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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 …
Redbud Seedpods Hold Surprises, W. John Hayden
Redbud Seedpods Hold Surprises, W. John Hayden
Biology Faculty Publications
As fall advances across the Old Dominion, canopies of redbud, the 2013 VNPS Wildflower of the Year, transform themselves from green to gold, revealing seed pods also changing color from pale green to dark chocolaty brown. These seedpods, which may be retained on the tree into winter, are typical legume fruits, the product of the flower’s simple pistil, each containing several seeds. Unlike most legumes, however, redbud seed pods seem disinclined to open and release individual seeds for dispersal. Redbud fruits tend to disperse intact. Once on the ground, the inevitable action of weather and microbes gradually degrades the pod, …
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 …
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 …