[Pollinator] Roadside Flowers Instumental in Studying Botony

[Ladadams at aol.com]

>From the Daily Yomiuri

NATURE IN SHORT / Roadside wildflowers instrumental in studying botany
Kevin Short / Daily Yomiuri Columnist 
Onward rolls the Great Wheel of the Year. In the traditional Asian 
calendar,  the first moon of this brand new Water-Snake year (mizunoto-mi in 
Japanese) is  already a fat waxing gibbous. Look for the beautiful moon goddess 
rising through  the eastern sky early this afternoon. If the weather is clear, 
we can also  expect soft but steady moonlight well into the wee hours of 
Friday morning. 
At this time of year, the weather can change dramatically on a daily basis. 
A  blustery day of near-freezing wind may be followed by an afternoon of 
soft  sunshine, with temperatures soaring up into the teens. 
On days like this south-facing grassy slopes and roadsides will be 
spattered  with the pastel hues of early spring wildflowers. Early spring presents a 
 special opportunity that a wide variety of smaller herbaceous plants have  
evolved to take advantage of. Day by day, the sun climbs higher and shines  
stronger, and by afternoon the air has warmed up enough for various small 
bees  and nectar flies to take wing. On the other hand, grasses and other 
aggressive  weeds have not yet grown tall enough to monopolize the light. 
Typical of these  small early spring wildflowers is the little Persian speedwell. 
This low-growing  but exceptionally hardy plant is native to western Asia 
and northern Africa, but  has naturalized all over the world. 
Here in Japan, it arrived in the late 19th century, and is now one of the  
country's most common roadside wildflowers, blooming profusely in dense 
clusters  on park lawns in the towns and cities, and all along the field edges 
and aze  dikes in the rice paddy countryside. 
Speedwells, classified in the Genus Veronica, form a diverse group of 
plants,  with over 500 species worldwide. The genus name, which is sometimes also 
used as  a common name, is said to be derived from St. Veronica. According 
to Christian  tradition, Veronica was a maiden whom wiped the cut and 
bleeding face of Jesus  on his way to be crucified. The image of Jesus' face was 
miraculously preserved  on the cloth. The soft whitish blue markings on the 
flower reminded people of  this cloth. 
The Japanese generic name for speedwells is inu-no-fuguri, which means  
literally "dog's testicles"! This name derives from the distinctively shaped  
fruits, which show two fuzzy round lobes fused together at the base. The 
Persian  speedwell (V. persica) is called o-inunofugiri, with the prefix o 
meaning  "large." A native species, the inunofuguri (V. didyma), is an overall 
smaller  and more delicate plant that was once common in western and southern 
Japan, but  has since retreated into the hills and mountains under the 
onslaught of the  larger and more aggressive invader. 
Common roadside wildflowers like the speedwell are ideal for learning more  
about the structure and workings of plants. Botany is usually seen as a 
stuffy,  highly academic discipline. The mass of intimidating terminology alone 
usually  discourages most novices. Plant study, however, can also be 
approached as a  fascinating and enjoyable hobby. The keys to this are direct, 
hands-on  observation, and learning the basic terms (in both Japanese and 
English) at  one's own leisurely pace. 
The speedwell flowers, although less than a centimeter in diameter, open up 
 wide and flat, making them easy to observe. Still, a small hand lens, even 
the  three or four power magnification type sold in 100 yen shops, is 
useful for  seeing details. You can examine the open flowers by getting down on 
all fours,  or more simply and conveniently by picking a few stalks and 
taking them home or  to a nearby coffee shop.  
The speedwells are among the most common plants in the land and are  
considered to be undesirable invasive aliens to boot, so there's no ecological  
issue involved with selectively harvesting a few flower stalks. In fact, this 
is  a spreading plant, and most of the stalks in a dense cluster are 
actually part  of the same individual. Grabbing a handful of stalks will in no way 
harm the  plant. Plants such as this are even designed to lose some of their 
leaves and  stalks to grazing animals. 
Flowers contain a plant's vital reproductive structures. Botanists believe  
that the individual parts of the flower first evolved from leaves that 
became  more and more specialized. The two main reproductive structures are the 
male  stamen (oshibe) and the female pistil (meshibe).  
Many flowers, including the speedwell, are bisexual. This means that each  
flower contains both the male and female reproductive structures. The stamen 
 consists of an enlarged head, called the anther (yaku), and a supporting 
stalk,  known as the filament (kashi). Pollen grains, which contain the sperm 
cells, are  produced within chambers inside the anther. 
When the pollen is ready, the anther splits open, allowing the grains to  
spill out. In some species of plant the pollen grains are designed to be 
carried  away on the wind; while in others, such as the speedwells, they are 
carried away  on the legs and belly of insects and other pollinators that visit 
the flower to  collect a nectar reward.  
The female structure is made up of three parts. At the very tip is the 
stigma  (chuto), whose job is to receive the pollen grains, either by snatching 
them out  of the air or removing them from a pollinator. Once captured by 
the stigma, the  pollen grains split open to release the sperm cells, which 
then make their way  down a tubelike structure called the style (kachu). 
Waiting at the base of the  style is the ovule (shibo), inside of which is the 
female egg. 
Pollination occurs when pollen grains are captured by the stigma, and  
fertilization when the sperm cells reach the ovary and unite with the egg. The  
fruit of this union is a seed (tane), which will grow while protected inside 
the  walls of the expanding ovary. The fertilized, seed-containing ovary is 
usually  known as a fruit (kajitsu).  
Short is a naturalist and cultural anthropology professor at Tokyo 
University  of Information Sciences. 
(Feb. 21,  2013)

 
Laurie Davies  Adams
Executive Director
Pollinator Partnership
423 Washington St.  5th Fl.
San Francisco, CA 94111
T: 415.362.1137
F: 415.362.0176

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