Plant Portraits 5. Lotus Here and There

  (Note images in this series were generated with the assistance of modern AI tools. No actual human individuals are portrayed here. See the first installment of the series for further explanation)

 

 From India to China, the lotus plant (Nelumbo nucifera) is considered sacred, or at least miraculous, because of its ability to rise from the mud, year after year, producing leaves and spectacular blossoms. In addition, its edible seeds and rhizomes are highly valuable sources of nutrition. Lotus occurs also in North America, with similar usage and respect by the indigenous people. Only the flower color is different. I presented some of this information in a previous post .

A group of Balinese dancers taking a break to admire lotus blossoms.

The lotus flower was associated with a number of Hindu deities. This newly created representation of the mythical birth of Goddess Padmavati from a lotus flower combines elements common to Indian art on this subject.

An indigenous Timacu family paddles through a pond filled with the Amerian lotus, Nelumbo lutea in Florida. From southern Ontario, Canada, to Florida, west to Oklahoma, and as far south as Honduras, the indigenous peoples made similar use of lotus as did Asian populations. 

 

 

Women and children in ancient China are harvesting the edible seeds of lotus in the Fall. The bitter-tasting embryos are removed, but saved for medicinal usage. In the winter, the more arduous task of digging up the edible rhizomes from the mud will be undertaken by men.

 

 

 

A chef in ancient China is slicing lotus rhizome for an upcoming meal.

 

 

NOT LOTUS! These are waterlilies of the genus Nymphaea. (Family Nymphaceae). They are not related at all to the lotus, which is genus Nelumbo (Nelumbaceae). The Nymphaeaceae is an ancient lineage branching off near the base of the angiosperm tree, while the Nelumbaceae is actually more closely related to sycamore trees in the Eudicots. I bring this up here to illustrate the very important concept of convergent evolution; plants from unrelated ancestors that have adapted to a similar habitat and lifestyle resulting in a superficial resemblance. 

Plant Portraits 4. Big Seed, Little Seed

 

  (Note images in this series were generated with the assistance of modern AI tools. No actual human individuals are portrayed here. See the first installment of the series for further explanation)

 Seeds vary tremendously in size, depending on how they are adapted for dispersal and germination. Larger seeds, with some exceptions, seldom disperse far from the parent tree. The nutrient-filled seeds are adapted for for sustaining thr germination and slow growth of the seedling in the deep shade of the forest. Smaller seeds are both more widely dispersed, by animals or wind, and germinate in bright, sunny locations.The smallest are the wind-dispersed seeds of orchids.

The largest seeds in the world are those of the Double Coconut, Lodoicea maldivica.They may weigh as much as 55 pounds. They are too heavy to float like regular coconuts. They can only fall from the tree and germinate close by, and so have virtually no dispersal ability at all. They are also extremely slow growing, taking 25-30 years to begin producing fruit.  For these reasons, they are quite rare.  Harvesting and economic use of the seeds is strictly prohibited by the government of the Seychelles where they grow. In former times, they were harvested while immature for the edible, jelly-like endosperm. The shells were used for bowls and similar utensils and the fibrous husk used to make ropes. Leaves were used for thatching, mats, and basketry.

 

The very abundant coconut (Cocos nucifera) is traditionally and commercially used for food, oil, and crafts, similar to those described, but now forbidden, for the double coconut. Though the seeds, within their fibrous husks, are large and heavy, they are buoyant and widely distributed by currents along coastlines. There is debate, however, as to how far they can float and remain viable, and whether they could migrate across oceans. In this scene, Polynesian women are extracting fibers from  coconut husks that have been soaked in water for many days to loosen the fibers, and twisting them into ropes (coir).

Humans were not the first to harvest coconuts. The coconut crab, Birgus latro, feeds on a variety of foods, but is uniquely equipped to break open the tough shell of the coconut. It's geographical range follows that of the coconut from the Indian Ocean to Polynesia, but not to tropical America. This supports the hypothesis that the coconuts in the new world are a later, possibly human introduction. 

 

 

 Smaller palm fruits, such as these of a species of Hydriastele, are dispersed by fruit-eating birds.

The smallest of all seeds belong to orchids. The seeds are flat, dust-like and adapted to dispersal by the wind. Each contains a small embryo and virtually no stored food. The must land in a well-lit location, and also require special symbiotic fungi for their sustenance.  

Plant Portraits 3. African gems and curiosities

 

 

  (Note images in this series were generated with the assistance of modern AI tools. No actual human individuals are portrayed here. See the first installment of the series for further explanation)

When we think of Africa, we usually picture the incredible array of animals there, including our closest relatives. Africa also hosts some remarkable plant life however.

The gloriosa lily (Gloriosa superba, also known as G. rothschildiana) is one of the most spectacular wildflowers of the African savanna region. The genus Gloriosa (family Colchicaceae) has 12 species, mostly found in Africa. All are highly toxic.

 

Scadoxus multiflorus (family Amaryllidaceae) and Clematopsis scabiosifolia (family Ranunculaceae) are two more spectacular flowers of the African savanna. A mother ostrich and her young chick are passing by, with several of the strange baobob trees, Adansonia digitata (Malvaceae)  in the distance. Other trees in the background are species of Acacia. 

Africa is home to a number of Stapeliads (Stapelia and related genera in the Milkweed Family (Asclepiadaceae). Collectively they are known as carrion flowers, because they emit an odor that mimics that of rotting flesh in order to attract pollinating carrion flies.

