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| Interesting Flora Information | ||||
The Mango tree plays a sacred role in India; it is a symbol of love and some believe that the Mango tree can grant wishes. Mango leaves are considered toxic and can kill cattle or other grazing livestock.
The mango is a member of the Anachardiaceae family. Other distant relatives
include the cashew, pistachio, Jamaica plum, poison ivy and poison oak.
Fastest-Growing Algae Giant kelp plants (Macrocystis pyrifera) can grow as fast as three feet (about one meter) per day! That's about the same rate as bamboo, the fastest-growing plant on land. These brown algae form large underwater forests off the coasts of California and Mexico. Their stems can be as long as 200 feet, anchored to the sea bottom, swaying in the wave currents and trailing for hundreds of feet in dense mats just under the surface. Giant kelp are the largest members of an ecosystem that contains thousands of specialized plants and animals, and they are important producers of oxygen in the marine environment. They are also among the fastest carbon fixers, absorbing carbon dioxide and converting it into the sugars used to build their own mass.
Ancient Flowers The first flowering plants didn't look much like the flowers we have today. A recent discovery has revealed the most ancient known flowers, a pair of straight stems with leaflike seed pods. The fossils are 142 million years old. This major find has pushed back the known beginning of the flowering plants by twelve million years. They came into being about the same time as the first feathered dinosaurs, the forerunners of modern birds.
True flowering plants diversified quickly and spread all over the planet.
However, researchers believe that the beautiful flowers we see today were
not to appear for another 70 million years.
Fungus farmers Leaf cutter ants of Central and South America create underground gardens of fungus for their food! The workers cut circular pieces of leaves, then carry them into underground chambers. They chew them up, mix them with fungus spores, and deposit the mixture in the garden chambers.
The ants can't eat the leaves because they can't digest the cellulose they
contain. The fungus converts the cellulose into sugars, and grows filaments
(called hyphae) with swollen ends which are harvested for food by the ants.
In return, the ants protect the fungus from competing species of fungus.
Mushroom Art The artist's conk (Ganoderma applanatum) is a shelf fungus that grows on trees. Its flat, smooth underside is pure white, but the lightest touch turns it dark brown. Because of this effect, it's possible to draw detailed pictures on it. When the mushroom dries, the picture becomes permanent. Although the underside of the mushroom is pure white, the spores it releases are dark brown. Often the dark spores land on the bark or ground underneath and create a powdery, brown layer. Antarctic Jungles About fifty million years ago, the continent of Antarctica had dense, lush jungles! Many kinds of dinosaurs lived there. Today, it is a desolate land of rock and ice. 250 million years ago, all the continents were joined into one huge land mass called Pangaea. The part that is now Antarctica was much closer to the equator, and it had tropical jungles.
Because of movements within the Earth, the land masses have slowly drifted
and changed shape over millions of years. About fifty million years ago,
Antarctica became a separate land mass. Over time, it drifted toward the
south pole and became covered with thick layers of ice.
Litmus Flowers Hydrangea flowers are blue if the plant is growing in acidic soil, and pink in alkaline soil! The pigment in the flowers is a natural indicator chemical, similar to the chemical that causes litmus paper to change color in acidic or alkaline solutions.
Indicator chemicals change color because their structure changes in different
environments. This change in structure can make it easier or harder for the
chemial to absorb certain colors.
Giant Fruit The largest fruits are giant pumpkins, specially grown and bred for their size. The largest ones can weigh over 1,000 pounds! Growing giant pumpkins is a fine art, and there are many different ideas about how to do it best. Many growers keep their methods secret. Some use heating cables to protect against cold weather, or special fertilizers for maximum growth. Giant pumpkin vines are pampered and watched carefully. |
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