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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 16h

Here’s another cultivar of the former Rhodohypoxis, Hypoxis ‘Picta’ (📷: Carol CCBYNCSA2). How I wish I could grow these in the rock garden! #Hypoxidaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of dozens of white, star-shaped flowers with elliptical tepals that are rosy pink toward the bases and the tips. The inner tepals are somewhat s-shaped so that the base of the tepal folds toward the center of the flower, hiding the stamens, before turning outward and presenting a broad elliptical surface.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 22h

Hypoxis now includes species formerly placed in Rhodohypoxis (“rose Hypoxis”). These species have been bred & selected, sometimes sold as florist plants. The inner tepals hide the anthers. Hypoxis baurii 'Tetra Rose' 📷: David Short CCBY2 #Hypoxidaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of grassy, folded leaves and large, bright rose-pink, star-shaped flowers with elliptical tepals. The inner tepals are somewhat s-shaped so that the base of the tepal folds toward the center of the flower, hiding the stamens, before turning outward and presenting a broad elliptical surface.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Granted, Hypoxis flowers are pretty similar, but their seeds are amazing when viewed with an SEM. I give you some partial plates from Zona et al. 2009. A seed atlas of Hypoxis from eastern North America. Jour. Torrey Bot. Soc. 136:26–32. doi.org/10.3159/08-R... #Hypoxidaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Plate of SEM photographs of Hypoxis hirsute seed. The upper photo is higher magnification than the lower. The cells of the seed are conical with nipple-like tips.

Plate of SEM photographs of Hypoxis juncea seed. The upper photo is higher magnification than the lower. The cells of the seed are dome shaped.

Plate of SEM photographs of Hypoxis sessilis seed. The upper photo is higher magnification than the lower. The cells of the seed are slightly domed and covered with a loose, wrinkled layer.

Plate of SEM photographs of Hypoxis wrightii seed. The upper photo is higher magnification than the lower. The cells of the seed are blocky and rounded but covered with wrinkles that run mostly radially across the cell surface.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This photo of Hypoxis multiceps, another southern African species, shows characteristic features of the family: the tepals are discolorous, i.e. the upper and lower surfaces are different colors. In this case, they’re greenish below and yellow on top. Buds are hairy. #Hypoxidaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a cluster of plicate leaves and an erect stalk of flowers. The flowers are yellow and star shaped. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Hypoxidaceae flowers lack nectaries, so they don’t offer nectar rewards. (But biologists need to check for micro amounts of nectar from diffuse nectaries.) The flowers have plenty of pollen & are visited by bees. 📷: Hypoxis hemerocallidea of southern Africa. #Hypoxidaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Close-up photo of a yellow, star-shaped flower with six tepals and six yellow anthers. Adjacent flower buds are hairy. Background foliage is grassy, folded (plicate) leaves. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Hypoxidaceae (Asparagales) are a family of herbaceous rosettes with folded (plicate) leaves. It’s a small family with fewer than 200 spp. Hairs are prominent, & flowers are often yellow. This is Hypoxis hirsuta, which grows in the woodlands around my house. #Hypoxidaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a clump of grassy leaves and several yellow, star-shaped flowers among the leaves. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Strelitzia nicolai is bird-pollinated in an unusual way. Perching birds, like this Cape weaver (Ploceus capensis), pick up the pollen on their feet! 📷: Andrew Core CCBYNC4. #Strelitziaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱 Want more #ornithophily? Prof. Jeff Ollerton wrote an excellent book about it.

