Flowers and other Flora
- Thread starter dpc
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My flower from today is nothing special (as a flower!) but the story behind that plant is pretty educational: Brighamia insignis - endemic to the island of Kauai. Last specimen seen in the wild - 2014. There is not known pollinator but the speculations (by reason!!!) are moths of the family Sphingidae. There are two native moths of that family on Hawaii: Manduca blackburni (extinct from Kauai sometime ago, before present on all main Hawaiian islands, now eventually present on Maui, Kaho'olave and Big Island). And the extremely rare all time and endemic to Kauai - Tinostoma smaragtitis - believed to be extinct also time ago.
The shade under the "flower" on my photo is not a stem - it is still the flower continuing as a narrow tube (one can find images on the Internet) and it's the reason to believe that the natural pollinators were relatively big Sphingidae). Whatever the pollinator was it's extinct and now the plants can by propagated only by the help of humans (artificial pollinating). They are not picky and are easily grown in pots - one more reason the believe the reason for the extinction was the extinct pollinator (plus some more but without a pollinator a plant that is not capable of self-pollinating has a known faith...). My photo is from small patch with these plants in the University of Hawaii Campus (3-4 all-together mixed with some other natives).
I'm sorry for the long writing but it's more important than my photo (at least for me!).
The shade under the "flower" on my photo is not a stem - it is still the flower continuing as a narrow tube (one can find images on the Internet) and it's the reason to believe that the natural pollinators were relatively big Sphingidae). Whatever the pollinator was it's extinct and now the plants can by propagated only by the help of humans (artificial pollinating). They are not picky and are easily grown in pots - one more reason the believe the reason for the extinction was the extinct pollinator (plus some more but without a pollinator a plant that is not capable of self-pollinating has a known faith...). My photo is from small patch with these plants in the University of Hawaii Campus (3-4 all-together mixed with some other natives).
I'm sorry for the long writing but it's more important than my photo (at least for me!).
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Copy and paste from the mushrooms (I'm kind of lazy after the hike
):
My first go into the rain forest for a wile. In the beginning overcast, later some rain and finally some sunshine but my private driver (my daughter ) - she finished her hike and called me to be at the point for "pic me up". I saw few Amakihis when the sun appeared behind the clouds but there was no time for birds...
And I could not resist including a photos of the avocados - rather common encounter in that part of the rain forest!
):My first go into the rain forest for a wile. In the beginning overcast, later some rain and finally some sunshine but my private driver (my daughter
) - she finished her hike and called me to be at the point for "pic me up". I saw few Amakihis when the sun appeared behind the clouds but there was no time for birds...And I could not resist including a photos of the avocados - rather common encounter in that part of the rain forest!
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And few from today: First one is Gardenia (one of the several species growing here - and this is not native one). After that Brexia madagascariensis and Lecythis minor (they have an English names too but that names could be very confusing!).
I'm really interested in the last one: some people say it's nuts have nearly addictive taste! The problem is that in some areas the nuts are very high in selenium (toxic!). On other hand the seleno-proteins in our bodies have the important function as an ant-oxidant (and I know people taking pills with selenium! In areas with soil poor of selenium people may get sick - some parts of Chine for example). Off course everything should be balanced... So, I still hesitate (otherwise I like to taste new things especially highly ranked from people that already tasted them!!!)
I'm really interested in the last one: some people say it's nuts have nearly addictive taste! The problem is that in some areas the nuts are very high in selenium (toxic!). On other hand the seleno-proteins in our bodies have the important function as an ant-oxidant (and I know people taking pills with selenium! In areas with soil poor of selenium people may get sick - some parts of Chine for example). Off course everything should be balanced... So, I still hesitate (otherwise I like to taste new things especially highly ranked from people that already tasted them
!!!)
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