters. They can have a great variety of colors, including white, yellow, orange, red and pink. The outer flowers in the cluster usually open first and are reddish than the ones in the middle, not only because of their location but because of their age because, after being pollinated, the flowers change color to let pollinators know that they should not waste their time on them anymore and should look for younger flowers instead. This is the same that happens in the common lungwort, which was presented here about half a year ago.
Specimen in Taiwan with one of the most typical flower colors, between yellow and red. Notice how the outer, older flowers are redder, and the inner ones are not even open yet. Photo by iNaturalist user 葉子.
Native to Central and South America, the common lantana has become a popular ornamental plant due to the beauty of its flowers. As a result, it was taken to many other countries and became an invasive species in Florida, Hawaii, Australia, India and tropical Africa. In these areas, it is often described as a noxious weed, and it has even been called one of the worst weeds in recorded history. The main negative effects caused by its introduction outside its native range are that it can be toxic to some animals and releases allelopathic chemicals, which reduce the growth of other plants around it. In Australia, India and South Africa, the common lantana was introduced about two centuries ago and, despite aggressive measures by the governments of these three countries to eradicate it, it continued to spread more and more and currently covers about 2 million hectares in South Africa, 5 million in Australia and 13 million in India, a real nightmare for the local ecosystems.
In Australia the common lantana has become an enemy almost as worse as capitalism. Photo by Adam Morris.
It looks like fighting against this species is a lost battle all around the world and new strategies dealing with adapting to its presence are necessary. If we can’t beat it, let’s join it.
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References:
Bhagwat, S. A., Breman, E., Thekaekara, T., Thornton, T. F., & Willis, K. J. (2012). A battle lost? Report on two centuries of invasion and management of Lantana camara L. in Australia, India and South Africa. PLoS One, 7(3), e32407. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0032407
As a kid and teen, I was fascinated by the lifeforms that I could find in our backyard, including many simple photosynthetic organisms such as cyanobacteria (my lovely Nostoc, already presented here a long time ago), mosses and, of course, green algae. Green filamentous algae used to grow in large quantities in ponds and puddles forming widespread slimy and hairy “patches”. Most of them were, I suppose, part of the genus Spirogyra.
Widespread across the world, especially in temperate climates, the genus Spirogyra contains hundreds of species. They are all very similar and, from what I can tell, very hard to be determined to the species level. It’s been quite some time since I wanted to bring a species of Spirogyra here, but most images available online are identified only to the genus level, and studies that go to the species level lack photographs of them. But after some time trying to find a good species, I ended up choosing one named Spirogyra neglecta, which would translate as the neglected spirogyra, a name that somehow describes the overall status of the genus, I think, at least regarding material that is easily available to non-spirogyrologists.
An unidentified species of Spirogyra that is probably the neglected spirogyra. Photo by iNaturalist user jjlisowski.*
Anyway, the neglected spirogyra, as all species of Spirogyra, belongs to the order Zygnematales, which consists of filamentous algae. But what does filamentous algae mean? It means that they exist as a colony of cells attached to each other in very long strings, or filaments, that can grow longer and longer as the cells continue to divide. In the case of Spirogyra, the most striking feature is their chloroplast, which has a spiral shape, hence the name of the genus. The number of chloroplasts in each cell varies from species to species. Some have only one, while others can have as many as eight, or perhaps even more. In the case of the neglected spirogyra, the number is usually two or three.
Found across the Holarctic region (North America, Europe, and northern Asia), the neglected spirogyra likes to grow in clear and eutrophic (nutrient-rich) water. It often grows completely submerged, but on sunny days the increased photosynthesis makes oxygen bubbles appear among the filaments and the whole “mat” can end up floating to the surface.
