epiphytes

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Seed Oddities: Vivipary

Seeds house and protect infant plants. When released from their parent plant, they commence a journey that, if successful, will bring them to a suitable location where they can take up residence (upon germination) and carry out a life similar to that of their parents. Their seed coats (and often – in the case of angiosperms – the fruits they were born in) help direct them and protect them in this journey. Physical and chemical factors inhibit them from germinating prematurely – a phenomenon known as dormancy. Agents of dispersal and mechanisms of dormancy allow seeds to travel through time and space — promises of new plants yet to be realized.

There is rarely a need for a seed to germinate immediately upon reaching maturity. In many cases, such as in temperate climates or in times of drought or low light, germinating too soon could be detrimental. The most vulnerable time in a plant’s life comes when it is a young seedling. Thus, finding the right time and space to get a good start is imperative.

The fruits (and accompanying seeds) of doubleclaw (Proboscidea parviflora) are well equipped for long distance dispersal. (via wikimedia commons)

In rare instances, dispersal via seeds offers little advantage; instead, dispersal of live seedlings or propagules is preferable. For this select group of plants, vivipary is part of the reproductive strategy. In vivipary, seeds lack dormancy. Rather than waiting to be dispersed before germinating, viviparous seeds germinate inside of fruits that are still attached to their parent plants.

Occasionally, seeds are observed germinating inside tomatoes, citrus, squash, and other fruits; however, these fruits are usually overripe and often detached from the plant. In these instances, what is referred to as “vivipary” is not a genetic predisposition or part of the reproductive strategy. It’s just happenstance – a fun anomaly. The type of vivipary discussed in this post is actually quite rare, occurring in only a handful of species and prevalent in a select number of environments.

There are three main types of vivipary: true vivipary, cryptovivipary, and pseudovivipary. In true vivipary, a seed germinates inside the fruit and pushes through the fruit wall before the fruit is released. In cryptovivipary, a seed germinates inside the fruit but remains inside until after the fruit drops or splits open. Pseudovivipary is the production of bulbils or plantlets in the flower head. It does not involve seeds and is, instead, a form of asexual reproduction that will be discussed in a future post.

True vivipary is commonly seen among plant communities located in shallow, marine habitats in tropical or subtropical regions, such as mangroves or seagrasses. The term mangrove is used generally to describe a community of plants found in coastal areas growing in saline or brackish water. It also refers more specifically to the small trees and shrubs found in such environments. While not all mangrove species are viviparous, many of them are.

Seedlings of viviparous mangrove species emerge from the fruit and drop from the plant into the salty water below. From there they have the potential to float long or short distances before taking root. They may land in the soil upright, but often, as the tide recedes, they find themselves lying horizontally on the soil. Luckily, they have the remarkable ability to take root and quickly stand themselves up. Doing this allows young plants to keep their “heads” above water as the tides return. It also helps protect the shoot tips from herbivory.

Viviparous seedlings emerging from the fruits of red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) via wikimedia commons

Another example of vivipary is found in the epiphytic cactus (and close relative of tan hua), Epiphyllum phyllanthus. Commonly known as climbing cactus, this species was studied by researchers in Brazil who harvested fruits at various stages to observe the development of the viviparous seedlings. They then planted the seedlings on three different substrates to evaluate their survival and establishment.

Epiphyllum phyllanthus is cryptoviviparous, so the germinated seeds don’t leave the fruit until after it splits open. In a sense, the mother plant is caring for her offspring before sending them out into the world. The researchers see this as “a form of parental care with subsequent conspecific [belonging to the same species] nursing.” Since the plant is epiphytic – meaning that it grows on the surface of another plant rather than in the soil – local dispersal is important, since there is no guarantee that seeds or propagules dispersed away from the host plant will find another suitable site. That being said, the researchers believe that “vivipary involves adaptation to local dispersal,” since “the greater the dispersal distance is, the higher the risk and the lower the probability of optimal dispersion.”

Epiphyllum phyllanthus via Useful Tropical Plants

While some viviparous seedlings of mangroves can travel long distances from their parent plant and don’t always root into the ground immediately, they maintain their advantage over seeds because they can root in quickly upon reaching a suitable site and lift themselves up above rising tide waters. As the authors of the Epiphyllum study put it, vivipary is “a reproductive advantage that, in addition to allowing propagules to root and grow almost immediately, favors quick establishment whenever seedlings land on suitable substrates.”

There is still much to learn about this unusual and rare botanical feature. The research that does exist is relatively scant, so it will be interesting to see what more we can discover. For now, check out the following resources:

Also, check out this You Tube video of :

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Botany in Popular Culture: The Tan Hua Flowers in Crazy Rich Asians

When a flower blooms, a celebration is in order. Flowers abound for much of the year, which means parties are called for pretty much non-stop (something Andrew W.K. would surely endorse). Since we can’t possibly celebrate every bloom, there are certain plants we have decided to pay more attention to – plants whose flowers aren’t so prolific, predictable, or long-lived; or plants whose flowers come infrequently or at odd times of the day (or night).

