Category Archives: Plants
Bags and Bags
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Now there is plenty of Neptunia. I collected several bags for decomposition. The Neptunia appears to be reaching for the light.
Eichhornia collection
Yesterday, I had the greatly appreciated help of several individuals that came along with the Tropical Biology OTS course. Pictured in the foreground are Abbie and Amanda, and in the background, Justin and Stevland. Not pictured is Mo Donnelly.
They fearlessly helped collect living Eichhornia at the crocodile-infested waters at the Catalina sector wetland for placement in competition enclosures in Palo Verde. The bags full of hyacinth are shown in the other picture.
Another complicated picture
Again, while photographing plants for a personal identification guide, I noticed there is much more going on in the photograph than plant identification.
I wonder what these flies are doing on this Echinodorus paniculatus flower. There is a pair for each petal; are they a breeding pair? If so, will they lay eggs and form a gull or otherwise use the Echinodorus has habitat/food? Are they simply attracted to the white?
Unidentified plant
Does any body know this plant?
There is a patch in the wetland, although the area it is growing in is not flooded. It’s currently about 50 cm in height.
Remember this tree?
Does anyone remember the giant fruits produced by Plumeria? I think on the course trips to Palo Verde in January with Kent, Plumeria was leafless and had large hanging fruits, which we picked and opened on top of the overlook (Guayacan). Now it has flowers and is blooming.
The wetland plants are coming
Ecology is hard
When I downloaded this photograph, I noticed that there is alot going on in it.
I have taken a few photos of wetland plants for identification purposes, and I keyed this little floating plant (well, the larger one of the two…. I think the smaller one is either Lemna aequinactialis or Spirodela polyrhiza [Duckweed]) to Limnobium laevigatum. After I keyed it out, I noticed the aphids or other sucking bug, and then I noticed the fly in the upper left. It was hard enough to key the one plant out… now I have two plants in one picture, potentially competing, a herbivore concentrated on one plant, and another spectating insect that could itself and/or its larva be a predator on the herbivore!
Neptunia prostrata (syn. natans)
I hope this is my plant, because that’s what I’ve been looking for.
It is a sensitive plant, which means that when it’s touched, the leaves fold inward.