A plate of two photos showing a yellowish bird perched on the flower of a Strelitzia. The bird’s feet are clasping the flower and exposing the anthers.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Nectar chemistry & floral shape are important adaptations to bird pollination. Some plants add another assurance: viscin threads that stick pollen together & attach to feathers. Here’s the pollen of Delonix regia demonstrating viscin’s role. #Fabaceae #ornithophily #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Close-up photo of a feather drawing away from a stamen with a pollen-laden anther. The pollen is clumped together by threads of viscin. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The black honeyeater (Sugomel nigrum) is a member of the Meliphagidae, a family of 189 species in Australia, New Guinea & the Pacific Islands. They are excellent pollinators. 📷: on Grevillea decora, Arthur Chapman CCBYNCSA4 #ornithophily #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a black and white bird perched on an inflorescence and probing the red flowers. Pollen is visible on the bird’s head.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Leonotis has bright, nectar-rich, tubular flowers that are sunbird favs. Pollen is placed on the top of the head. When cultivated in the Americas, hummingbirds visit & pollinate the flowers in the same way (but hovering). 📷: Nectarinia famosa by Ruperl CCBYNC4 #ornithophily #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a metallic blue-green bird perching on the bare, erect stems between the dense verticillasters of orange, tubular flowers. The bird is inserting its beak into a flower.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Sunbirds (Nectariniidae) are Old World passerines that are species-rich in southern Africa. They need sturdy perches from which to feed. This is Cinnyris chalybeus ssp. chalybeus visiting the flowers of Leonotis sp. (Lamiaceae). 📷: Fiona Hellmann CCBYNC4 #ornithophily #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Zosterops is a genus of over 100 spp native to Africa, Asia, Australia & Pacific Islands. They are known as white-eyes & pollinate many plants whose flowers are not necessarily red and tubular. 📷: Zosterops virens ssp capensis on Cunonia capensis by Gigi Laidler CCBYNC4 #ornithophily #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a greenish bird with a bright white circle around its eye. The bird is partially obscured by the inflorescences it is visiting. The spikes of flowers have dense, white stamens.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Hummingbirds have a special talent: the ability to hover. They can access flowers that have no perch or landing pad. It makes for photogenic feeding! 📷: Sappho sparganurus on Iochroma (or relative) by Naturalist Tours CC0 #ornithophily #Salvia #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a colorful (green, orange and black) hummingbird feeding from pendulous, tubular blue flowers. The photo catches the bird with its beak pointing straight up and its wings outstretched. The broad, long tail is pointing downward.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Most of the 375 hummingbird spp. are found in the American Tropics. Their taste in flowers is the same as in the US: nectar-rich, tubular flowers, often red. #ornithophily #Botany 🌾🧪🌱 1. Aglaiocercus kingii on Fuchsia Derek Spencer CCBY4 2. Saucerottia cyanura on Megaskepasma Marc Gonger CCBYNC4

Photo of a metallic green hummingbird with an extraordinarily long tail visiting the purple and red flower of a hybrid fuchsia.

Photo of a metallic green, blue and orange hummingbird visiting white flowers surrounded by bright red bracts.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

When we talk about bird pollination (ornithophily) in eastern North America, we’re talking about one species of hummingbird, but western N. America has many more species, including this one, Calypte anna, pollinating Salvia spathacea 📷: Erica Fleniken CCBYNC4 #ornithophily #Salvia #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a greenish hummingbird with a dark gullet probing the red tubular flowers of a salvia.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

In perfumery, gardenia accords are built from white floral and green fragrances, along with indole, to give a funky/dirty note of realism. They simulate the lush, rich fragrance of gardenia without using floral extracts of gardenia. 📷: G. jasminoides cultivar. #Gardenia #Rubiaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Close-up photo of a double-flowered cultivar of gardenia. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Gardenia thunbergia also has semi-dry, woody fruits, but they remain attached to the parent plant & are browsed by antelopes, specifically the greater & lesser kudus (Tragelaphus spp.). If not eaten, the fruits decay & skeletonize, like this one in California. #Gardenia #Rubiaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Close-up photo of skeletonized fruit still attached to a woody branch. The soft parts of the fruit have decayed away, leaving only a network of woody fibers. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The fruits of gardenias develop from inferior ovaries. They can be fleshy berries or semi-dry, woody pods. Gardenia volkensii, a species from tropical Africa, has fruits that are probably consumed by large mammals like baboons, which disperse the seeds. #Gardenia #Rubiaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a hand cradling a gray, ovoid fruit with a few longitudinal ridges. The surface of the fruit is smooth with scattered corky patches. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The buds & young leaves of some species are covered with a resinous secretion, perhaps to reduce water loss or deter herbivores. Gardenia resinosa is an Australian species, adapted to fires, & resprouts at ground level after a fire. 📷: Richard L. Boyne CCBYNC4 #Gardenia #Rubiaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of leafy shoots and a white flower with a six-lobed, salverform corolla. The resinous coating on the leaves is not visible.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Some gardenias have extra-floral nectaries on the leaves that ants tend. Gardenia taitensis has mite domatia on the undersides of the leaves. Those little pockets in the axils of the main veins are home to beneficial mites. #Gardenia #Rubiaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱 1/2

Close-up photo of the back of a leaf. Mite domatia, small pockets in the axils of the midvein and large secondary veins, are present. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The flowers of Gardenia imperialis are unusual (see this morning’s post), & the leaves are interesting, too. They have pouches at the base that ants may use, though they don't offer much shelter. 📷: Carel Jongkind CCBYNC4 #Gardenia #Rubiaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a leafy shoot. Leaves have short petioles. The base of one leaf is circled. On both sides of the midvein, at the base of the blade, two shallow pockets or depressions are visible.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Gardenia imperialis, a riverbank species from tropical Africa, has chalice-shaped flowers, unlike the narrow, tubular flowers of most species. What pollinates it? Moths? Bats? I know of no published studies of its pollination. 📷: Carel Jongkind CCBYNC4 #Gardenia #Rubiaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a large, tubular flower. The tube is wide, and the shallow corolla lobes are reflexed. Five anthers are adnate to the inside of the corolla, and central stigma & style are prominent.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Most gardenias have white flowers. Some open white and age to yellow, and a few have yellow or even orangish flowers from the start. Gardenia carinata is probably the darkest yellow-orange of the lot. It’s from Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia. #Gardenia #Rubiaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of leafy shoots bearing large, orange, many-lobed, salverform flowers. The corolla tube is long and narrow. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Gardenia is a genus of 123 spp. of woody plants from Africa, Asia & Australia, but only a few species, like G. jasminoides, are commonly cultivated. Moths most probably pollinate the fragrant, white, tubular flowers. 📷: G. jasminoides 'Kleim's Hardy' #Gardenia #Rubiaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a large, white flower with a salverform, 6-lobed corolla, 6 narrow stamens, and prominent stigma. Glossy green leaves form the backdrop. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