This is the overall aspect of all Spirogyra species when you see them in ponds. Photo by iNaturalist user clasher929.*
The most common form of reproduction among species of Spirogyra is through simple cellular division. The typical cells that form the colonies are haploid, having only one copy of each chromosome. When the environmental conditions are not good for them to survive or grow, sexual reproduction can occur through a process called conjugation. In this process, two cells, usually from different filaments that lie side by side, connect to each other through a conjugation tube. The content of one of the cells (considered the male) migrates into the other cell (considered the female) and their nuclei fuse, thus originating an ovoid zygote. The zygote becomes surrounded by a thick wall, forming the so-called zygospore, which can withstand harsh conditions such as drought or lack of nutrients for several months. During this time, the diploid nucleus of the zygospore undergoes meiosis, forming four haploid nuclei of which only one survives. When the environmental conditions are adequate, the zygospore germinates into a new Spirogyra cell, which will grow into a new filament as it reproduces by fission.
Several zygospores formed inside a “female” filament after conjugation. Notice the empty “male” cells below, Photo by Vasily Vishnyakov.*
Species of the genus Spirogyra are edible, and the neglected spirogyra is no different. These algae are a common ingredient in northern Thai cuisine, where they are eaten especially raw as salad. Despite being a cheap food, the neglected spirogyra is rich in nutrients and has antioxidant properties. Extracts from this alga have shown anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities, as well as the ability to stimulate the immune system.
Have you ever thought of making a salad from that green filamentous mat that grows in ponds around you?
Duangjai, A., Limpeanchob, N., Trisat, K., & Amornlerdpison, D. (2016). Spirogyra neglecta inhibits the absorption and synthesis of cholesterol in vitro. Integrative Medicine Research, 5(4), 301-308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.imr.2016.08.004
Mesbahzadeh, B., Rajaei, S. A., Tarahomi, P., Seyedinia, S. A., Rahmani, M., Rezamohamadi, F., … & Moradi-Kor, N. (2018). Beneficial effects of Spirogyra Neglecta Extract on antioxidant and anti-inflammatory factors in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Biomolecular Concepts, 9(1), 184-189. https://doi.org/10.1515/bmc-2018-0015
Ontawong, A., Saowakon, N., Vivithanaporn, P., Pongchaidecha, A., Lailerd, N., Amornlerdpison, D., … & Srimaroeng, C. (2013). Antioxidant and renoprotective effects of Spirogyra neglecta (Hassall) Kützing extract in experimental type 2 diabetic rats. BioMed Research International, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/820786
Schagerl, M., & Zwirn, M. (2015). A brief introduction to the morphological species concept of Spirogyra and emanating problems. Algological studies, 67-86. 10.1127/algol_stud/2015/0231
Surayot, U., Wang, J., Lee, J. H., Kanongnuch, C., Peerapornpisal, Y., & You, S. (2015). Characterization and immunomodulatory activities of polysaccharides from Spirogyra neglecta (Hassall) Kützing. Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry, 79(10), 1644-1653. https://doi.org/10.1080/09168451.2015.1043119
Thumvijit, T., Taya, S., Punvittayagul, C., Peerapornpisal, Y., & Wongpoomchai, R. (2014). Cancer chemopreventive effect of Spirogyra neglecta (Hassall) Kützing on diethylnitrosamine-induced hepatocarcinogenesis in rats. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 15(4), 1611-1616. https://doi.org/10.7314/APJCP.2014.15.4.1611
Blue is a relatively rare color in nature, but in some places it appears much more than in others. Flowers of plants in the family Boraginaceae are often blue. The forget-me-not is possibly the most popular example, but not the only one. Today our fellow is another blue flowered species that is also popular, not so much for its flowers though, but for its lung-like leaves, the common lungwort Pulmonaria officinalis.
The spotted leaves of the common lungwort are said to resemble diseased lungs. Photo by Jakob Fahr.*
Whenever you find a plant whose name refers to a body part, it most likely has to do with the ancient doctrine of signatures, the idea that a plant that resembles a human organ can be used to treat diseases on that organ. This is the case with the common lungwort and the common liverwort, which was presented here some time ago. The oval and kind of heart-shaped leaves of the common lungwort are slightly hairy on the upper side and marked by several white or pale spots. They were thought to represent an ulcerated lung and, therefore, used to treat diseases of the lungs. Although some studies revealed that lungwort extracts can present biological properties such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and wound healing activities, nothing has been found that is directly related to the lungs.
