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Scott - I've seen a lot of insects on Veratrum californicum
(tenuipetalum) in Colorado. Mostly flies as I recall, but I haven't
seen dead insects on the flowers. Flowering there is relatively
unusual, with rare years when a lot of plants flower. The life
history is pretty interesting - reproduces clonally, but only in the same
year that the plants flower. The roots have annual growth rings, rot away
on one end, grow forward on the other, and record about 15-25 years of
growth. I've heard that the seeds can kill chickens. I think
the toxins in the leaves are mostly alkaloids, which can cause sheep to
give birth to cyclopic lambs (see the picture in the Bale paper!).
<br><br>
David<br><br>
Here are some Veratrum references, or at least references for which I
used the keyword Veratrum. <br><br>
Bale, A. E. 2000. Sheep, lilies and human genetics. Nature
<b>406</b>:944-945.<br>
Binns, W., R. F. Keeler, and L. D. Balls. 1972. Congenital deformities in
lambs, calves and goats resulting from maternal ingestion of <i>Veratrum
californicum</i>: hare clip, cleft palate, ataxia and hypoplasia of
metacarpal and metatarsal bones. Clinical Toxicology
<b>5</b>:245-261.<br>
Callaway, R. M., D. Kikodze, M. Chiboshvili, and L. Khetsuriani. 2005.
Unpalatable plants protect neighbors from grazing and increase plant
community diversity. Ecology <b>86</b>:1856-1862.<br>
Callaway, R. M., D. Kikodze, and Z. Kikvidze. 2000. Facilitation by
unpalatable weeds may conserve plant diversity in overgrazed meadows in
the Caucasus Mountains. Oikos <b>89</b>:275-282.<br>
Colasante, M., and P. J. Rudall. 2000. <i>Veratrum album</i> and <i>V.
nigrum</i> (Melanthiaceae) in Italy: micromorphology and systematics.
Plant Biosystems <b>134</b>:233-240.<br>
Dietz, H., and I. Ullmann. 1997. Age-determination of dicotyledonous
herbaceous perennials by means of annual rings: exception or rule? Annals
of Botany <b>80</b>:377-379.<br>
Doree, A. 1988. Une adventice commune en montagne: le veratre
(<i>Veratrum album</i> L.) ou ellebore blanc. Pages 105-116 <i>in</i>
VIIIème Coloque International sur la Biologie, l'Ecologie et la
Systematique des Mauvaises Herbes, Dijon (France).<br>
Geber, M. A., H. De Kroon, and M. A. Watson. 1997. Organ preformation in
mayapple as a mechanism for historical effects on demography. Journal of
Ecology <b>85</b>:211-223.<br>
Hemborg, Å. M. 1998. Costs of reproduction in subarctic <i>Ranunculus
acris</i>: a five-year field experiment. Oikos <b>83</b>:273-282.<br>
Kerster, H. 1968. Population age structure in the prairie forb, Liatris
aspera. Biol. Sci. <b>18</b>:430-432.<br>
Kleijn, D., and T. Steinger. 2002. Contrasting effects of grazing and hay
cutting on the spatial and genetic population structure of <i>Veratrum
album</i>, an unpalatable, long-lived, clonal plant species. Journal of
Ecology <b>90</b>:360-370.<br>
Kupchan, S. M., J. H. Zimmerman, and A. Afonso. 1961. The alkaloids and
taxonomy of <i>Veratrum </i>and related genera. Lloydia
<b>24</b>:1-26.<br>
Levin, D., and H. Kerster. 1978. Rings and age in Liatris. American
Naturalist <b>112</b>:1113-1120.<br>
Mulligan, G. A., and D. B. Munro. 1987. The biology of Canadian weeds:
77. <i>Veratrum viride</i> Ait. Canadian Journal of Plant Science
<b>67</b>:777-786.<br>
Nathanielsz, P. W. 1996. The timing of birth. American Scientist
<b>84</b>:562-569.<br>
Pojar, J. 1974. Reproductive dynamics of four plant communities of
southwestern British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Botany
<b>52</b>:1819-1834.<br>
Schaffner, U., J.-L. Boev‚, H. Gfeller, and U. P. Schlunegger. 1994.