So far, my examples have been from the Tropics or warm Temperate Zones. Here’s an example that will be familiar to those of you in cold climates: Fagus grandifolia, the American Beech. Beeches hold their leaves throughout the winter. 📷: ajeffries14 CCBYNC4 #marcescent #Fagaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of branches of a tree with retained dead, dried leaves.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Pandanus rollotii is a pandan of wetlands in Madagascar. We don’t know much about its physiological ecology, and the function (if any) of its skirt is an unanswered question. 📷: James Bailey CCBYNC4 #marcescent #Pandanaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a group of pandans in their natural habitat. The pandans have terminal rosettes of strappy leaves. The stems are covered with skirts of dead leaves.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

In the Andes of South America, Espeletia spp. form magnificent skirts. 💃 They insulate the stems & terminal buds. 📷: Natalia Contreras CCBYNC2 #marcescent #Asteraceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a tall, unbranched stem with a terminal rosette of large, simple leaves. The stem is clad in a skirt of dead leaves.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

So marcescent leaves are a thing of desert monocots, right? Not so fast. They also occur in tropical montane habitats, which are both dry and cold. Look at the mind-blowing skirts on Dendrosenecio kilimanjari from Mt. Kilimanjaro. 📷: David Bygott CCBYNCSA2 #marcescent #Asteraceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of spectacular, tall, sparsely branched trees with terminal rosettes of large leaves. The stems are densely clad in dead leaves. A person stands at the base of the trees, dwarfed by their tall stems.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

It’s not just palms that have marcescent leaves. Here’s Yucca rostrata, a species native to the Chihuahua Desert of Texas and Mexico. Other arborescent Yucca spp. have marcescent leaves, too (e.g., Joshua trees). #marcescent #Asparagaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a yucca with a branched stem covered by dead leaves. A large, erect flower stalk with white flowers is visible. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Washingtonia filifera is a palm of oases in the desert. The marcescent leaves are a favorite daytime roost for owls and other nocturnal wildlife. Gardeners often remove the skirts of cultivated palms because they are a fire hazard or “harbor vermin.” #marcescent #Arecaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a group of palms with palmate leaves and dense skirts of dead leaves. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Washingtonia palms, native to CA, AZ, and nw Mexico, retain a skirt of marcescent leaves, but some landscapers remove them. There is much debate about whether the palms look better with or without their skirts. Cut or uncut? What do you think? 📷: W. filifera. #marcescent #Arecaceae #Botany

Photo of a pair of palms with palmate leaves and dense skirts of dead leaves. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Botanists have a word (of course they do) to describe leaves that don’t fall after their death. These leaves are described as marcescent. Here’s another example: Coccothrinax borhidiana, another palm from Cuba. #marcescent #Arecaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a solitary palm in a suburban garden. The palms has palmate leaves, short petioles, and a dense skirt. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

This week, let’s look at plants with skirts. 💃 The “skirts” are the dried, dead leaves that some plants retain rather than drop. The Cuban petticoat palm, Copernicia macroglossa, is a classic example. #Arecaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a solitary palmate-leaf palm with sort petioles and a dense crown and a dense skirt of dead leaves. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, originally from Madagascar, has been bred to produce compact, flowering plants sold as florist plants worldwide. The flowers are long-lived, & the plant, being succulent, doesn’t mind (to a point) if you forget to water it. 📷: Naomi King CCBYNC2 #Crassulaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Close-up photo of red, 4-petaled flowers in dense clusters.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Many genera of Crassulaceae are regional endemics. Western North America is home to Dudleya, a genus of over 50 handsome spp. Sadly, many are endangered from habitat destruction AND illegal collecting. 1. D. brittonii 2. D. traskiae 3. D. virens #Crassulaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of two rosettes of silvery gray leaves with pointed tips. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

Photo of many rosettes of fleshy, finger-like leaves. Also visible is a cluster of small, white, star-shaped flowers. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