Found across most of continental Europe, the common lungwort is a small plant formed by a creeping rhizome from which the leaves sprout in the form of rosettes. It likes to grow on the forest floor, below the tree canopy, but dislikes places with too much shade. As a European species, it is very tolerant to cold, supporting temperatures as low as -29 °C.
The flowers of the common lungwort start red and slowly turn to blue as they age. Photo by iNaturalist user laivoi.*
In spring, between March and May, the flowers appear in inflorescences on elongated stems that grow from the leaf rosettes. They grow during a period in which the trees are only starting to produce new leaves so the flowers are fully exposed to the sun. Each inflorescence has 5 to 15 hermaphrodite flowers with five petals. The flowers start red and, as they age, they change color to purple and finally blue. This change in color occurs because the pigments are anthocyanins that are affected by pH, being red in acidic environments and blue in alkaline ones. The main pollinators of the common lungwort are bees and the plant only wants them to visit young, red flowers. As a result, the change in color helps direct the pollinators to the right flowers by signalling that the blue ones are uninteresting (and they, in fact, have no nectar anymore). But why does the plant keep flowers for longer periods instead of shedding the petals and producing fruits at once? Well, because the more flowers you have, the more pollinators you can attract from the distance. A large number of flowers makes you visible from far away but, as the pollinators come closer, the different colors guide them to the right spot.
Although they are too old to be pollinated, blue flowers are still useful in attracting pollinators for the younger, red flowers. Photo by iNaturalist user oburridge.*
The fruit of the common lungwort is a schizocarp, i.e., a small and dry fruit that splits into smaller portions, each containing a seed. In the case of the common lungwort, each fruit contains four seeds, and their main dispersers are ants. The ants collect the fruits, carry them to their colonies and feed the larvae with the fleshy portion, discarding the seed afterward.
The common lungwort is a popular plant because of its color-changing flowers and its resistance to cold, but, as we can see, this beauty hides an even deeper beauty caused by its interaction with the small creatures that share the same space with it.
Chauhan, S., Jaiswal, V., Cho, Y. I., & Lee, H. J. (2022). Biological Activities and Phytochemicals of Lungworts (Genus Pulmonaria) Focusing on Pulmonaria officinalis. Applied Sciences, 12(13), 6678. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12136678
Meeus, S., Brys, R., Honnay, O., & Jacquemyn, H. (2013). Biological flora of the British Isles: Pulmonaria officinalis. Journal of Ecology, 101(5), 1353-1368. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12150
After almost six years, we are back with a species of lycophyte, this time Phlegmariurus phlegmaria, commonly known as the coarse tassel fern. Despite this name, this species is not a true fern, but actually a club moss (which are not true mosses either…).
The coarse tassel fern has a widespread distribution from Africa to Southeast Asia and many Islands in the Indo-Pacific. This means that it is likely a complex of very similar species and not a single species. It occurs in shady places of tropical forests and grows on trees and other plants, often alongside true mosses and true ferns. Its scientific name, phlegmaria, is obviously related to phlegm, but I could not find anything stating that this plant was used medicinally for anything related to phlegm. Perhaps the name comes from the plant’s shape, as it lives hanging from trees as long, often yellowish strings? Ew…
Coarse tassel fern in the Cambridge University Botanic Garden. Photo by Magnus Manske.*
Across its native range, the coarse tassel fern is common in some areas and very rare in others. In Taiwain, for example, it is listed as an endangered species. Considering that different populations may be different species, this local threat may actually be a threat to a whole species. More molecular studies addressing different populations are necessary to make this issue clearer.
Phlegmariurus phlegmaria growing in New Caledonia. Photo by Leon Perrie.**
Recently, the complete chloroplast genome of the coarse tassel fern was sequenced. However, it was sequenced from specimens growing in China, and the type specimen for this species comes from India. Thus, in the future, we may end up discovering that the sequenced plant is from another, yet undescribed species of Phlegmariurus.
