hi there !! i hope this somehow ends up on some part of science tumblr where people interested in botany reside.

about a month ago i started taking antidepressants, and since then i’ve found myself in an area of constant growth.

i’m the sentimental type, and tomorrow i take my last pill before moving onto the next bottle, and for some reason or another i find myself wanting to save the bottle or put it to good use while also having it remind me of the growth i’ve come to have.

my point here is i’d like to plant something in my little prescription bottle, but i’m not quite sure what to choose or do.

it’s a small bottle, and i’d prefer to start with seeds so i can see the growth over time. i also have adhd so i’m pretty forgetful, so the least amount of maintenance possible would be preferred.

i’d also be keeping it in my room, which only has one window that my bed is directly in front of, and the light doesn’t reach my dresser or any of my shelves, so something that doesn’t need much daylight would also be great.

if anybody has any suggestions please let me know! <3

Images From: Jose, Sarah and Chris Clennett. Trees, Leaves, Flowers, & Seeds: A Visual Encyclopedia of the Plant Kingdom. DK Publishing, 2019.

Roadside barren, overlap with a hydrologically active section considered to be part of the Highland Brim whilst still being part of the Big Barren continuum. 

Here are two milkweeds from that site:

 Asclepias tuberosa, Butterfly Milkweed

Asclepias sullivantii, Prairie Milkweed

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Hesperoyucca whipplei or Chaparral Yucca is a common sight through southern California and Baja California where it grows as the name suggests in chaparral among other habitats.

The plant is pollinated through a symbiotic relationship with the California Yucca Moth (Tegeticula maculata) in which she collects a ball of pollen from several flowers and deliberately pollinates another flower with it. An egg is laid into the ovary of the flower, having ensured that many seeds will set to provide food for the larva.

Native Americans made use of just about every part of the plant: fiber from the leaves, flowers, stem, pods, and seeds all providing food.

Cucumber magnolia flowers, buds, and bark

Lupine in the foothills

Taraxacum officinale (Common dandelion)

First Dandelion of 2021

I’m sure that the star of today’s show requires no introduction. I may be celebrating the arrival of the first dandelion as a harbinger of Spring but ask me what I think of dandelions in the middle of June. 

The common Dandelion is a super weed. A single plant can live 10 to 13 years if left undisturbed and can produce as many as 12,000 seeds a year. In addition to wind dispersal, the seeds survive being eaten by birds and animals and can remain viable for five years. Mechanically pulling the taproots out is often insufficient because any tiny fragment of root left behind can generate a new plant. 

Like most gardeners who desire a respectable lawn, I fight a running gun-battle with dandelions every summer. You know and I know that Victory is impossible. The best I can hope for is a tie. This is the first one of the season. Let the Games begin.

1.26.21 - rabbitbush

nepeta cataria

Lasallia pensylvanica

Pensylvania blistered naval lichen, Common toadskin lichen, Pennsylvania toadskin lichen 

L. pensylvanica is an umbilicate foliose lichen that grows on dry, acidic rock in North America and Asia. It is umbilicate and monophyllus, and has an olivaceous or dark brown or gray upper surface dotted with abundant pustules and flat, black apothecia. Throughout much of its range in the eastern U.S., it grows alongside 3 other lichens: Lasallia papulosa,  Dimelaena oreina, and Melanelia culbersonii. These lichens are found in boulder fields, where they can form the dominant “vegetation” cover for up to 10 acres of space!!!! Rolling hills of foliose lichen. Can you imagine? Maybe you can because you’ve been to these remote areas in the Blue Ridge Mountains or Shenandoah National Park or the Appalachian Mountains where this association has been noted, and if so, consider me jealous. This association is super rad, and likely one of many lichen associations we are learning to document. 

images: source 

info: source | source 

Trillium

The darker the petals, the older the flower.

Sideoats grama
Bouteloua curtipendula

C Matt Lavin, CC 2.0

Illustrations of North American sylva (1841 - 1849) by Pierre Joseph Redouté taken from ‘The North American Sylva’ by François André Michaux.

Published by J. Dobson.

Images and text information courtesy NYPL Digital Collection.

Fungi boost plants’ immune systems against aphids.

Fungi boost plants’ immune systems against aphids.

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have demonstrated that unique fungi strengthen the “immune systems” of wheat and bean plants against aphids. Fungi enter and influence the amount of a plant’s own defences, resulting in fewer aphids. The results could serve to reduce agricultural insecticide use and bring Denmark a step further along the path towards its green transition.

Wheat…

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Drosera Hercules (D. capensis ‘Albino’ × D. aliciae) New sundew babe.

#carnivorousplants #drosera #botany

Entry 33: We have made another plant with cognitive thought, this time an Aegagropila linnaei. However, something seems to be wrong. This Marino seems to be showing several symptoms of panophobia and anxiety. Studies are undergoing as to why this happened.

I like to think of Marimo as a brother of mine, mostly because we look so similar. He’s a bit of a scaredy-cat, but I still like him. I noticed that the big man really likes giving us two different names: a normal name and a really long, weird name with two parts to it. I’m not sure why he does this, but it’s kinda silly.

fern

Entry 35: I was worried that the serum got mixed with some other chemicals, causing the Aegagropila linnaei’s panophobia and the Dionaea muscipula’s social anxiety, so I had to do some more experiments. Thankfully, that didn’t seem to be the case. the Chlamydomonas nivalis doesn’t show any of those symptoms. The venus Fly Trap has seemed to take a liking to the Watermelon snow, and my assistant keeps referring to them as friends. Testing is still going on.

Snowy’s a good friend. She’s much more of an extrovert than me and has actually helped me with my shyness. Sure, the man who created us gave her a bit of a strange name, but I still like her. She’s really nice and helpful and…I’m rambling, aren’t I?