🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social Profile Banner
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social Profile
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social

@Scott_Zona

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Personal acct. #TropicalBotany . Author of "A Gardener's Guide to Botany.” Henry's 2nd favorite dad 🐶 IG: Scott.Zona

📐, North Carolina, 🇺🇸
Joined May 2015
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
🚨 My award-winning book is in stores now! 🚨 Publisher’s blurb here: Available from your local bookseller, or these: Amazon B & N Waterstones Book Depos.
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
7 years
Passiflora boenderi has leaf spots that mimic butterfly eggs. "Occupied" leaves deter butterflies from laying real eggs. #Passifloraceae
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
Today is #WorldRobberflyDay . Elegantly attired for the occasion is the Carpenter Bee Robber Fly ( #Hyperechia marshalli), as photographed by Ton Rulkens in #Mozambique . #Diptera #Asilidae
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
The corky prickles on the #bark of Ceiba insignis ( #Malvaceae ) are, presumably, defensive, but they beg the question: From what creature(s) are they defending the tree?🐵🐻🐰🐷
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
8 months
My PhD advisor, the late Sherwin Carlquist, successfully grew Hydnora africana ( #Aristolochiaceae ) at his home in Claremont, CA. He put seeds on the roots of Euphorbia caput-medusae ( #Euphorbiaceae ) & eventually was rewarded with flowers. This is his photo. #parasiticplant
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
Vachellia collinsii ( #Fabaceae ) have hollow stipular spines that are inhabited by #ants . The ants will vigorously defend the plant against all enemies. Native to s. Mexico & Central America. #TropicalBotany #mutualism #symbiosis #domatia #stipules
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
Even more bizarre (than yesterday's species) is this #Boraginaceae from the Desert Southwest: It is Pholisma sonorae, which is also a root #parasite of nearby shrubs in the Asteraceae, Polygonaceae, and even of other Boraginaceae! 📷: Kenneth Lorenzen via @inaturalist
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
6 years
Beautiful symmetry in the leaf arrangement of the aquatic Ludwigia sedioides ( #Onagraceae ). The species epithet means "like Sedum" because the plant resembles a rosette species of Sedum. #TropicalBotany
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
5 years
What’s not to love about Liriodendron tulipifera ( #Magnoliaceae )? Cool leaves, humongous stipules and those striking flowers! 😍😍😍
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
4 years
While every other platform has a Saguaro-type (subfamily #Cactoideae ) cactus #emoji , LG went with an Opuntia ( #Opuntioideae ). Well played, LG! 🌵 And kudos to #WhatsApp for adding flowers. Nice touch! #Cactaceae #Cactus #Cactusemoji #Taxonomy @LGUS Yes, #Iamabotanist
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
4 years
One of the fastest movements in the plant kingdom, the way Catasetum sticks pollinia on an insect (or finger) is amazing! #orchid #Orchidaceae #pollination
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
1 year
Ticking this off my life list today. Green Swamp Preserve, North Carolina. Dionaea muscipula.
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
1 year
This infographic from Kalita et al. 2021 () shows the four ancestral Citrus along with their many modern derivatives, some of which are important crops while others are grown as curiosities or used as rootstocks. #Rutaceae #Citrus 🍊🍋
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
1 year
Cushion plants, krummholz vegetation & coastal wind-pruned plants have many features similar to those of #divaricating plants, but cushion plants, from harsh, montane sites, have the densest canopies of all. 📷: Azorella compacta ( #Apiaceae ), Bolivia, Cody Hinchliff CC BY-NC-SA 2
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
We have lift off! 🚀 Today is the official launch day of my book, A Gardener's Guide to Botany! Available from all the usual booksellers (links in my pinned tweet). (Yes, I am very pleased. 🥳🎉🍾 Photo by TH Chow.) @QuartoHomes
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
Fabulous photos showing the mutualism between #cycads and #cyanobacteria . Those dark bands inside the roots are colonies of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria. #Cyadaceae #Zamiaceae
@megetra
Nick Rocha
2 years
Cycad circinalis coralloid roots! With Cyanobacteria!
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
1 year
For plant-y people who like coffee, here it is: from flower to cup. #coffee #cafe #CoffeeLover #Coffea
@MsCiencia2
Más Ciencia
1 year
Una manera diferente de ver el "ciclo" del café.
