#angiosperm

[knuppitalism-with-ue]

Because of Valentine's Day we had today a Flower Flocking #paleostream, covering different kinds of extinct angiosperms! Florissantia, Lovellea, Leguminocarpum and Sagaria!

[laiapolypharmakos]

Theseus arrives at Poseidon's sea palace:

Theseus (bows): Good afternoon, Queen. Amphitrite (scrutinises him): Wait… you have something on your head. Theseus (touches his hair): Do I have any algae? Amphitrite: Posidonia isn't algae, it's a plant. Theseus (blushing bright red): I'm sorry, Queen… I just wanted to make a good impression. Amphitrite: Oh no… what a nice boy, Poseidon. May he stay for dinner.

Attic red figure terracotta kylix, attributed to Briseis Painter, ca. 480 BC. Metropolitan Museum, USA.

Well she is crowing him but we could also hc that Amphitrite is one of those people who gets annoyed when they see things out of place, such as a hair on a jumper or a leave in the hair.

The scene seems to belong to fragment 17 of Bacchylides where Minos, to prove whether Theseus is truly the son of Poseidon, throws a jewel (traditionally a ring) into the sea and Theseus jumps into the water and arrives with dolphins at Poseidon's palace, where he is received by Amphitrite, who dresses him in a purple cloak and presents him with her own wedding crown, made of roses by Aphrodite. AAAAAAAGHHHH🌹🌹🌹🌹

A little take to Posidonia oceanica:

As Amphitrite has emphasised, it is not a seaweed but a plant, specifically an angiosperm, also known as a marine phanerogam, and this particular species is the most important in the Mediterranean. It forms extensive meadows, capable of hosting a high biodiversity of species. The meadows provide shelter, food and a nursery for juveniles for many species, produce oxygen daily, while capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and creating tonnes of biomass per year.

(up and donw, left to right): Posidonia meadows; leaves and a flower; flower; fruits floating in the sea; germinated fruit

And yes, it is named Posidonia after Poseidon. Isn't everything absolutely wonderful?

[taphonomenon]

Hadrosaurus foulkii

One of the first ever dinosaurs discovered from North America, found in New Jersey, South Carolina, and other portions of the East coast.

The first ever skeletal mount of a dinosaur in America was of this species as well. It symbolizes an important step in North American paleontology

[wikipediapictures]

Zaaddozen van gewone berenklauw (Heracleum sphondylium). 10-08-2023. (actm.) 02

“Seed pods of Heracleum sphondylium. Focus stack of 89 photos.” - via Wikimedia Commons

[captious-solarian]

Silverleafed princess flower in Pretoria, South Africa. Photo by tjeerd, 2018.

[curium-killedthecat]

angiosperms - plants that have flowers and have seeds inside fruits. (where angeion means vessel and sperma meaning seeds)

angiosperms are actually the largest group in the plantae kingdom with around 290,000 species!! very important for us.

i recently learnt that the petals on many angiosperms (sunflowers for example) have UV patterns - since the whole purpose of a flower is to attract pollinators, these UV patterns help with pollination as well. this is what they look like:

so cool! as you can see, the colouration highlights the centre of the flower, and if you look up more images of UV colouration, you’ll see that this is a recurring phenotype.

this is because it attracts pollinators to the centre of the flower, helping them locate it. how sick is that?

humans aren’t able to see these patterns since our vision doesn’t detect ultraviolet light, but we’re not the target - bees CAN detect ultraviolet light and are somehow able to communicate with plants due to this phenomenon!

another reason why bees are cool.

[dougdimmadodo]

Common Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)

Family: Asparagus Family (Asparagaceae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Unassessed

Adapted to life in deciduous forests with dense canopies that limit the degree to which low-growing plants can access sunlight, Common Blubells survive by rapidly developing and reproducing during the early spring before the trees around them develop their leaves. In the later spring and early summer, as taller competing plants develop leaves, the flowers, stems, leaves and even roots of members of this species wither as they enter a dormant state until the following spring, with only an onion-like subterranean bulb, packed with sugars produced through photosynthesis during the non-dormant period, remaining; come next year's spring, the sugars in the bulb are used to facilitate the rapid development of new roots and leaves, allowing the bluebell to repeat the process year after year. Common Bluebells can reproduce both sexually (producing 5-12 small, pale-purple bell-shaped flowers that droop notably to one side when in bloom, with each flower possessing pollen-producing "male" organs and pollen-receiving "female" organs, with any flower that is pollinated developing into a small seed-filled pod that drops its seeds as the plant goes dormant) and asexually (with new but genetically identical bulbs, known as "daughter bulbs" developing as offshoots from the sides of an existing mature bulb, known as a "mother bulb",) and as they thrive in shady deciduous forests and are unable to easily disperse their seeds or bulbs over any great distance, it is not unusual for the understory of a forest that supports members of this species to be completely dominated by them during the spring - such forests are referred to in some regions as "bluebell woods'."

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Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/56132-Hyacinthoides-non-scripta

[teepeecider]

Check out the latest Cider Musing on TeePee Cider. Why are apples self infertile? A complex game of seek and kill at the protein level. Worthy of John Le Carre. #apples #blossom #flower #genetics #selfinfertile #RNA #proteins https://teepeecider.co.nz/blogs/cider-musings/ever-wondered-why-apple-trees-are-mainly-self-infertile-although-they-have-male-and-female-parts-in-each-blossom

Ever wondered why apple trees are mainly self infertile although they have male and female parts in each blossom?

Apple trees belong to the largest group of plants by far - angiosperms. Angiosperm  translates to “vessel seed” which refers to ovules being