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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
When It Comes To Clethra: Roots Matter, W. John Hayden
When It Comes To Clethra: Roots Matter, W. John Hayden
Biology Faculty Publications
Roots, too often, are out of sight and out of mind, but they are critical for vigorous, healthy plant growth. All plant enthusiasts—including gardeners, farmers, foresters, and naturalists—should think about and appreciate roots if they wish to acquire a holistic understanding of plant biology. This article introduces readers to the mycorrhizal roots of the 2015 VNPS Wildflower of the Year, Clethra alnifolia (Sweet Pepperbush), and explores the diversity of mycorrhizae in a closely related family, Ericaceae.
Upside-Down Anthers Of Clethra Stand Out, W. John Hayden
Upside-Down Anthers Of Clethra Stand Out, W. John Hayden
Biology Faculty Publications
For the most part, the flowers of the 2015 VNPS Wildflower of the Year, Clethra alnifolia (Sweet Pepperbush), are unremarkable. Five separate sepals, 5 sepa rate petals, 10 stamens in 2 whorls, and a 3-carpellate superior ovary—an organization that can only be considered prosaic among the dicots. One floral feature, however, stands out: the anthers in the open flowers are upside-down! (See Figure 1A.) Further, these upside-down anthers open by pores (Figures 1B, 1C) rather than longitudinal slits, as in most flowering plants. These pores initially form on what would normally be the lowermost extremity of the anther, the inversion …
2015 Virginia Wildflower Of The Year: Sweet Pepperbush, Clethra Alnifolia, W. John Hayden
2015 Virginia Wildflower Of The Year: Sweet Pepperbush, Clethra Alnifolia, W. John Hayden
Biology Faculty Publications
Clethra alnifolia is a rhizomatous shrub with aerial stems from 1 to 3 m tall. Leaves are simple, alternate, and bear stellate hairs; petioles are short, 5–10 mm long; leaf blades are obovate to oblong, 5–10 cm long, with relatively blunt apices, cuneate (wedgelike) bases, and margins that are entire toward the base but finely serrate above the middle; venation is pinnate with secondary veins that extend to leaf margins. Stipules are lacking. Flowers are borne on erect terminal racemes that may be solitary or accompanied by additional racemes terminating few-leaved branches arising from upper nodes. Raceme axes and pedicels …
Closely Paired Flowers Produce Single Fruit, W. John Hayden
Closely Paired Flowers Produce Single Fruit, W. John Hayden
Biology Faculty Publications
Perhaps one of the most striking features of partridge berry (Mitchella repens), the 2012 VNPS Wildflower of the Year, is its closely paired flowers that yield a single berry fruit (figure 1). That these fruits are double structures, formed by pairs of flowers, is revealed in the presence of two discrete rings of five sepals each on the fruit apex, or in some cases, by a single ring of 10 sepals. Viewed in isolation, without context, the nature of these double fruits may seem perplexing, but as in so many things, a comparative perspective helps to make sense …
2012 Wildflower Of The Year: Partridge Berry, Mitchella Repens, W. John Hayden
2012 Wildflower Of The Year: Partridge Berry, Mitchella Repens, W. John Hayden
Biology Faculty Publications
Although partridge berry is a small and creeping herb, its jewel-like beauty rewards attentive naturalists year-round.
2010 Wildflower Of The Year: Wild Ginger, Asarum Canadense, W. John Hayden
2010 Wildflower Of The Year: Wild Ginger, Asarum Canadense, W. John Hayden
Biology Faculty Publications
Wild ginger is a low herbaceous plant. The stem consists of a branched creeping rhizome at or just below the soil surface. Soft-hairy leaves arise in pairs annually from rhizome branches. Petioles can be up to 20 cm long, elevating the 7—25 mm wide kidney-shaped leaf blades above the forest floor. Small flowers appear in the spring shortly after the leaves have expanded. Typically, one must push the leaves aside in order to glimpse the jug-like flowers. A single flower stalk appears between the paired leaf bases, but it is short and barely lifts the flower above the soil surface. …
2009 Wildflower Of The Year: Skunk Cabbage, Symplocarpus Foetidus, W. John Hayden
2009 Wildflower Of The Year: Skunk Cabbage, Symplocarpus Foetidus, W. John Hayden
Biology Faculty Publications
Skunk cabbage is a coarse herbaceous plant. The stem consists of a stout rhizome oriented vertically in the soil. Leaves and flowers arise from the tip of the rhizome which is often not visible, resulting in the appearance of leaves and flowers arising directly from the swampy mires where these plants grow. Flowers appear during the winter, long before the leaves. The flowers are minute, clustered into a ball-like group (spadix) almost entirely enclosed by a fleshy, hood-like, spathe. The spathe ranges from 8 to 15 cm in height, is more or less pear-shaped, widest near the bottom, and tapers …
2008 Wildflower Of The Year: Virginia Spiderwort, Tradescantia Virginiana, W. John Hayden
2008 Wildflower Of The Year: Virginia Spiderwort, Tradescantia Virginiana, W. John Hayden
Biology Faculty Publications
Spiderwort is an herbaceous perennial that arises from a cluster of rather stout overwintering roots. Stems may be solitary or more commonly clumped, and usually grow unbranched, reaching heights up to 40 cm tall. Stems are smooth or bear scattered short hairs. Leaves are 2—5 per stem, attached by means of a leaf sheath that is 13 cm long. Leaf blades are dull green, elongate, ending in a gradually tapered tip, flat or keeled, smooth (without hairs), and 1—3.5 dm long by 0.5—2.5 cm wide. Flowers occur in tight clusters located at the stem apex; bracts similar to the leaves …
2007 Wildflower Of The Year: Atamasco Lily, Zephyranthes Atamasca, W. John Hayden
2007 Wildflower Of The Year: Atamasco Lily, Zephyranthes Atamasca, W. John Hayden
Biology Faculty Publications
Atamasco lily is a perennial herb that grows from a subterranean bulb. The bulb is dark, with a short neck and papery tunic formed by remnants of old leaf bases. Leaves are glossy green, linear, flat to somewhat concave, up to one half inch wide, approximately one foot in length and, overall, rather grasslike. When not in flower the plants can be easily overlooked. Flowering stems are leafless scapes that are about as long as the leaves. In crosssection the scapes are hollow. Each scape terminates in a single flower. A few papery bracts subtend the flower stalk where it …
2006 Wildflower Of The Year: Spicebush, Lindera Benzoin, W. John Hayden
2006 Wildflower Of The Year: Spicebush, Lindera Benzoin, W. John Hayden
Biology Faculty Publications
Spicebush is a multistemmed deciduous shrub that grows to a height of one to three meters. Young stems are delicate and may be smooth or finely hairy. Leaves are alternate and simple, with an elliptic to obovate blade that tapers at both the base and apex and is bounded by a smooth margin. Examined closely, the margin will reveal a series of fine hairs that project directly out from the leaf edge. In size, leaves are neither remarkably large nor small; they range from one to six inches in length and up to about two and a half inches wide, …