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Elaiosomes
Elaiosomes ( grc, ἔλαιον ''élaion'' "oil" + ''sóma'' "body") are fleshy structures that are attached to the seeds of many plant species. The elaiosome is rich in lipids and proteins, and may be variously shaped. Many plants have elaiosomes that attract ants, which take the seed to their nest and feed the elaiosome to their larvae. After the larvae have consumed the elaiosome, the ants take the seed to their waste disposal area, which is rich in nutrients from the ant frass and dead bodies, where the seeds Germination, germinate. This type of seed dispersal is termed myrmecochory from the Greek "ant" (myrmex) and "circular dance" (khoreíā). This type of Symbiosis, symbiotic relationship appears to be Mutualism (biology), mutualistic, more specifically dispersive mutualism according to Ricklefs, R.E. (2001), as the plant benefits because its seeds are dispersed to favorable germination sites, and also because it is planted (carried underground) by the ants. Elaiosomes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myrmecochory
Myrmecochory ( (sometimes myrmechory); from grc, μύρμηξ, mýrmēks ("ant") and ''khoreíā'' ("circular dance") is seed dispersal by ants, an ecologically significant ant–plant interaction with worldwide distribution. Most myrmecochorous plants produce seeds with elaiosomes, a term encompassing various external appendages or "food bodies" rich in lipids, amino acids, or other nutrients that are attractive to ants. The seed with its attached elaiosome is collectively known as a diaspore. Seed dispersal by ants is typically accomplished when foraging workers carry diaspores back to the ant colony, after which the elaiosome is removed or fed directly to ant larvae. Once the elaiosome is consumed, the seed is usually discarded in underground middens or ejected from the nest. Although diaspores are seldom distributed far from the parent plant, myrmecochores also benefit from this predominantly mutualistic interaction through dispersal to favourable locations for g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trillium
''Trillium'' (trillium, wakerobin, toadshade, tri flower, birthroot, birthwort, and sometimes "wood lily") is a genus of about fifty flowering plant species in the family Melanthiaceae. ''Trillium'' species are native to temperate regions of North America and Asia, with the greatest diversity of species found in the southern Appalachian Mountains in the southeastern United States. Description Plants of this genus are perennial herbs growing from rhizomes. There are three large leaf-like bracts arranged in a whorl about a scape that rises directly from the rhizome. There are no true aboveground leaves but sometimes there are scale-like leaves on the underground rhizome. The bracts are photosynthetic and are sometimes called leaves. The inflorescence is a single flower with three green or reddish sepals and three petals in shades of red, purple, pink, white, yellow, or green. At the center of the flower there are six stamens and three stigmas borne on a very short style, if ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosperm plants. Seeds are the product of the ripened ovule, after the embryo sac is fertilized by sperm from pollen, forming a zygote. The embryo within a seed develops from the zygote, and grows within the mother plant to a certain size before growth is halted. The seed coat arises from the integuments of the ovule. Seeds have been an important development in the reproduction and success of vegetable gymnosperm and angiosperm plants, relative to more primitive plants such as ferns, mosses and liverworts, which do not have seeds and use water-dependent means to propagate themselves. Seed plants now dominate biological niches on land, from forests to grasslands both in hot and cold climates. The term "seed" also has a general meaning t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sanguinaria Canadensis
''Sanguinaria canadensis'', bloodroot, is a perennial, herbaceous flowering plant native to eastern North America. It is the only species in the genus ''Sanguinaria'', included in the poppy family Papaveraceae, and is most closely related to '' Eomecon'' of eastern Asia. ''Sanguinaria canadensis'' is sometimes known as Canada puccoon, bloodwort, redroot, red puccoon, and black paste. Plants are variable in leaf and flower shape, and have been separated as a different subspecies due to these variable shapes, indicating a highly variable species. In bloodroot, the juice is red and poisonous. Products made from sanguinaria extracts, such as black salve, are escharotic and can cause permanent disfiguring scarring. Although preliminary studies have suggested that sanguinaria may have potential applications in cancer therapy, clinical studies are lacking, and its use is not recommended. Description Bloodroot grows from tall. It has one large basal leaf, up to across, with f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elaioplast
Elaioplasts are one of the three possible forms of leucoplasts, sometimes broadly referred to as such. The main function of elaioplasts are synthesis and storage of fatty acids, terpenes, and other lipids, and they can be found in the embryonic leaves of oilseeds, citrus fruits, as well as the anthers of many flowering plants. Description Like most leucoplasts, elaioplasts are non-pigmented organelles capable of alternating between the different forms of plastids. The elaioplast specifically is primarily responsible for the storage and metabolism of lipids, among these roles, recent studies have shown that these organelles participate in the formation of terpenes and fatty acids. Typically, they appear as small, rounded organelles filled by oil droplets. Lipids found inside elaioplasts mirror those synthesized by prokaryotes, chiefly triacylglycerol and sterol esters, which cluster into the droplets visible by microscope. As for their other components, elaioplasts also contain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the Roman Republic it became the dominant language in the Italian region and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire. Even after the fall of Western Rome, Latin remained the common language of international communication, science, scholarship and academia in Europe until well into the 18th century, when other regional vernaculars (including its own descendants, the Romance languages) supplanted it in common academic and political usage, and it eventually became a dead language in the modern linguistic definition. Latin is a highly inflected language, with three distinct genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), six or seven noun cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative, and vocative), five declensions, four ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aril
