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Native Water Plants In Bloom

Started by Michael Wolfe , May 08 2010 04:29 PM

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5 replies to this topic

#1 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 08 May 2010 - 04:29 PM

Everything is in bloom here in Georgia... even the native water plants.

Let's start with one that is not a bloom, but pretty good looking...
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white topped pitcher plant Sarracenia leucophylla

...but actually this one is in bloom... here is the flower.
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...and it is on a 2 foot tall stalk!
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The Water Shield Brasenia schreberi is also in bloom today... although I have to admit these blooms are pretty small... for perspective each "shield" is only an inch and a half across.
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And this one is blooming out the top of an outdoor 10 gallon aquarium experiemnt...
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Weatherby's Slender Arrowhead Sagittaria graminea Michx. var. weatherbiana

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#2 Guest_nativeplanter_*

Guests

Posted 10 May 2010 - 02:51 PM

Nice looking stuff, Michael!

You had mentioned you were wanting more S. leucophylla. To do that, either save and plant the seeds from the flowers, or cut off the flower (you can wait until it fades if you must, but even better to do it now), to have the plant direct more energy into offsets (the method I prefer). Pot the whole thing up in a larger pot, too.

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#3 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 10 May 2010 - 09:04 PM

Nice looking stuff, Michael!

You had mentioned you were wanting more S. leucophylla. To do that, either save and plant the seeds from the flowers, or cut off the flower (you can wait until it fades if you must, but even better to do it now), to have the plant direct more energy into offsets (the method I prefer). Pot the whole thing up in a larger pot, too.

Just a curiosity... considering the strange shape and angle of the flower, and the lethal nature of the pitcher... what is the pollenator of the pitcher plant flowers?

Edited by Michael Wolfe, 10 May 2010 - 09:05 PM.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#4 Guest_fundulus_*

Guests

Posted 10 May 2010 - 09:33 PM

If I recall correctly, bees are the pollinators of pitcher plants.

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#5 Guest_gerald_*

Guests

Posted 11 May 2010 - 11:41 AM

I rarely see any pollinators on the flowers; occasional bumblebees and carpenter bees. Pitcher leaves tend to catch mostly bees, paper wasps, and greenbottle flies in my yard. Most of the flowers hang straight down like an old-style street lamp after the petals drop off. When the fruit capsule dries and splits in late summer, the seeds drop into the umbrella-shaped stigma and wait for high winds and/or water to blow or float them out for dispersal.

Just a curiosity... considering the strange shape and angle of the flower, and the lethal nature of the pitcher... what is the pollenator of the pitcher plant flowers?

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#6 Guest_nativeplanter_*

Guests

Posted 11 May 2010 - 01:08 PM

The strange shape of the flower is to reduce self-pollination. A boiled down explanation is that for the bee to get to the nectar and pollen (bees do eat pollen), it must first crawl over the stigma (female part) where it deposits pollen from the last flower it visited. Once it gets inside the umbrella, it gets covered in pollen and then exits between the petals, thus avoiding the stigma on the way out. Interestingly, this is similar to Cypripedium flowers (lady's slippers), except for those, the bee doesn't even get to eat the pollen or nectar!

As to the lethal nature of the pitcher... you'll notice that most of the flowers are put up before the spring pitchers are formed.