This is the case with the flowers of the night blooming cactus, Epiphyllum oxypetalum, which goes by many names including Dutchman’s pipe cactus, queen of the night, orchid cactus, night blooming cereus, and tan hua. Tan hua is the Chinese name for the plant, and this is how it is referred to in the book, Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan.

In the book, Nick Young brings his American girlfriend, Rachel Chu, to meet his ridiculously wealthy family in Singapore. Before the trip, Rachel was in the dark about the Young’s wealth. She first meets the family and their gargantuan mansion when Nick’s grandma, seeing that her tan hua flowers are about to bloom, throws an impromptu (and lavish) party. Nick refers to the flowers as “very rare,” blooming “extremely infrequently,” and “quite something to witness.”

In a seperate conversation, Nick’s cousin, Astrid, tries to convince her husband to attend the party by claiming, “it’s awfully good luck to see the flowers bloom.” Later, another one of Nick’s cousins tells Rachel, “it’s considered to be very auspicious to witness tan huas blooming.”

Tan hua (Epiphyllum oxypetalum) via wikimedia commons

Native to Mexico and Guatemala, E. oxypetalum was first brought to China in the 1600’s. Its beauty and intrigue along with its relative ease of cultivation helped it become popular and widespread across Asia and other parts of the world. Watching it bloom is considered a sacred experience by many, including in India, where it is said to bring luck and prosperity to households who are fortunate enough to see theirs bloom.

Epiphyllums are epiphytic, meaning they grow non-parasitically on the surfaces of other plants, such as in the crevices of bark or the crotches of branches. Like other cacti, they are essentially leafless, but their stems are broad, flat, and leaf-like in appearance. Showy, fragrant flowers are born along the margins of stems. The flowers of tan hua, as described in Crazy Rich Asians, appear as “pale reddish petals curled tightly like delicate fingers grasping a silken white peach.” A report (accompanied by photos) published by Sacred Heart University describes watching tan hua flowers progess from bud formation to full bloom, a process that took more than two weeks.

Tan huas are certainly not rare, as Nick described them. A number of Epiphyllum species and their hybrids are commonly cultivated; there is even an Epiphyllum Trail at San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park. Listed as “least concern” on the IUCN Red List, their popularity as ornamentals is noted but is not seen as affecting wild populations. Night blooming plants, while fascinating, aren’t all that rare either. Such plants have adapted relationships with creatures, like bats and moths, that are active during the night, employing their assistance with pollination. A paper published in Plant Systematics and Evolution describes the floral characteristics of Epiphyllum and similar genera: “The hawkmoth-flower syndrome, consisting of strongly-scented, night-blooming flowers with white or whitish perianths and long slender nectar-containing floral tubes is present in Cereus, Trichocereus, Selenicereus, Discocactus, Epiphyllum, and a number of other cactus genera.”

That being said, the specialness of a short-lived, infrequent, night blooming flower should not be understated, and really, parties being thrown in honor of any plant are something I can certainly get behind. Sitting in the courtyard late at night, the Young family and their guests watched as “the tightly rolled petals of the tan huas unfurled like a slow-motion movie to reveal a profusion of feathery white petals that kept expanding into an explosive sunburst pattern.” The look of it reminds Astrid of “a swan ruffling its wings, about to take flight.”

Later, “the tan huas began to wilt just as swiftly and mysteriously as they had bloomed, filling the night air with an intoxicating scent as they shriveled into spent lifeless petals.”

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*Thank you Kathy for letting me borrow your Kindle so that I could write this post.

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Dischidia and Its Self-contained Watering System

This is a guest post by Jeremiah Sandler.

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I was doing some sunday reading in a plant biology textbook, a section about leaves. It was highlighting leaf-specific adaptations and other cool leaf specializations. I came across a paragraph about a “flower-pot” leaf, and my mind was so blown after reading it I had to literally stand up.

It reads:

Some leaves of the Dischidia [genus], an epiphyte from Australasia, develop into urnlike pouches that become the home of ant colonies. The ants carry in soil and add nitrogeneous wastes, while moisture collects in the leaves through condensation of the water vapor coming from the mesophyll through stomata. This creates a good growing medium for roots, which develop adventitiously from the same node as the leaf and grow down into the soil contained in the urnlike pouch. In other words, this extraordinary plant not only reproduces itself by conventional means but also, with the aid of ants, provides its own fertilized growing medium and flower pots and then produces special roots, which “exploit” the situation.

Naturally I had to look up images of this plant because that’s amazing.

Illustration of Dischidia major (image credit: wikimedia commons)

Dischidia major – cross section of “flower-pot” leaf (photo credit: eol.org)

Dischidia vidalii– cross section of “flower-pot” leaf (photo credit: eol.org)

In shorter words, the plant grows modified leaves that form a little cavity, within which ants live. The ants incidentally carry soil into the cavity, while fertilizing that soil with their waste. The stomata are located on the insides of these cavities, which expel water from the leaves, where it then waters the soil that is located inside the leaves. Not to mention, the outside of those cavities are photosynthesizing all the while.

So, with the help of ants, an epiphytic Dischidia has evolved leaves to bring the soil to itself up in the trees, where it fertilizes and waters itself? SAY WHAT?! That is so damn cool.


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