… orchid of them all: the genus Vanilla. (Yes, vanilla is an orchid.) One unusual story comes from Ph.D. student Lynnaun Johnson, whose work in our doctoral program in Plant Biology and … on concrete blocks was the best method. At another farm, the farmer brought decaying wood from a neighboring forest and used it as mulch for his vanilla plants that grew on living posts known as “tuteurs.” This was different from the other farmers who grew their vanilla on trees in the forest and wooden dead “tuteurs.” …
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… Still and floriculturist Tim Pollak removed the spathe (the frilly bract that never opened) from Spike’s spadix (the flower tower that grew to 6 feet tall), I’d had to learn all about the … then they started talking pollen. Flashback: What is pollen? Tiny squiggles of pollen emerge from the male flowers about three days after Spike’s spathe was removed. Think of a grain of … sweet corn or oak trees have pollen as dry and fine as dust (indeed, the word “pollen” derives from the Latin for fine flour or dust). Orchids have developed waxy balls of pollen (pollinia) …
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… anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty on December 1, 2019. The 100-woman group traveled together from 30 countries as part of the Homeward Bound leadership training program. Photo by Will Rogan, … to ensure that the future of STEMM reflects the diversity of the human population and benefits from the talents and strengths of women. The three-week Antarctic expedition provided a unique … and ice sheets (fresh water) and changes in penguin colony size and distribution resulting from warming waters and lost ice. What was the trip like, you may be wondering? The expedition …
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… sad news, but the answer to that one is, well…have you noticed that weeds will grow quite well from the seams in the sidewalk? Or from the smallest cracks in the driveway? Or apparently straight out of bare concrete along the … smallest of these roots can be the diameter of a human hair and extend hundreds of yards away from the tree! And their depth in the soil can be from 8 inches to 2 feet down, depending upon …
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… herbaria, for future reference. As it turns out, some of the plant materials they saved are from populations that no longer exist. Now, all of that data is coming together for the first … genetic information on the remaining plants, working with field collectors in the Midwest from Iowa to Ohio, and also from Maine. She is examining the genes, or DNA, of each of the sampled populations, along with …
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… all the years I have grown orchids at home. Cattleya orchid (Cattleya coccinea) and hybrids from the Wisconsin Orchid Society Show in 2017—my plants! First, a few facts. Brazil has one of … the world , with more than 2,500 species reported, and no doubt many more undescribed species from the botanically unexplored interior. If you enjoy orchids at all, you have already seen Brazilian orchid species or the hybrids derived from them. Just a few of the well-known orchids that are indigenous to Brazil are many of the …
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… or not. For instance, we collected seeds of Echinacea paradoxa (yellow coneflower) from its northern most growing region, in Ha Ha Tonka State Park in Missouri. Selecting seeds of … rather than if the seeds had been collected in Texas. Plants that have a different phenotype from what we commonly observe in northern Illinois were of special interest to us. Fruit from Diospyros virginiana (common persimmon) was collected on a 4-foot-tall tree in Mark Twain …
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… Its multiple styles (female flower parts that support the stigma, where pollen is delivered from insect pollinators) are united instead of separated in most wild roses. There is another … effect of a multi-pink colored rose. These are interesting differences that separate this rose from other wild roses, but the biggest difference that separates this rose from all other roses cannot be seen, at least when in flower. Illinois rose is the only rose that …
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… Koop’ Size does matter. Of the 70,000 varieties developed, dahlia blooms range in size from the miniatures, just 12 inches tall with 2-inch blooms, to the huge “dinnerplates,” … perennials in a garden. Recognized by one member as “The Las Vegas of flowers,” dahlias range from the darkest red or purple to many shades of pink, orange, yellow, and white. There are also blends, variegated, and bi-colored cultivars. The only color missing from this palette is blue. Many admired the range of color in the foliage as well. Informal …
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… the literature,” noted Tankersley, who was amazed to see both male and female cones emerging from the tree’s branches earlier this year. “We don’t know enough about this plant to know if it … generate new seedlings by dropping specific branches that take root, or it can exchange pollen from male to female cones to generate seed. At the Garden, scientists plan to pollinate the tree when the time is right. They will use pollen from the tree itself, and if available, pollen from a tree at another botanic garden. They will …
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