An aril (pronounced ), also called an arillus, is a specialized outgrowth from a seed that partly or completely covers the seed. An arillode or false aril is sometimes distinguished: whereas an aril grows from the attachment point of the seed to the ovary (from the funiculus or '' hilum''), an arillode forms from a different point on the seed coat. The term "aril" is sometimes applied to any fleshy appendage of the seed in flowering plants, such as the mace of the nutmeg seed. Arils and arillodes are often edible enticements that encourage animals to transport the seed, thereby assisting in seed dispersal. Pseudarils are aril-like structures commonly found on the pyrenes of Burseraceae species that develop from the mesocarp of the ovary. The fleshy, edible pericarp splits neatly in two halves, then falling away or being eaten to reveal a brightly coloured pseudaril around the black seed. The aril may create a fruit-like structure, called (among other names) a '' false ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viola (plant)
''Viola'' is a genus of flowering plants in the violet family Violaceae. It is the largest genus in the family, containing between 525 and 600 species. Most species are found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere; however, some are also found in widely divergent areas such as Hawaii, Australasia, and the Andes. Some ''Viola'' species are perennial plants, some are annual plants, and a few are small shrubs. Many species, varieties and cultivars are grown in gardens for their ornamental flowers. In horticulture the term pansy is normally used for those multi-colored, large-flowered cultivars which are raised annually or biennially from seed and used extensively in bedding. The terms viola and violet are normally reserved for small-flowered annuals or perennials, including the wild species. Description Annual or perennial caulescent or acaulescent (with or without a visible plant stem above the ground) herbs, shrubs or very rarely treelets. In acaulescent taxa the foliage and f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ricinus Communis
''Ricinus communis'', the castor bean or castor oil plant, is a species of perennial flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It is the sole species in the monotypic genus, ''Ricinus'', and subtribe, Ricininae. The evolution of castor and its relation to other species are currently being studied using modern genetic tools. It reproduces with a mixed pollination system which favors selfing by geitonogamy but at the same time can be an out-crosser by anemophily (wind pollination) or entomophily (insect pollination). Its seed is the castor bean, which, despite its name, is not a bean (that is, the seed of many Fabaceae). Castor is indigenous to the southeastern Mediterranean Basin, Eastern Africa, and India, but is widespread throughout tropical regions (and widely grown elsewhere as an ornamental plant). Castor seed is the source of castor oil, which has a wide variety of uses. The seeds contain between 40% and 60% oil that is rich in triglycerides, mainly ricin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myrtus
''Myrtus'' (commonly called myrtle) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. It was first described by Swedish botanist Linnaeus in 1753. Over 600 names have been proposed in the genus, but nearly all have either been moved to other genera or been regarded as synonyms. The genus ''Myrtus'' has three species recognised today: *'' Myrtus communis'' – Common myrtle; native to the Mediterranean region in southern Europe *''Myrtus nivellei'' – Saharan myrtle; native to North Africa *'' Myrtus phyllireaefolia'' Description Common myrtle '' Myrtus communis'', the "common myrtle", is native across the Mediterranean region, Macaronesia, western Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. It is also cultivated. The plant is an evergreen shrub or small tree, growing to tall. The leaf is entire, 3–5 cm long, with a fragrant essential oil. The star-like flower has five petals and sepals, and numerous stamens. Petals usually are white. The flower is pollinated by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hyacinth (plant)
''Hyacinthus'' is a small genus of bulbous, spring-blooming perennials. They are fragrant flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae and are commonly called hyacinths (). The genus is native to the area of the eastern Mediterranean from the south of Turkey to Palestine, although naturalized more widely. Several species of '' Brodiaea'', '' Scilla'', and other plants that were formerly classified in the Liliaceae family and have flower clusters borne along the stalk also have common names with the word "hyacinth" in them. Hyacinths should also not be confused with the genus '' Muscari'', which are commonly known as grape hyacinths. Description ''Hyacinthus'' grows from bulbs, each producing around four to six linear leaves and one to three spikes or racemes of flowers. In the wild species, the flowers are widely spaced, with as few as two per raceme in '' H. litwinovii'' and typically six to eight in '' H. orientalis'' which grows to a heigh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dicentra
''Dicentra'' (Greek ''dís'' "twice", ''kéntron'' "spur"), known as bleeding-hearts, is a genus of eight species of herbaceous plants with oddly shaped flowers and finely divided leaves, native to eastern Asia and North America. Description Flowers have two tiny sepals and four petals. The flowers are bisymmetric: the two outer petals are spurred or pouched at the base and curved outwards or backwards at the tip, and the two inner ones with or without a crest at the tip. In ''Dicentra'', all leaves are in a basal rosette, and flowers are on leafless stalks. In other genera with bisymmetric heart-shaped flowers (''Lamprocapnos'', ''Dactylicapnos'', ''Ichtyoselmis'', ''Ehrendorferia''), leaves grow on stems as well as from the root. Each of the two compound stamens is composed of one median and two lateral half stamens fused together. The stamens and pistil are held between the inner petals. Seeds with elaiosomes are borne in long capsules. All parts are poisonous if ingested ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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