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- Virginia native plants (3)
- Flora (2)
- Flowers (2)
- Native plants (2)
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- Partridge berry (2)
- Adaptation (1)
- Adaptation, Physiological (1)
- Agricultural Irrigation (1)
- Artemisia (1)
- Chemical deterrant (1)
- Condensed tannins (1)
- Desiccation (1)
- Evergreen perennials (1)
- Fruit (1)
- Grazing (1)
- Halodule wrightii (1)
- Herbivory (1)
- Induced defense (1)
- Lytechinus variegatus (1)
- Maple syrup (1)
- Mitchella (1)
- Mitchella Repens (1)
- Mitchella repens (1)
- Paired flowers (1)
- Physiological (1)
- Plant Mucilage (1)
- Plant biology (1)
- Plants (1)
- Seeds (1)
Articles 1 - 8 of 8
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Idiosyncratic Responses Of Seagrass Phenolic Production Following Sea Urchin Grazing, Latina Steele, John F. Valentine
Idiosyncratic Responses Of Seagrass Phenolic Production Following Sea Urchin Grazing, Latina Steele, John F. Valentine
Biology Faculty Publications
While chemical defenses can determine plant persistence in terrestrial ecosystems and some marine macroalgae, their role in determining seagrass persistence in areas of intense grazing is unknown. As a first step toward determining if concentrations of feeding deterrents in seagrasses increase following herbivore attacks, we conducted 4 experiments using a common macrograzer (sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus) and 2 phylogenetically divergent seagrass species (Thalassia testudinum and Halodule wrightii). Macrograzer impacts on production of phenolic acids and condensed tannins varied somewhat idiosyncratically with season, urchin density, and distance from urchin damage. In general, phenolic concentrations were higher in both turtlegrass and shoalgrass …
Reproductive Characteristics Of A Populus Euphratica Population And Prospects For Its Restoration In China, Dechang Cao, Jingwen Li, Zhenying Huang, Carol C. Baskin, Jerry M. Baskin, Peng Hao, Weilei Zhou, Junqing Li
Reproductive Characteristics Of A Populus Euphratica Population And Prospects For Its Restoration In China, Dechang Cao, Jingwen Li, Zhenying Huang, Carol C. Baskin, Jerry M. Baskin, Peng Hao, Weilei Zhou, Junqing Li
Biology Faculty Publications
Populus euphratica is a dominant tree in riparian ecosystems in arid areas of northwest China, but it fails to regenerate in these systems. This study evaluates causes for the failure of sexual and asexual regeneration of this species in the wild. P. euphratica disperses as many as 85743 seeds/m2 during summer, and the seeds germinate to 92.0% in distilled water and to 60.8% on silt. However, very few seeds (3.6%) can germinate on unflooded soil. The seed-rain season is prolonged by temporal variability in seed dispersal among individuals, which ensures that seedling emergence can occur during favorable conditions (i.e., …
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 …
Maple Syrup: St. John’S Sweetest Springtime Tradition, Stephen G. Saupe
Maple Syrup: St. John’S Sweetest Springtime Tradition, Stephen G. Saupe
Biology Faculty Publications
St. John’s is the home of one of Minnesota’s oldest maple syrup operations. The monks began making syrup in 1942 and have continued roughly every other spring until the present. Currently, the operation is jointly run by the Abbey and St. John’s Arboretum and it is one of the few maple syrup operations associated with a Minnesota college or university. The process by which maple syrup is made at St. John’s differs little from the procedures begun more than 60 years ago. In spring, sugar maple trees are tapped, sap is collected, and then it is boiled in the sugar …
Seed Mucilage Improves Seedling Emergence Of A Sand Desert Shrub, Xuejun Yang, Carol C. Baskin, Jerry M. Baskin, Guangzheng Liu, Zhenying Huang
Seed Mucilage Improves Seedling Emergence Of A Sand Desert Shrub, Xuejun Yang, Carol C. Baskin, Jerry M. Baskin, Guangzheng Liu, Zhenying Huang
Biology Faculty Publications
The success of seedling establishment of desert plants is determined by seedling emergence response to an unpredictable precipitation regime. Sand burial is a crucial and frequent environmental stress that impacts seedling establishment on sand dunes. However, little is known about the ecological role of seed mucilage in seedling emergence in arid sandy environments. We hypothesized that seed mucilage enhances seedling emergence in a low precipitation regime and under conditions of sand burial. In a greenhouse experiment, two types of Artemisia sphaerocephala achenes (intact and demucilaged) were exposed to different combinations of burial depth (0, 5, 10, 20, 40 and 60 …
Partridge Berry: Simple Beauty Belies Complexity, W. John Hayden
Partridge Berry: Simple Beauty Belies Complexity, W. John Hayden
Biology Faculty Publications
Superficially, plants seem so simple. Rooted in place, they do not move around. And while plant growth is a dynamic process, without time-lapse photography, growth events are so imperceptibly slow that, to us impatient humans, plants seem both immobile and static. Nevertheless, there is a lot going on inside the plant body, and this is especially true for the events of reproduction that play out inside flowers and fruits. As one of my students recently commented, “I used to think it was just a matter of pollen plus stigma and, presto-change-o, seeds happen.” That student, I hope, learned otherwise, as …
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.
Light Management Important Factor For Partridge Berry, W. John Hayden
Light Management Important Factor For Partridge Berry, W. John Hayden
Biology Faculty Publications
Factors essential for plant life include adequate levels of light, moisture, mineral nutrients, and temperature; though the list is small, each is crucial for survival. This article is a contemplation of how one of these critical factors, light, impacts the biology of our 2012 Wildflower of the Year, Mitchella repens, partridge berry. Aside from issues of reproductive biology, ecological literature on partridge berry is meager. Consequently most of what follows is derived from general works on woodland ecology, perusal of which provides sufficient insight about the biology of Mitchella to inspire ideas worthy of further study.