In traditional Chinese medicine, the coarse tassel fern has been used for the treatment of rheumatic pain, arthritis, traumatic injury, sore throat, edema, and urticaria. In Southeast Asia, it is also common to wash one’s hair using this plant in the belief that it stimulates hair growth, probably because of the ancient belief that a plant resembling a body part could be used to treat diseases of that organ, as I mentioned while presenting the common liverwort.
Studies on the chemical constituents of the coarse tassel fern and other species of Phlegmariurus found some compounds that can be useful in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. Some are present in related clubmoss genera, such as Huperzia, and are already marketed around the globe.
Species of Phlegmariurus, including the coarse tassel fern, are also cultivated as ornamental plants. Unfortunately, many plants that you can find for sale are extracted from the wild, which can lead to a serious reduction in the number of individuals in natural populations. So if you want to buy one of these to hang in your living room, be sure that it does not come from irresponsible exploitation of wild populations!
Field, A. R., & Bostock, P. D. (2013). New and existing combinations in Palaeotropical Phlegmariurus (Lycopodiaceae) and lectotypification of the type species Phlegmariurus phlegmaria (L.) T. Sen & U. Sen. PhytoKeys, (20), 33. https://doi.org/10.3897%2Fphytokeys.20.4007
Tang, L. M., Jiang, R. H., & An, J. C. (2020). The complete chloroplast genome of Phlegmariurus phlegmaria, one representative species of genus Phlegmariurus. Mitochondrial DNA Part B, 5(3), 3418-3419. https://doi.org/10.1080/23802359.2020.1820392
Yang, Y., Wang, Z., Wu, J., & Chen, Y. (2016). Chemical constituents of plants from the genus Phlegmariurus. Chemistry & Biodiversity, 13(3), 269-274. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbdv.201500043
The complexity of ecosystems is sustained by a variety of relationships that different species have with each other and that are often adapted to the environment in which they live. Although we usually think of relationships based on conflicts, such as predation, parasitism, and competition, beneficial relationships are almost as important and common, especially when we think of flowering plants, as many plant species rely on animals to pollinate them and disperse their seeds.
The different ways through which plants are pollinated are called pollination syndromes and include anemophily (pollination by wind), melittophily (by bees), phalenophily (by moths), sphingophily (by hawk moths), psychophily (by butterflies), myophily (by flies), cantharophily (by beetles), chiropterophily (by bats) and ornithophily (by birds), and there are generalist plants as well, whose flowers can be pollinated by several different animals. Now considering the way plants have their seeds dispersed, the classification is usually into only three categories: zoochory (by animals), anemochory (by wind), and autochory (by the plant itself, because why wait for animals or the wind? Ain’t nobody got time for that!).
Birds are among the many animals that can pollinate flowers (A) and disperse seeds (B). Image by Cássio Cardoso Pereira.*
We often think of bees and butterflies as the most common pollinators. Indeed bees are by far the most common and important, but actually very few plants rely exclusively on butterflies for pollination. Flies, beetles, moths, and even birds and bats often pollinate more plant species in a given ecosystem. Regardless of the ecosystem being a dense forest, an open grassland, or a shrubby savanna, bees are always the ones doing the job for most plant species.
Now regarding seed dispersal, the configuration of the ecosystem is much more important and causes drastic changes in the frequency of dispersal syndromes. In open areas such as grasslands and savannas, anemochory is often considered to be the predominant dispersal syndrome. In forests, however, zoochory would dominate, as there is not enough wind to blow seeds around.
When we survey the dispersal syndromes in forests, we find that most plant species have, indeed, their seeds dispersed by animals. However, a survey in grasslands and savannas can show results that look puzzling at first. Sometimes all three dispersal syndromes occur in the same proportion and sometimes lots of species continue to be dispersed by animals, while the wind is important only to a few. Were we wrong in our predictions then? Not necessarily.