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
11 months
Aspidistra grandiflora was described from Vietnam in 2007. What could possibly pollinate the flowers & what is the function of those long perianth lobes? Most Aspidistra seem shy to flower, which may account for so much diversity being overlooked for so long. #Asparagaceae
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
4 years
Llareta or yareta (Azorella compacta; #Apiaceae ) is an amazing cushion plant of the South American Altiplano. It was once cut and burned to fuel copper smelting, an unsustainable practice: Cushions grow only 1.5 cm/yr. 📷: @TAFeuerborn #TropicalBotany #Apiales
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
6 years
Most cultivated bananas are #parthenocarpic & sterile #triploids . Just as well. The seeds of bananas are large & hard. If all bananas had #seeds like this wild-type Musa liukiuensis ( #Musaceae ), they’d be inedible. #TropicalBotany
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
6 years
Flowers on the edges of leaves? Impossible! These "leaves" are actually flattened stems ( #cladodes ). This is Semele androgyna ( #Asparagaceae ), endemic to the Canary Islands & Madiera. Photo'd at @TrescoGarden
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
7 years
Beautiful symmetry in the leaf arrangement of the aquatic Ludwigia sedioides ( #Onagraceae ). #TropicalBotany
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
#Monocots get in on the red new leaf act, and no one does it better than Chambeyronia macrocarpa of New Caledonia. It is sometimes called the Flame-thrower palm. Obviously. 💁‍♂️ #Arecaceae #red #leaves #palm #TropicalBotany
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
3 years
I received the sad news this morning that Sherwin Carlquist has died. He was my PhD advisor & good friend of 35+ years. He was a giant in the fields of island biology and wood evolution. Botany has lost one of the greats.
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
5 years
Do you think the tiny traps on this little seedling #Nepenthes really catch any prey? Bako National Park, #Sarawak , #Malaysia . #carnivorousplants #TropicalBotany
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
6 years
Botanists agree that #Rosmarinus ( #Rosemary ) is embedded within the genus #Salvia ( #Lamiaceae ), so Rosemary is now called Salvia rosmarinus. Please make a note of it. Thank you.
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
5 years
Flowers of this Neoregelia hybrid ( #Bromeliaceae ) develop underwater in the center of the rosette’s water tank (phytotelma). They emerge for a day just above the waterline to beckon pollinators. Fruits develop underwater, too. #TropicalBotany
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
6 years
The cooling effect of mint (Mentha spp., #Lamiaceae ) is real. Menthol activates the same Ca2+-permeable cation channel that is activated by cold. How cool is that? #phytochemicalfriday
@dukeresearch
Duke Research & Innovation
6 years
The berth of cool: the shape of the protein that lets us sense cold is revealed.
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
4 years
Something went terribly wrong with this thistle's terminal meristem -- it's become flattened (fasciated) and monstrose. It's an amazing find!
@HEStrategy
John Pilgrim
4 years
And lo strange beasts did appear in the fields
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
5 years
Longest known leaf in the Angiosperms!
@tlpcouvreur
Thomas L.P. Couvreur
5 years
@meriania @MarisaEuthamiae Raphia regalis (palm), in central Africa (Gabon & Camerooun), up to 25 m leaves.
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
4 years
It's not every day we can tweet about a NEW FAMILY of Angiosperms!
@BotanicsMan
Botanics Man🧐
4 years
GIANT CABBAGE!? ... a #newspecies & #newfamily of #plant Tiganophyton karasense • Tiganophytaceae, A New Brassicalean Family discovered in Namibia.
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
Hi, Plant People 👋 I’m pleased that my new book is now available for pre-order! 🚨 Publisher’s blurb here: Order it here: Amazon B & N Waterstones Book Depos.
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
#Iridaceae are spectacular! The family is cosmopolitan & has over 2100 spp. There are 7 subfamilies. 1st up: the geographically & phylogenetically isolated Isophysis tasmanica from #Tasmania . #Isophysidoideae 📷: Kaely Kreger via @inaturalist
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
Just a reminder that my book, A Gardener's Guide to Botany, will be out in Jan 2023 (a 4-week delay because "supply chain" 😒). You can reserve your copy now. Booksellers' links are in my pinned tweet.