Sequestration of <i>Veratrum</i> alkaloids by specialist <i>Rhadinoceraea
nodicornis</i> Konow (Hymenoptera, Tenthredinidae) and its ecoethological
implications. Journal of Chemical Ecology <b>20</b>:3233-3250.<br>
Schaffner, U., and J. L. Boeve. 1996. Sequestration of plant alkaloids by
the sawfly <i>Rhadinoceraea nodicornis</i>: Ecological relevance for
different life stages and occurrence among related species. Entomologia
Experimentalis et Applicata <b>80</b>:283-285.<br>
Schaffner, U., W. Nentwig, and R. Brandle. 1995. Effect of mowing, rust
infection and seed production upon C and N reserves and morphology of the
perennial <i>Veratrum album</i> L. (Liliales, Melanthiaceae). Botanica
Helvetica <b>105</b>:17-23.<br>
Sheffield, Wolfe, and Haufler. 1989. How big is a bracken plant? Weed
Science <b>29</b>:455-460.<br>
Taylor, C. A. 1956. The culture of false hellebore. Economic Botany
<b>10</b>:155-165.<br>
Werner, P. 1978. On determination of age in <i>Liatris aspera</i> using
cross-sections of corms: implications for past demographic studies.
American Naturalist <b>112</b>:1113-1120.<br>
Williams, M. C., and E. H. Cronin. 1968. Dormancy, longevity, and
germination of seeds of three larkspurs and western false hellebore.
Weeds <b>8</b>:452-461.<br>
Yumoto, T. 1986. The ecological pollination syndromes of
insect-pollinated plants in an alpine meadow. Ecological Research
<b>1</b>:83-95.<br><br>
At 11:55 AM 12/8/2005, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Dear list members,<br>
<br>
I have been working with a common forested wetland species (false
hellebore;<br>
Veratrum viride; Liliaceae) that, according to the literature, is reputed
to<br>
have toxic nectar (a fascinating topic in itself!). I am intrigued by
the<br>
number of arthropod orders and species that visit the flowers in
particular<br>
ants. Do many of the visitors end up dead? In the pollinator literature
ants<br>
are usually described as ineffective pollinators at best. My questions
are:<br>
1. What are inexpensive yet effective assays to evaluate toxicity
without<br>
elaborate captive colonies of insects? What sort of time frame is
necessary<br>
to evaluate toxicity? I imagine much of this is species-specific.
Finally,<br>
how much would a nectar chemical profile cost? By the way, I have
reviewed<br>
the literature on the toxins in the plant, largely alkaloids, but the
slant<br>
is toward pharmacology; little natural history has been published on
V.<br>
viride. Any hints, suggestions, references etc. would be
appreciated.<br><br>
Thank you,<br>
Scott<br><br>
---<br>
Scott Ruhren, Ph.D.<br>
Director of Properties and Acquisitions<br>
Audubon Society of Rhode Island<br>
12 Sanderson Road<br>
Smithfield, RI 02917-2600<br><br>
401-949-5454 (Ext. 3004)<br><br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Pollinator mailing list<br>
Pollinator@lists.sonic.net<br>
<a href="http://lists.sonic.net/mailman/listinfo/pollinator" eudora="autourl">
http://lists.sonic.net/mailman/listinfo/pollinator</a></blockquote><br>
<br>
<br>
At 11:55 AM 12/8/2005, Scott Ruhren wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Dear list members,<br><br>
I have been working with a common forested wetland species (false
hellebore;<br>
Veratrum viride; Liliaceae) that, according to the literature, is reputed
to<br>
have toxic nectar (a fascinating topic in itself!). I am intrigued by
the<br>
number of arthropod orders and species that visit the flowers in
particular<br>
ants. Do many of the visitors end up dead? In the pollinator literature
ants<br>
are usually described as ineffective pollinators at best. My questions
are:<br>
1. What are inexpensive yet effective assays to evaluate toxicity
without<br>
elaborate captive colonies of insects? What sort of time frame is
necessary<br>
to evaluate toxicity? I imagine much of this is species-specific.
Finally,<br>
how much would a nectar chemical profile cost? By the way, I have
reviewed<br>
the literature on the toxins in the plant, largely alkaloids, but the
slant<br>
is toward pharmacology; little natural history has been published on
V.<br>
viride. Any hints, suggestions, references etc. would be
appreciated.<br><br>
Thank you,<br>
Scott<br><br>
---<br>
Scott Ruhren, Ph.D.<br>
Director of Properties and Acquisitions<br>
Audubon Society of Rhode Island<br>
12 Sanderson Road<br>
Smithfield, RI 02917-2600<br><br>
401-949-5454 (Ext. 3004)<br><br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Pollinator mailing list<br>
Pollinator@lists.sonic.net<br>
<a href="http://lists.sonic.net/mailman/listinfo/pollinator" eudora="autourl">
http://lists.sonic.net/mailman/listinfo/pollinator</a></blockquote></body>
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