Photo of many rosettes of fleshy, narrowly triangular leaves. There are several clusters of small, white, star-shaped flowers. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Kalanchoe delagoensis from Madagascar (but now a pantropical weed) has red, tubular flowers. In the Americas, hummingbirds will visit the flowers & drink the nectar, but what visits them in their native Madagascar? 📷: Richard Crook CCBYNCND2 #Crassulaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱 1/2

Close-up photo of an umbel-like cluster of pendulous, red, tubular flowers.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Echeveria is found throughout the Americas, especially in the dry areas of Mexico. Many species have flowers adapted to pollination by hummingbirds. The flowers are shallow, so pollen is carried on tip of the bird’s beak. 📷: Echeveria sp. Peter Stenzel CCBYND2. #Crassulaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Close-up photo of a cluster of flowers. The petals are red on the outside and yellow on the inside and at their tips. The petals are held closely together and overlapping to form urn-shaped flowers.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Although Crassulaceae are known for their interesting vegetative features, many species produce attractive flowers. The flowers are nectariferous & have free carpels (the latter is a specialization that unites the family). 📷: Phedimus kamtschaticus #Crassulaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a low-growing, leafy succulent plant among rocks. The flowers are star-shaped and yellow, with free carpels. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Crassulaceae store sedoheptulose, a 7-C monosaccharide with a ketone functional group, in their tissues. I wonder if specialized sugars, like this one, evolved as a defense against herbivores, who, at least initially, were unable to digest them. 📷: Kalanchoe tomentosa #Crassulaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of the leafy shoot of a succulent. The thick, succulent leaves are covered with gray hairs, and the rounded, blunt marginal serrations are brown. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Crassulaceae are famous for being the family in which CAM was first discovered. As an aside: There is no Crassulacean acid, as there is citric acid (from Citrus) or malic acid (from Malus). It’s simply an acid metabolism associated with Crassulaceae. 📷: Crassula ovata #Crassulaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of leafy shoots of the jade plant. The leaves are obovate, shiny and succulent. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 4.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Crassulaceae have a worldwide distribution. As succulents, they are adapted to deserts, seasonally dry areas & rocky outcrops, where the soil is thin. This little beauty is Crassula rupestris subsp. marnieriana from South Africa. #succulent #Crassulaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Close-up photo of a cluster of procumbent and erect stems. The leaves are rounded, opposite and succulent, giving the affect of strings of coins. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

This week: Crassulaceae. The family has 35 genera & about 1500 spp. They are mostly succulents, like this Aeonium arboreum subsp. arboreum from the Canary Islands, & are eagerly grown by aficionados. #succulent #Crassulaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a sparsely branched shrub growing in the wild among dried grasses. The branches terminate in rosettes of leaves. One branch is producing a terminal panicle of small, yellow flowers. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Even arthropods are recruited to disperse plants. Some years ago, I published a study on millipedes dispersing the sticky gemmae of a moss, Calymperes palisotii. Millipedes moving among the moss pick up the sticky asexual propagules. #Calymperaceae #epizoochory #Botany 🌾🧪🌱 1/2

Photo of a millipede, Anadenobolus monilicornis, on the bark of a tree among patches of moss. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

The fruits (& stems & leaves) of Galium aparine are covered with little hooked hairs, all the better to hook on passing animals. Not for nothing is this plant called cleavers, stickyweed or stickywilly. This beautiful photo is by Matthieu Gauvain CCBYNC4 #Rubiaceae #epizoochory #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Close-up photo of a pair of spherical fruits, the surface of which is covered with small, hooked hairs.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Myxocarpy, the production of sticky mucilage by fruits, is common in Salvia. Although it allows us to stick the fruits (“chia seeds”) to terracotta figurines, the mucilage probably has more to do with sticking the fruit to the soil than with dispersal. #Lamiaceae #epizoochory #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a display of Chia Pets at a store. The boxes show various figurines upon which chia “seeds” will germinate. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

Close-up photo of shot glass with wet chia seeds clinging to the inside. Each “seed” is surrounded by a halo of mucilage. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Salvia is a very large genus with a variety of dispersal adaptations. Some species, like S. madrensis, have calyces covered with sticky, glandular hairs. The four nutlets inside each calyx are carried away by passing beasts (including the 2-legged kinds). #Lamiaceae #epizoochory #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a sock with five dried, brown, tubular calyces attached to it. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Dolly Parton was a humanitarian in addtion to being a fabulous muscian. We have lost a legend.

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

From double claw to double tooth: These are the fruits of Bidens (“2 Teeth”) alba. Each has a 2-pronged pappus (a modified calyx). While many Asteraceae have a fluffy pappus that catches the wind, Bidens has one that catches on passersby. #Asteraceae #epizoochory #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Close-up photo of four elongated fruits, each bearing two spine-like projections, attached to woven fabric. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

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