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
4 years
This one might be my favorite: Solanum pyracanthos of #Madagascar . Its specific epithet means “Fire thorn.” How metal is that? #Solanaceae #TropicalBotany
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
The formidable thorns on Gleditsia triacanthos grow from the trunk, & the tree produces new thorns seasonally. The thorns are a beautiful chestnut brown when they first emerge. #Thorns are, of course, modified stem tissue (& #spines are modified leaf tissue). #Fabaceae
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
🚨 I'm delighted to learn that my book, A Gardener's Guide to Botany, has been selected as one of three recipients of the American Horticultural Society's Book Award for 2023! 🏆💯🌟 @AHS_Gardening @QuartoHomes
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
4 years
It's finally happened: I've had this #orchid for 6 yrs, bought as a single, small pseudobulb for $10. Nursed it, moved it, coddle it. At last rewarded with 2 spikes of the most amazing color! This is Monnierara Millennium Magic 'Witchcraft' FCC/AOS
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
A final holoparasite to close out two weeks of Parasitic Angiosperms. This is Tristerix aphyllus ( #Loranthaceae ), endemic to #Chile & a parasite of the columnar #cactus Leucostele chiloensis (Echinopsis c.) #Cactaceae #parasite #holoparasite
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
6 years
Stapelia ( #Apocynaceae ) flowers are famous for stinking of carrion & deceiving Calliphorid #flies into pollinating them, but this one is different. This little charmer is #Stapelia flavopurpurea, whose flowers are faintly but very pleasantly #fragrant . #TropicalBotany #perfume
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
Anybody recognize this tree species? Evergreen, trifoliate leaves, papery bark. Growing outside in Seattle.
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
An interesting phenomenon, much remarked upon by naturalists, is the red color of the new leaves of many woody plants. It is a very common phenomenon in the tropics. An outstanding example is Matudaea trinervia ( #Hamamelidaceae ). #red #leaves #TropicalBotany
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
5 years
This week I’m spotlighting plants of #Chile with pics taken some years ago. First up: Cruckshanksia hymenodon of the #Rubiaceae . Those pink bits are enlarged sepal lobes. Embalse de Yeso, Chile. 🇨🇱
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
1 year
Sisal is a fiber extracted from Agave sisalana of Mexico, but nearly all the species have fibrous leaves that can yield fiber. By retting away the soft tissue of a leaf, I made a 1-m long length of fiber, complete with its own needle (terminal spine). 🪡🧵 #Agave #Asparagaceae
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
8 months
The Huntington Botanical Gardens grows & displays Viscum minimum ( #Santalaceae ), which is a mistletoe that parasitizes Euphorbia polygona ( #Euphorbiaceae ). Those red berries are the fruits of the parasite, not the Euphorbia. #parasiticplant @TheHuntington
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
Epiphyllous flowers: Flowers are never borne on leaves, but if the inflorescence axis is fused to the leaf midvein, mirabile dictu, a leaf bears flowers. 📷1: Phyllobotryon spathulatum ( #Salicaceae ) by Ingrid Parmentier. 📷2: Helwingia sp. ( #Helwingiaceae ) #Morphology
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
9 years
Meet Edithcolea grandis. Who was Miss Edith Cole 🇬🇧? Why was she collecting plants in Somalia in 1895? #IWD2016
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
3 years
Puya raimondii ( #Bromeliaceae ) looking amazing!
@Olga49840334
✪lga 🌷💞
3 years
🌳💚Interesting trees 🌳💚
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
4 years
Here's an interesting read about color frequency in flowers👉🏼Fragmentary Blue: Resolving the Rarity Paradox in Flower Colors
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
Fantastic! One of the fastest movements in the Plant Kingdom. Instead of a finger, imagine a bee probing the flower, and then imagine how surprised the bee would be to have that glued to its thorax! #Orchidaceae #pollination
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
7 months
This is amazing! 🤯😍 Balanophora ( #Balanophoraceae ) is successfully cultivated! It is a holoparasite, i.e. it has no chlorophyll so is completely dependent on its host, Pittosporum ( #Pittosporaceae ), for water and nutrients.
@yokuyama
奥山雄大(茨城県在住関西人)
7 months
@Scott_Zona @ChelsPhysicGdn Balanophora tobiracola successfully grown in Tsukuba Botanical Garden, Tsukuba, Japan. I sowed seeds in the pot of one of its hosts Pittosporum tobira and emerged three years later.