One problem is that most studies, almost all actually, only compare pollination and dispersal syndromes by the number of species in that area. However, plant species are not evenly distributed in the environment. Some species have lots of individuals, being dominant in their ecosystems, while others occur in a much smaller number. Does the proportion of dispersal syndromes remain the same if we consider the number of individuals and not species? Not necessarily.
A recent study evaluated the pollination and dispersal syndromes of plants in an area of the Brazilian Cerrado biome, more specifically an area of Cerrado Rupestre (one of the less known Cerrado physiognomies). The researchers not only considered the distribution of the syndromes according to the number of species but also according to the number of individuals. Most plant species were pollinated by bees, as expected, and most individuals were pollinated by bees as well. However, while most species had their seeds dispersed by animals, most individuals had their seeds dispersed by wind. This means that, although most species rely on animals to disperse seeds, they tend to occur in a lower density, with fewer individuals per area. On the other hand, wind-dispersed species have a very high density, so most individuals in an area belong to them.
When we consider pollination and dispersal syndromes according to species or individuals, the picture can change drastically. Although most species are dispersed by animals in this Cerrado fragment (B), most plant individuals actually belong to species dispersed by wind (D). Credits to Pereira et al. (2022).*
When we consider the distribution of dispersal syndromes only according to species, the results seem to contradict what is expected for a savanna, but looking at it from the perspective of individuals makes it clear that the pattern follows the predictions.
Being aware of this is important for several reasons, especially to allow adequate management programs to protect such areas. The stability of an ecosystem does not depend solely on the species richness but also on the abundance of each species. By analyzing the distribution of dispersal syndromes from both perspectives, we can see that the wind is the main disperser for this ecosystem as a whole, but animals are still important dispersers to keep the species richness high and, in turn, a high richness of plant species is important to sustain the animal species. This makes our understanding of the whole system very different from what we would know from data on species alone. Now let’s hope future studies will start to address this issue from both perspectives as well.
Kuhlmann, M., & Ribeiro, J. F. (2016). Evolution of seed dispersal in the Cerrado biome: ecological and phylogenetic considerations. Acta Botanica Brasilica, 30, 271-282. https://doi.org/10.1590/0102-33062015abb0331
Pereira, C. C., Arruda, D. M., Soares, F. D. F. S., & Fonseca, R. S. (2022). The importance of pollination and dispersal syndromes for the conservation of Cerrado Rupestre fragments on ironstone outcrops immersed in an agricultural landscape. Neotropical Biology and Conservation, 17(1), 87-102. https://doi.org/10.3897/neotropical.17.e79247
Plants are the standard organism when one thinks of photosynthesis, but several species have actually lost the ability to synthesize their own food using light and have become completely heterotrophic. As a result, such plants survive by parasitizing other plants and feeding on their sap. Probably the most famous species of heterotrophic plant is Rafflesia arnoldii, the corpse flower, which has the largest flowers of any plant and was one one our first Friday Fellows almost 10 years ago. But today I will introduce you another, completely unrelated heterotrophic plant, Balanophora fungosa, commonly known as the fungus root.
This species occurs across southeast Asia and Australia, where it lives on the soil and parasitizes the roots of several different plants. As with most heterotrophic plants, the fungus root spends most of its life underground as nothing but a system of roots and rhizomes attached to the host plant. It is only visible on the surface when it produces its flowers, which, like the giant flower of the corpse flower, are also very unusual.
A group of inflorescences coming out of the ground in New Caledonia. We can see the pale bracts and the velvet-like club of female flowers surrounded by the larger male flowers at the base. Photo by iNaturalist user juju98.*
The flowers occur in inflorescences that are actually kind of cute. The overall color varies from pale cream, almost white, to pink. The base of the inflorescence has several bracts (modified, flower-associated leaves) that have the same pale cream to pink color, without any sign of green. The upper part has a club-shaped structure with a velvet-like surface formed by hundreds of tiny female flowers. Surrounding the base of the club are a few male flowers, which are much larger than the female flower, but still very small. The inflorescence as a whole looks similar to some mushrooms, such as puffballs, which is probably the reason for its common name fungus root.
