Hyperacccumulator plant...Rinorea niccolifera

"New species of metal-eating plant discovered in the Philippines"

May 9th, 2014

ScienceDaily

Scientists from the University of the Philippines, Los Baños have discovered a new plant species with an unusual lifestyle -- it eats nickel for a living -- accumulating up to 18,000 ppm of the metal in its leaves without itself being poisoned, says Professor Edwino Fernando, lead author of the report. Such an amount is a hundred to a thousand times higher than in most other plants. The study was published in the open access journal PhytoKeys.

The new species is called Rinorea niccolifera, reflecting its ability to absorb nickel in very high amounts. Nickel hyperaccumulation is such a rare phenomenon with only about 0.5-1% of plant species native to nickel-rich soils having been recorded to exhibit the ability. Throughout the world, only about 450 species are known with this unusual trait, which is still a small proportion of the estimated 300,000 species of vascular plants.

The new species, according to Dr Marilyn Quimado, one of the lead scientists of the research team, was discovered on the western part of Luzon Island in the Philippines, an area known for soils rich in heavy metals.

"Hyperacccumulator plants have great potentials for the development of green technologies, for example, 'phytoremediation' and 'phytomining'," explains Dr Augustine Doronila of the School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne, who is also co-author of the report.

Phytoremediation refers to the use of hyperacccumulator plants to remove heavy metals in contaminated soils. Phytomining, on the other hand, is the use of hyperacccumulator plants to grow and harvest in order to recover commercially valuable metals in plant shoots from metal-rich sites.

The field surveys and laboratory work of the scientists are part of the research project funded by the Department of Science and Technology -- Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD).

List of hyperaccumulators [Wikipedia]

Parasitic plant used for kissing...mistletoe

"Why do we kiss under the mistletoe?"

December 24th, 2013

Guardian News

Because it remains green year round, this parasitic plant has long been associated with fertility.

To the best of my knowledge, I never saw live mistletoe until after relocating to Europe. But the leafless trees in Germany make it plain that mistletoe is everywhere here.

European mistletoe, Viscum album, is native to Europe and Great Britain. It is a parasitic plant that obtains water and minerals from trees and shrubs. Its waxy white berries are toxic to humans, but several bird species certainly enjoy eating them and do so with impunity. The berries are coated with a sticky substance containing mucopolysaccharides and strands of cellulose. This adhesive, known as viscin, sticks the seed to a new host plant after a bird has wiped it from its beak or eaten it.

So why do we have a tradition of kissing under mistletoe?

Since mistletoe remains green throughout the year, many ancient peoples have ascribed these plants with magical healing powers and with fertility, and some cultures viewed it as an aphrodisiac due to the suggestive arrangement of its berries. Apparently, the association between mistletoe and fertility made it a traditional addition ancient Greek myths, where the custom of kissing under mistletoe may have started. This practice was later extended to wedding ceremonies.

Victorian England seems to have adopted this tradition, too. For example, if a girl refused a kiss whilst standing under mistletoe, it was said that she wouldn't receive any marriage proposals during the following year. Worse, it seems that many people would avoid her since they believed she would probably end up an old maid -- as if this was such a bad thing!

Interestingly, there is a proper etiquette for kissing under the mistletoe: first, the man can only kiss a woman or girl on the cheek and second, when he does so, he removes one berry from the mistletoe sprig. After all the berries are gone, the kissing ends, too.

Here's Fred Rumsey, the Botany Enquiries Officer at the Natural History Museum, musing upon the charms of mistletoe:

Plant eats sheep--Bazinga!

"'Sheep-eating' plant towers over English countryside. Oh my!"

'Sheep-eating' plant: The Royal Horticultural Society has been nurturing a 10-foot-tall Puya Chilensis for 15 years. This 'sheep-eating' plant is now ready to bloom.

by

David Clark Scott

June 22nd, 2013

The Christian Science Monitor

There's nothing like a giant carnivorous plant headline to get your heart racing – and to draw folks to the Royal Horticultural Society's Garden Wisley.

So, let's start by being completely accurate here. The Puya chilensis is not actually a sheep eater - or even a meat eater. Yes, it's been known to kill sheep. But it's no Venus fly trap or pitcher plant. Those are true carnivores, and really only eat insects.

What makes the Puya chilensis so fascinating is that it has been known to capture and kill sheep in Chile, its native environment, for fertilizer.

"Most bromeliads have firm, hard leaves, but Puya chilensis is sort of an extreme example. Its leaves look sort of like aloe leaves, but in between them are huge, sharp spines that jut out past them. Most plants that have spines, like cacti, use them for protection, but it's theorized that Puya chilensis actually uses them for hunting," according to PopSci.com.

If a sheep gets close enough, the spines can snag on the wool of the sheep, entrapping them. The sheep starve and die at the base of the plant, thus providing a rather grizzly but effective fertilizer.

Folks at the Royal Horticultural Society make it clear that no sheep have been harmed in the past 15 years of nurturing their Puya chilensis. And now, the three-meter (10- foot) tall plant is finally ready to bloom.

“I’m really pleased that we’ve finally coaxed our Puya chilensis into flower. We keep it well fed with liquid fertiliser as feeding it on its natural diet might prove a bit problematic. It’s well worth a visit but parents coming along with small children don’t need to worry about the plant devouring their little ones. It’s growing in the arid section of our Glasshouse with its deadly spines well out of reach of both children and sheep alike," said Cara Smith, who looks after the plant at RHS Garden Wisley, in a statment

This is not the first Puya chilensis brought to bloom in England. The society has done it in years past and it's always a crowd (and media) pleaser.

In fact, the Society's website lists 11 nurseries around the United Kingdom where local gardeners can buy the South American plant and attempt to create their own backyard botanical snare for small animals wandering by.

Puya Chilensis [Wikipedia]

"Corpse Flower" blooms

A titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum), also known as "corpse flower" or "corpse plant" due to its odor, is displayed at the Inhotim Art Institute and Botanical Garden in Belo Horizonte, in the Brazilian southern state of Minas Gerais, on December 26, 2012. Hundreds of visitors are flocking daily to the garden to watch the rare blooming of the world's smelliest and largest tropical flower.

"World's smelliest and largest flower blooms in Brazil"

December 27th, 2012

physics.org

Also known as the "corpse flower" because of a smell likened to rotting flesh, it began blooming on Christmas Day and is already beginning to close, botanist Patricia Oliveira told AFP. The flower "has a lifespan of 72 hours, during which its stink and meat-coloration attract pollinators: carrion flies and beetles," added Oliveira, who works at the Inhotim garden, about 445 kilometers (275 miles) from Rio de Janeiro, housing the massive flower. Titan arum, also known by its scientific name, "Amorphophallus titanum," which means misshapen giant penis, is native to the rainforests of western Sumatra. It rarely flowers, is incredibly difficult to cultivate and takes six years to grow. Thursday, this Brazilian specimen reached 167 centimeters (5 feet 3 inches) in height, but the species can grow up to over three meters (10 feet) tall. This "is the second time it bloomed. The first time was in December 2010," Oliveira said. When it flowers, the bloom has the same temperature as that of the human body, which helps spread its pungent smell. The species was first described in 1878 by Italian natural scientist Odoardo Beccari. Ten years later, it bloomed in a London botanical garden and its next flowering occurred in 1926.

Amorphophallus titanum [Wikipedia]