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
4 years
Juniperus virginiana ( #Cupressaceae ) is a common in the eastern US. It has heteroblastic leaves – leaves that change shape as the plant matures. Juvenile with needle leaves on left; adult with scale leaves on right. #Conifers
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
5 years
Stapelia flavopurpurea ( #Apocynaceae ) is perhaps my favorite #Stapelia . The colors are outstanding, and unlike its cousins, it is deliciously fragrant. #succulents #tropicalbotany
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
7 months
This week, I’m banging on about hydrochory: dispersal by water. Heritiera littoralis ( #Malvaceae ) is a mangrove tree with water-dispersed fruits. You might imagine the ridge acts like a keel, but it’s more of a sail or a vane. #hydrochory #dispersal 📷: Douglas Goldman CCBY4
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
9 months
Check out the new Crepidorhopalon droseroides ( #Linderniaceae ). Somebody has got to study this thing & find out whether it’s carnivorous. Coincidentally, Linderniaceae is sister to #Byblidaceae . Byblis is also sticky & produces enzymes in its glue. #carnivory #stickyplant
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
1 year
Perhaps the strangest glistening floral attractants are the enlarged, clear, finger-like cells at the base of the stamens in the flower of Nemacladus rubescens ( #Campanulaceae ). They are purely attractive (to #Diptera ?). They aren't taken by #pollinators . 📷: Matt Berger CC BY 4
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
3 years
The evolution of a fig ( #Ficus ; #Moraceae ) #syconium is not hard to imagine if you know the inflorescence of Dorstenia. It’s like a plate or bowl of tiny flowers. Now imagine turning that bowl into an urn, and you have a #syconium , an outside-in inflorescence. #Tropicalbotany
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
10 months
I’m doing another week of #Ericaceae – it’s such a diverse and interesting family. Last week, I covered the many woody spp. of SE USA, but let’s not overlook the non-woody taxa like Monotropa uniflora, a bizarre mycoheterotrophic species of e. Asia & N. America. #mycoheterotroph
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
4 years
The Africa Baobab (Adansonia digitata) tree gets lots of attention for its amazingly obese trunk, but the flowers are pretty spectacular too! They open at night and are pollinated by bats! 🦇🦇🦇 #Malvaceae #TropicalBotany
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
7 years
Leaves of Araucaria araucana ( #Araucariaceae ) are spirally arranged -- and are hard, inflexible and sharp, like little daggers. 🗡️🗡️🗡️
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
1 year
Citrus fruits are non-climacteric. They don’t ripen after being harvested. Left on the tree, oranges (which develop color in cool weather) can re-green when the weather turns warm. Non-climacteric fruits don’t over-ripen but can succumb to molds or desiccation. #Rutaceae #Citrus
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
8 years
Pachira aquatica ( #Malvaceae ) blooms at night, like proper fireworks. 🎆Fragrant, too, unlike fireworks. #flowersthatlooklikefireworks
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
Sterculia tantraensis ( #Malvaceae ) of New Guinea produces that most fantastic #fruits . They are clusters of follicles that turn red and open to reveal black seeds. This display screams “Eat Me” to frugivorous birds, but the hard seeds offer no nutritional reward. #dispersal
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🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
For #BlackFriday , I give you Dracula roezlii 'Cow Hollow.' #orchid #Orchidaceae Photo by Luis E. Baquero
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
Leaf #domatia on #Melastomataceae are grotesquely elaborated pockets in the lamina or petioles. Those of Miconia tococa are inhabited by #ants that defend the plant against herbivores & even against climbing plants. #TropicalBotany #mutualism 📷: Dick Culbert (CC BY 2.0)
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
1 year
Zamia species ( #Zamiaceae ) offer their cones to beetles ( #Nitidulidae , #Curculionidae ; #Coleoptera ) for brood-site #pollination . Beetles lay eggs in the cone scales & axis, but don’t harm the seeds. 📷: Zamia integrifolia by Richard Crook CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. #beetles
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
4 years
More Pandanus roots, just because I’m 10 years old and can’t stop taking photos of their 🍆 roots. #TropicalBotany #Pandanaceae
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
3 years