A closeup of an inflorescence in Australia where we can see the male and female flowers in more details. Photo by Aaron Bean.*
I couldn’t find many details about the life cycle of this cute parasite, but it seems to be pollinated by an enormous range of animals, including several types of insects, arachnids and even small vertebrates, which may be attracted to feed on the pollen and nectar or perhaps tricked by the unusual smell that the flowers produce. The smell is unlike the sweet fragrance of most flowers but is also not an unpleasant smell of carrion like that of the corpse flower, the titan arum and so many other plants. Actually, it is said that the flowers smell like a mouse. Perhaps it tricks small mammals to think it is a reproductive member of their species just like some orchids do by mimicking the shape and smell of female bees? This is a possibility, but actually most of the small mammals and birds that visit the flowers are actually nectarivores and are probably only looking for the delicious nectar.
Anyway, there is a lot we still don’t know about this unusual but adorable fungus-like plant.
Ferns make up an amazing group of plants and can have many different shapes and sizes. Some can grow like a tree, the so-called tree ferns, which are the tallest ferns in the world today. However, some other not-quite-tree ferns can also become really large. And one of those is today’s fellow, Angiopteris evecta, known as the king fern, giant fern, oriental vessel fern and many other names.
Native from Indonesia, Australia and many Pacific Islands near the equator, the king fern was discovered by European naturalists in the second half of the 18th century and it soon started to be cultivated as an ornamental plant due to its astonishing looks. The fronds (i.e., leaves) of the king fern are bipinnate, meaning that they have a feather shape, like in most ferns, where the leaflets are themselves formed by smaller leaflets. The shape of those fronds is nothing that special, but their size is amazing, as they can reach up to 9 m in length and 2.5 m in width. About 2 m of its length is formed by the thick and fleshy petiole. This makes them the largest fern leaves in the world, and they are even more incredible because despite this huge size they have no hard, woody tissues to sustain them, relying entirely on the hydraulic pressure of the sap.
The fronds of the king fern are so huge it is very hard to take a good photo of them. Credits of this one to Forest & Kim Starr.**
The rhizome (i.e., stem) of the king fern is also huge. It can reach up to 1 m in diameter and get very long. Most of it lies on the ground, like a fallen tree trunk, but the tip is often vertical and can reach up to 1.5 m in height. Overall, considering the size of the huge fronds, the plant can be up to 7 m high and 16 m wide.
The preferred habitat of the king fern are hot rainforests with very rich and drainable soils and good water availability, often near the coast. The sporangia that grow on the underside of the fronds produce a very large number of spores, which enables the king fern to spread quickly across suitable areas. As a result, it became invasive in some areas where it was introduced as an ornamental plant, such as Hawaii, Jamaica, Cuba and Costa Rica. Other regions where the king fern can potentially become invasive include most of the Caribbean and the tropical forest near the coast in Central and South America, Africa and Southeast Asia.
The thick trunk-like rhizome grows horizontally on the ground, except for its terminal part, which is pointed upward. Photo by Steve Fitzgerald.*
The king fern is traditionally used as a medicinal herb by the Dayak people in Borneo, especially to treat liver problems. The rhizome is highly toxic, but apparently can be eaten after a process to extract the toxins. Studies with extracts of the plant indicated that it has the potential for the development of drugs against HIV-1 and tuberculosis.
And there is one more interesting thing about this species. There are fossil fronds from the Carboniferous, about 300 million years old, that are basically identical to those of the king fern. This suggests that this species is insanely old, and was widespread around the whole world during that time. Later, as the eras passed, it retreated to its current native location in areas near the tropical Indo-Pacific. Now, due to human intervention, it seems that the king fern is about to dominate the whole planet again 300 million years after its last empire.
