#postfloral

Romneya coulteri, known commonly as Matilija poppy, is a perennial from the poppy family native to southern California and Baja California where it occurs in dry regions, often hosting chaparral plant communities. It is fairly common in cultivation especially where water conservation is a concern and is known to spread aggressively via its rhizomatous roots if treated well. The white and yellow flowers are the largest of any plant native to California and was in contention to be the state flower though it was beaten out by its not-too-distant relative, the California poppy. The fruit employs similar structures to many others in Papaveraceae (if you check my earlier post of Argemone glauca you’ll see great similarity!) but has more chambers than most, making it look like a crown. Each pod bears copious, small, classically poppyesque seeds. If you look closely you can see tiny fractures form in the capsule such that even gentle bumping or shaking can break it to pieces, spilling more of the seed that hasn’t already fallen out the top when shaken in a breeze.

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Gossypium barbadense is one of the species of cotton grown agriculturally in the modern world where it now grows throughout though it originated in Ecuador and Peru. Left to grow beyond the short cycle it sees in cultivation, this species can turn into a small and slender tree which produces showy but short-lived flowers and later bolls of cotton. Though accounting for around 1/20 of the world’s cotton, the trade names ‘pima’ and ‘Egyptian’ cotton are well-known. Cultivars of G. barbadense are typically Long Staple or Extra Long Staple (I even created and measured staples of this boll’s fiber to check!) which allows them to make fine thread used in high thread count textiles and to create strong cord which has for one thing has been used in auto tires. It is unlikely that this has remained a pure species as it’s been used by humans for longer than 6,000 years and cotton species in proximity can easily interbreed with one another. Some interbreeding was likely deliberate as well, considering for example that the Hawaiian cotton Gossypium tomentosum was bred with commercial species to convey disease and pest resistance. G. barbadense has a noteworthy characteristic in having a single large and prominent extrafloral nectary on the underside of its leaves where it produces a visible (and pretty tasty) bead of nectar. These sorts of nectar sources are not intended to attract pollinators but instead usually draw in insects like ants or wasps which will defend the plant as a food source. While many cotton species have further value for their seed oil, G. barbadense produces too much gossypol, a chemical which in its seeds which renders its oil unsuitable for consumption. Interestingly, gossypol also is known to be an antimalarial compound and has been investigated as a male contraceptive, though in the modern day is only being considered as an alternative to vasectomy.

Capparis sandwichiana, the Hawaiian Caper, or maiapilo, is a sprawling, low-growing shrub which inhabits only the Hawaiian islands in coastal and near-coastal ranges. It shares its genus with Capparis spinosa which is commonly used in Mediterranean cooking and shares some traits such as a preference for little water which might be surprising when hearing it is endemic to these tropical islands. The white flowers are fragrant and quite large, serving as nectar source for Manduca blackburni and a forage source for larval Plutella capparidis moths, both of which are also endemic Hawaiian species. The plant is threatened in the wild. This image was created by pulling the sharpest segments from 62 separate images at different distances from the subject to produce an image showing the subject entirely in focus.

Liquidambar styraciflua or the American Sweetgum is a distinct tree native the the southeastern parts of the United States and found throughout Central America. Both the genus name Liquidambar and common name Sweetgum refer to the abundant resin exuded from the tree when wounded. The sap has been used by the native Nahua people as a fragrant incense and medicine. The seed capsules of the fruit contain just one or two fertile seeds and an abundance of aborted seeds. The aborted seeds contain a fairly large amount of shikimic acid, the precursor to the antiviral medicine Oseltamivir (Tamiflu). After a shortage of the main source, star anice seeds, using the infertile seeds from Liquidambar styraciflua was investigated for their sustainability and concentration of the precursor. This species makes a good example of why it is worth conserving as many species as possible: One can imagine that when a common species like this is only recently being investigated for its medicinal utility, there must be many others with potential and which might be under threat from human activity.

Lupinus albifrons is a member of the pea family and grows through a broad range of northern Baja California up through southern Oregon. Known as the silver bush lupine, it inhabits many habitats with the common trait of being open spaces with fairly dry conditions. Once established, a deep taproot allows it to draw what little moisture it needs to persist even through hot, dry summers. It produces often copious, fragrant blooms in late spring through early summer and mutable leaves which can become more or less silvery depending on the growing conditions. Notably, this species is one of three which can host the federally endangered mission blue butterfly (Icaricia icarioides missionensis). The larvae which feed on the plant become toxic due to the same compounds which make the foliage resistant to herbivory in general. This is in fact a contributing factor to the butterfly’s endangered status as many of the host plants were removed because of their toxicity to livestock.

Datura wrightii is a plant in the family Solanaceae (tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes) which grows throughout the American southwest and Mexico. The common name of sacred datura, by which I know it, is derived from the way native people would use it in rituals due to its toxic compounds which can cause altered perception. Like other solanaceous plants, it is poisonous and its consumption has been known to kill on occasion. While the appendation "wrightii" refers to the collector of the plant from the wild, Charles Wright, the actual description of the species comes from Eduard August von Regel, illustrating the way herbarium specimens have been and continue to be used. Plant material collections in herbariums play a role in describing and identifying species, but also create a picture of plant distributions in the past which can be used to show both the changing locations in which the plants can live, as well as the smaller and smaller distribution resulting from human activity. Even now new species are being described from herbarium specimens which are actually extinct, never to be seen alive again.

Albizia julibrissin is a tree from the bean family, Fabaceae, originating in Asia and introduced to Europe in the mid 1700s. The genus is taken from the name of the person who introduced it, Filippo deglo Albizzi, while the specific name comes from the original Persian word for the plant which translates to "silk flower." Likewise, the common name for this plant, Persian Silk Tree, encompasses both the origin and one of many ways the tree is described. The fluffy flower clusters produce a very pleasant scent and draw in pollinators such as honeybees and butterflies who benefit from its nectar. It is primarily used as an ornamental plant in climates which experience hot weather and when a lot of extra water cannot be spared. Unfortunately the plant does have great potential to become invasive and the seed pods which burst in strong winds can spread the seeds widely. Furthermore, the seeds can lie dormant for long periods which makes that potential even more significant.