I feel the need to highlight #conifers & their #cones this week & show the #gymnosperms a little love🥰. I’ll start with this great, stonking female cone of Dioon spinulosum. Now *that’s* a cone. #Zamiaceae
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
10 months
Pieris ( #Ericaceae ) has a classic e. North America & e. Asia disjunction. This is Pieris phillyreifolia, endemic to the SE USA, where it climbs Taxodium trees by wedging itself into furrows in the bark of the trees. Its relatives lack this odd habit. 📷: Emmett Carstens CCBYNC4
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
6 years
Aerial water gardens? You bet! Neoregelia ( #Bromeliaceae ) is a genus of epiphytic, rosette plants that impound water. Flowers develop underwater, emerging to invite the visits of #butterflies . This is the Neoregelia 'Big Mac.' #pollination #TropicalBotany
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
7 months
Sacred #lotus , Nelumbo nucifera ( #Nelumbonaceae ), is thermogenic. Most heat is produced in the receptacle, but stamens & tepals also become warm. Carbohydrates “burn” via alternative oxidase (AOX) & generate heat. #Nitidulidae beetles are pollinators. #thermogensis #Coleoptera
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
7 months
My friends & colleagues John & Soejatmi Dransfield successfully inoculated a walnut (Juglans sp.; #Juglandaceae ) in their back garden with bits of Lathraea clandestina ( #Orobanchaceae ). THIS was the payoff. 🤯 What an amazing #parasiticplant !
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
1 year
Many #Asteraceae exhibit #heterocarpy within each inflorescence: fruits from different parts of the disk are different (with different #dispersal capacity). Here’s a plate from Souza-Filho et al. (2019) showing various species of Bidens. #dispersal . Paper:
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
9 months
Pterocactus (10 spp) means “winged cactus.” These S. American species have dry fruits that break open at maturity to release large, winged seeds. This is a wind-dispersed #cactus ! 🤯 #Opuntoideae #Cactaceae #Tephrocacteae #dispesal . P. tuberosus by Silvina Velez CCBYNC4
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
The papery, peeling #bark of some trees, such as this Bursera simaruba ( #Burseraceae ), may be a defense against epiphytes, or so one hypothesis goes. I don’t see much empirical support for this hypothesis. What's the function of papery bark? #TropicalBotany
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
6 months
Calochortus obispoensis, a serpentine endemic. Kevin Bertolero CC BY 2.0 #Liliaceae #Calochortus #TeamMonocot
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
7 months
Does anyone recognize this daffodil cultivar? It’s early (blooming now), large-flowered, about 30 cm tall. On an old home site, so I’m guessing a cultivar from the 1980s or earlier. #daffodil #narcissus
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
7 years
Clematis smilacifolia ( #Ranunculaceae ) is a subtropical Chinese species, uncommon in cultivation. Leaves like Smilax. #TropicalBotany
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
4 years
The white patches on the wet roots of this Phalaenopsis ( #Orchidaceae ) are patches of unwettable cells called pneumathodes. These allow gas exchange in the root (which is also photosynthetic) even when the root is in a wet environment. #TropicalBotany
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
1 year
This has to be the funniest response to one of my tweets. Imagine being “offended” just by seeing a scientific name? 🤣🤣🤣
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
7 months
Magnolia denudata ( #Magnoliaceae ) is another beetle-pollinated species. The pollinators are large #Coleoptera ( #Scarabaeidae ). The thermal image shows that the stamens & carpels heat up. AOX respiration generates the heat. Thermal image from
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
I can’t walk by Mimosa pudica ( #Fabaceae ) without testing its sensitivity. Can you? #TropicalBotany
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
I don’t know the species of this Anthurium, but it is outstanding. #Araceae #IPSBiennial2022
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
You know I’ve never met an #Aristolochia that I didn’t like. This is Aristolochia passiflorifolia, endemic to #Cuba , and it’s fabulous 🙌. I also love #Passiflora , so this species is 🔥💯. #Passifloraceae #Aristolochiaceae #Tropicalbotany
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
10 months
Not exactly an #OddMonocot (it’s in the iris family, #Iridaceae ), but the parts we use from Crocus sativus ( #Saffron ) are a bit odd, viz. the styles. I can’t think of any other plant in which only those specific parts are used by humans, can you? Happy #Plantsgiving !