Christenhusz, M. J., & Toivonen, T. K. (2008). Giants invading the tropics: the oriental vessel fern, Angiopteris evecta (Marattiaceae). Biological Invasions, 10(8), 1215-1228. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-007-9197-7
Kamitakahara, H., Okayama, T., Agusta, A., Tobimatsu, Y., & Takano, T. (2019). Two‐dimensional NMR analysis of Angiopteris evecta rhizome and improved extraction method for angiopteroside. Phytochemical Analysis, 30(1), 95-100. https://doi.org/10.1002/pca.2794
Most spices in the world come from Europe and Asia, at least the most famous ones. However, a few less known spices can be found natively in other parts of the world as well. Today I will present you one of these little-known spice plants, Canella winterana, known in English as the wild cinnamon or pepper cinnamon.
This tree species is native from southern Florida and most of the Caribbean and usually reaches a height of about 10 m, sometimes growing up to 15 m. The bark is light gray and thick, with many small crevices that break it into small scales.
The flowers starting to open. Photo by Wikimedia user Pancrat.*
The small flowers have five dark-red petals and appear in small inflorescences at the end of the branches. They appear during autumn and are monoecious, i.e., have both male and female organs. All flowers of a single plant tend to open at about the same time and exhibit the female function for about 24h. After that, the female organ dries out and the flowers enter into a neuter phase that can last from as little as 1 h to more than 12 h, but never more than 24 h. After that, the male part finally becomes mature, again in all flowers of the plant at the same time. The small fruits, which are also dark-red when ripe, are eaten by many bird species.
The dark-red fruits. Photo by Wikimedia user Pancrat.*
The bark of the pepper cinnamon has a similar scent to that of the true cinnamon Cinnamomum verum, and it is said to be used in a similar way, hence the name. The fruits can also be dried and used as a spice. Unfortunately, I was only able to find very little information about this culinary use of the plant besides several sources simply stating that it is used like that. Is this use widespread in Caribbean cultures? Is it an important ingredient of some particular dish? If someone can answer those questions, please, leave a comment!
Makowski, H., Majetic, C., Garrett, P., Johnson, S., Schurr, P., & Moore, R. (2021). Floral scent is different between sexual phases within individuals in a synchronously dichogamous shrub (Canella winterana) but there is no distinct female or male scent profile across individuals. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology, 96, 104270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bse.2021.104270
For those who never paid much attention to the mini-world of mosses, these may all look the same. However, as we have already learned with the moss species that have been previously presented here, there is a great diversity among these small non-vascular plants. But what if I told you that not all mosses lack water-conducting tissues, or at least not quite?
To understand this, let’s introduce today’s species, Polytrichum commune, also known as the common haircap moss, among other names. It is found across the whole world in areas with high humidity and rainfall, especially bogs, wet heathlands and along forest streams.
Common haircap moss growing in Canada. Photo by iNaturalist user sarahgrant11111.*
Several things make the common haircap moss a very peculiar moss. While most moss species are only some millimeters tall, sometimes a few centimeters, the common haircap moss can grow to an exceptional height of 70 cm, although it often does not go beyond 10 cm. Young plants are dark green, but the color slightly changes to brown as they age. The leaves are often 6 to 8 mm long but can reach 12 cm. They are narrow and elongate. When dry, they point upward, becoming closer to the stem, but when they get wet they point outward, often curving slightly downward.
The reproduction of the common haircap moss basically follows the same pattern as in other mosses. The dominant phase is the gametophyte, which can produce either male or female gametes. The male gametes travel through the water until they reach the female plants and fuse with the female gametes to produce a zygote, which will grow into the sporophyte that has the typical aspect of a long stem with a spore capsule at the top. Then the sporophyte releases the spores, they germinate to produce new gametophytes.
Sporophytes growing on top of the female gametophytes in Germany. Photo by Christian Kahle.
While most moss species have a single layer of photosynthetic cells on the surface of their leaves, the common haircap moss has them organized into lamellae, ridges that run along the leaves’ length and are one cell thick and several cells tall. The uppermost cells of the lamellae are slightly wider than the others, which makes very narrow gaps to form below them between adjacent lamellae. This microenvironment can retain water in dry conditions, which makes the common haircap moss relatively resistant to desiccation when compared to the average moss.