 

The bizarre Welwitschia mirabilis is an odd gymnosperm distantly related to the conifers. The plant s only produce two leaves during its lifespan of 1000 plus years. The parallel-veined leaves grow continuously from meristems at their bases, but with age split into a number of segments, giving the appearance of a crown of multiple leaves. The stem has no apical meristem. Male and female cones, on separate plants, emerge from the axils of the two leaves, around a concave central disk. Occurring only in the extremely dry Namib Desert of southwestern Africa, it relies on long taproots to access deep groundwater, as well as a system of fine shallow roots that collect drops condensing on leaves from the fog that rolls in from the Atlantic Ocean.

Plant Portraits 2. Bamboo

 (Note images in this series were generated with the assistance of modern AI tools. No actual human individuals are portrayed here. See the first installment of the series for further explanation)

 Bamboos are giant grasses numbering 1500 species or more and classified in over 140 genera. They are essentially giant herbs, without true wood. Most have hollow stems with hard fibrous exteriors, valued throughout their tropical to temperate range as a source of fiber and wood-like construction material. They have been used for thousands of years for house construction, water conduits, baskets and weapons (e.g. bows and arrows). The young shoots serve as an edible vegetable. Giant pandas feed almost exclusively on the leaves and young shoots of bamboo in the southwestern mountains of China. 

In this cut bamboo surface, we can make out

the individual fibrous bundles packed close and 

cemented together. Most bundles contain 

water-conducting xylem and/or 

food-transporting phloem, surrounded 

by the hard, protective fibers. This, rather than 

layers of xylem, is what gives them their

wood-like hardness and strength. 

In modern times, there are even more applications. Laminated together, pieces of bamboo, replace hardwoods in the manufacture of flooring, furniture, chopping boards and many more. The individual fibrous bundles can be softened and separated for making clothing, pillows, etc. 

 A prehistoric family in what is now China pass through a bamboo grove and encounter a group of giant pandas, which feed almost exclusively on the leaves and tender shoots of at least 25 different species of bamboo.

One of the thousands of uses for bamboo in China was the handcrafting of scrolls used for writing books. Narrow strips of bamboo stem were cut and sown together in scrolls. They were written on with a highly durable ink made from soot mixed with animal based glues. This was the standard material for book-making for more than a thousand years, and some of the scrolls dating from the Han Dynasty are still legible a thousand years later. 

Plant Portraits 1. Columbines

 With this post, I begin a new series, featuring fanciful AI-assisted illustrations of plants in the context of their natural environments and their historical relationships to human culture. As always, they are intended to be informational, botanically accurate, hopefully entertaining, and free of all advertisement or monetization. However, these portraits may be somewhat speculative  in nature, particularly those with historical or cultural components. They combine elements assembled widely from internet sources, and rendered with modern AI tools. They may also be somewhat idealized in that they display flowers in greater abundance and more perfect condition than usually found, and with animals that are often hard to see in nature. These are imaginary pictures I wish I could see, but they are all intended to provide enlightenment as well as enjoyment. NO REAL PEOPLE APPEAR IN ANY OF THESE IMAGES.

The use of AI is much discussed and debated these days. Is it harmful or beneficial? It is both of course. Every bit of technology, since the first rock picked up by an unnamed hominid ancestor, can be used to help or to harm. The AI genie is out of the bottle, and cannot be put back. AI permeates our web searches, and is being incorporated into standard graphic programs. It's a tool we can use where it is helpful, though we must try our best to control its darker side. The plant portraits presented here would not have been possible without these tools, the results were irresistibly stunning and informative.

That said, this first post returns to the subject of my very first blog on this site: my favorite flowers, the columbines, of the genus Aquilegia (famiily Ranunculaceae). There are roughly 70 species of this genus, mostly in North America and Eurasia. There has been some limited use of this genus in folk medicine, for such things as treating head lice and cleansing the skin, but toxic cyanogenic glycosides in their tissues dictate very careful dosages, and they are seldom used anymore. Columbine seeds and plants, however. are of multimillion dollar value in the horticultural trade.

Aquilegias are one of the few genera of flowering plants capable of producing pigments in all colors of the rainbow (Think about it. What other genera do you know have that versatility?) Typically, flowers in this genus have a long nectar spur extending from each of the five petals, the length reflecting the feeding organs of the birds, butterflies, hawkmoths or bees that feed in them. You'll see one exception below. 

The western red columbine, Aquilegia formosa, is found widely in the western mountains of North America. It is seen here in the lower left, in the alpine meadow of Paradise, in Mt. Rainier National Park, along with purple lupines, scarlet Indian paintbrush and the seed heads of Anemone occidentalis. Red columbines are pollinated primarily by hummingbirds.

The Colorado blue columbine, Aquilegia coerulea, lights up a meadow near the Grand Teton range in Wyoming. It is pollinated primarily by bumblebees and hawkmoths, but occasionally by hummingbirds.

The rarely seen Aquilegia jonesii is endemic to the northern Rocky Mountains, and occurs in open, rocky habitats at high altitudes. They are pollinated primarily by bumblebees during the short alpine summer.

In this imaginary setting, prehistoric indigenous Hopi children admire the blooms of the western yellow columbine, Aquilegia chrysantha, growing in damp soil by a stream. The Hopi's iconic cliff dwellings are in the back. Western yellow columbines are pollinated primarily by hawkmoths, sometimes in the nighttime, or occasionally by hummngbirds.

A family of the Bai ethnic group of western China, is dressed for a celebration and walking past clumps of pink-flowered Aquilegia ecalcarata, a species lacking the usual nectar spurs on its petals. It is  pollinated by short-tongued insects like syrphid (hover) flies.