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
1 year
Citron (Citrus medica) is one of the ancestors of many of today’s fruits. This cultivar is ‘Buddha’s Hand’ & is prized for the way individual carpels are partially separate, like fingers. #Citrus #Rutaceae 🍊🍋
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
7 months
@katyabandow
Katya Bandow
7 months
this has to be the prettiest cladogram i've ever seen!
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
4 years
What do leaves do? 7. Insulation. In the Andean paramo, every night is winter. The fuzzy leaves & skirt of dead leaves protect the stems & growing point of Espeletia hartwegiana ( #Asteraceae ) from freezing. #whatleavesdo 📷: Dick Culbert
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
4 years
Strange #seed #dispersal case #8 : Cucumis humofructus ( #Cucurbitaceae ; 📷: Braam van Wyk) matures fruits below ground (like peanuts). Fruits are sought by aardvarks (Orycteropus afer; 📷: Albert Herbigneaux), which dig up & eat the fruits & disperse the seeds! #geocarpy
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
3 years
Movement is caused by changes in hydrostatic pressure in the #pulvinus , which in #Marantaceae is located at the union of the leaf blade and the petiole. Wonderful to see in time-lapse.
@lavagirlnz
Ange
4 years
This time-lapse of how Calathea #houseplants move over 3 days is equal parts 🤯 & 😱. The plant causes its leaves to move by changing the pressure in the leaf nodes on their stems. It's thought this is to maximise the plant's potential to absorb sunlight. #ItsAlive !
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
11 months
A couple more photos (from @iNaturalist ) of Calyceraceae just because they are so awesome! 1st photo: Gamocarpha macrocephala by Manlio Martínez Barona CC BY-NC4 2nd photo: Calycera monocephala by Catherine Fox CC BY-NC4 #lesserknownAsterales #Asterales #Calyceraceae
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
1 year
Green Swamp is renowned for fantastic populations of this well-known carnivorous plant, Dionaea muscipula ( #Droseraceae ). 🪰 I posted a quick photo from the field last week, but here’s another. 🪰 Seeing this plant in the wild was a huge thrill. #carnivorousplant #Dionaea
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
9 months
Everyone probably knows petunias ( #Solanaceae ) & their stickiness. Glandular hairs on the surface of Petunia exserta secrete an exudate that is the undoing of greenhouse fungus gnats. Petunia isn’t carnivorous, but carnivory may have started this way. Function? #stickyplant
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
4 years
Sanguinaria canadensis ( #Papaveraceae ) has seeds that are dispersed by #ants . The ants are collecting the nutritious elaiosome, the white, oily body attached to the seeds. The #seeds themselves are just by-catch. 📷: Kent McFarland #dispersal
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
1 year
#Petioles are just as interesting on the inside as they are on the outside. Here’s a diagram showing the various patterns of vascular tissue in petioles. Taxonomically informative. Diagram from WS Judd et al.’s Plant Systematics: A Phylogenetic Approach. #anatomy #taxonomy
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
2 years
Parasitic angiosperms have a haustorial connection to their host. In contrast, the non-photosynthetic myco-heterotrophs, like this Sarcodes sanguinea, get their nutrition via fungi that are connected to trees & shrubs. #Ericaceae #mycoheterotroph #mycorrhiza
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
10 months
#Xeronemataceae include a single genus of two species, one from New Zealand and this one, Xeronema moorei (Antoin Simon CCBYNC4 via @inaturalist ), from New Caledonia. Perching bird pollination seems probable, but butterflies might also be involved. #OddMonocot #Asparagales
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
4 years
I love this idea from @CactiSucculents latest Newsletter. What a great idea to spread the love of #houseplants !
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
6 years
Nypa fruticans ( #Arecaceae ) is a #mangrove #palm from #Asia . Each fruit has 1 seed, which is #viviparous : seed germinates before fruit is dispersed by ocean currents ( #hydrochory ). BTW, the #endosperm may or may not be ruminate. 📷: fruits in longitudinal section. #TropicalBotany
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@Scott_Zona
🌴Scott Zona, Ph.D.🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social
5 years
What are the white specks on my Jade Plant (Crassula ovata; #Crassulaceae )? They’re mineral deposits marking the positions of hydathodes (water secretion pores), as diagrammed 50 yrs ago by Thomas Rost in the Botanical Gazette 130(4):267-270. 1969. #Iamabotanist #houseplant
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