Cross section of a leaf showing the lamellae of photosynthetic cells. Photo by Hermann Schachner.
But the complexity of this species does not stop there. While a typical moss has no differentiated tissues in its stem and water has to be conducted from cell to cell via osmosis, the stem of the common haircap moss has a central portion formed by enlarged cells adapted to transport water upward, similar to how the xylem of vascular plants work. Around this tissue, another layer of specialized cells seems to be able to work as the phloem, conducting water in the other direction.
Cross section of the stem showing the vascular tissue in the central portion. Photo by Hermann Schachner.
Since mosses are not the ancestors of vascular plants, these structures must have evolved independently in both groups. This suggests that vascularization could evolve again and again to help photosynthetic sessile organisms conquer the land. Perhaps if we humans stop to fuck this planet up, one day a new lineage of vascular plants may evolve from the lovely haircap mosses.
Brodribb, T. J., Carriquí, M., Delzon, S., McAdam, S. A. M., & Holbrook, N. M. (2020). Advanced vascular function discovered in a widespread moss. Nature Plants, 6(3), 273-279. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-020-0602-x
Today’s species is a very popular ornamental plant and I am sure you have already seen it somewhere, or perhaps everywhere. A succulent of the family Crassulaceae, its scientific name is Kalanchoe blossfeldiana. But do you know how to pronounce Kalanchoe? I have heard all sorts of pronunciations, but the best way to understand how to say this word is knowing its origin. It comes from a Chinese word, which was registered as ‘Kalanchauhuy’. The word is probably 伽藍菜 (gāláncài) and, if this is really the case, the most adequate pronunciation in English would be KAL-ən-choy /ˈkælənt͡ʃɔɪ̯/. Anyway, here we will call it flaming Katy, one of its common names. Let’s talk about the plant itself now.
Flaming Katies are often cultivated in small flower pots with a single plant per pot. Photo by Veronica Russell**.
The flaming Katy is native from Madagascar, growing in nutrient-rich soils of mountain plateaus. It is a relatively slow-growing plant with smooth succulent leaves and reaches a maximum height of about 45 cm in two to five years. It flowers in late autumn and early winter, producing compound inflorescences with small four-petal flowers, although some cultivars have double flowers, with an increased number of petals.
As most succulents, the flaming Katy is very easy to cultivate. It does not require much water, although it needs to get direct sunlight or at least intense indirect sunlight. As a result, it has become a very popular ornamental plant and many different cultivars have been developed, including flowers of many different colors, such as white, yellow, orange, red, pink and magenta. Phytochemistry studies have revealed considerable differences in the amount of different types of flavonoids in the flowers of different colors. These differences could help direct the crossing of existing varieties to create new colors, especially blue.
Several cultivars with different colors, as well as simple and double flowers. Photo by Einav Porat.*
Due to its ease of cultivation, the flaming Katy is also frequently used in studies on several fields, including genetics, plant physiology, phytochemistry and ecology. Nevertheless, it does not seem to be considered a model organism, at least not yet, probably because most studies are focused on improving the plant for ornamental use by producing new varieties with different colors and shapes or with increased resistance to certain environmental conditions. But perhaps one day we will find out that this lovely and popular plant can be useful beyond its ornamental role in our gardens.
Asrar, A. A., Abdel-Fattah, G. M., Elhindi, K. M., & Abdel-Salam, E. M. (2014). The impact of arbuscular mychorrhizal fungi in improving growth, flower yield and tolerance of kalanchoe (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana Poelin) plants grown in NaCl-stress conditions. Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment, 12(1), 105-112.
Nielsen, A. H., Olsen, C. E., & Møller, B. L. (2005). Flavonoids in flowers of 16 Kalanchoe blossfeldiana varieties. Phytochemistry, 66(24), 2829-2835. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phytochem.2005.09.041
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