Published by Daniel Mosquin on April 30, 2015
The stately Pinus thunbergii is deserving of attention any day, but last week the male cones were resplendently releasing pollen, and I thought it made for a good opportunity to discuss reproduction in the Pinaceae . It took me a while to get a good photo of the pollen grains blowing away, as I had […]
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on April 29, 2015
Last month, one of our readers pointed out that I share a last name with a famous 19th century phycologist, Théophile Bonnemaison. I am pleasantly surprised to realize that Théophile was the namesake of not only a genus, but also a family and even an order! I don’t know whether I am distantly related to […]
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on April 28, 2015
It is easy to imagine why the common name for this flower is eastern spring beauty; it is one of the first wildflowers to bloom in its eastern North American range, just as the western spring beauty (Claytonia lanceolata) is among the first bloomers here in the west of this continent.
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on April 22, 2015
Blunt-leaved pocket moss, or Fissidens obtusifolius, is a member of the Fissidentaceae, a family containing 450 species, all within the genus Fissidens.
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on April 20, 2015
Thistles often get a bad rap. In some states of the USA (e.g., Arkansas and Iowa), all species of Cirsium are listed as noxious weeds, regardless of their origin (native or not). Before becoming a student, I ran a small vegetable farm in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia. There, I witnessed firsthand how just […]
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on April 15, 2015
The photograph for today’s entry is courtesy of manzanitas and conifer enthusiast, Michael Kauffmann. Michael is the person behind Backcountry Press, an “independent publisher of web and print media whose themes explore natural history, ecology, and the western [North American] landscape”. Complementing previous excellent works on the conifers of western North America, Michael and co-authors […]
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on April 10, 2015
Today we are featuring a very unusual taxon–one that you may have seen recently at the grocery check-out line, but have probably never seen growing: a genetically-engineered carnation by Florigene® known as ‘Moondust’.
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