Bird's Nest Fern

We have talked about epiphytes a few times on this blog and really, there can't be a better place to revisit the subject than in a valley forest in Hawaii. Below, you can see several different epiphytes growing in the canopy of a monkey pod tree (Albizia saman, more on that later).



Perhaps most beautiful are the apple green leaves of bird's nest fern (Asplenium nidis). Bird's nest ferns share their genus with 700 other species, some of which are very similar and often confused with Asplenium nidis.



This particular species can grow in trees as it is above or can grow terrestrially. They are also popular houseplants. Many of the species of Asplenium are generally referred to as spleenworts. This knowledge may give us pause as we consider the genus name again: Asplenium literally means "without spleen". It was thought, due to the spleen-shaped spores on some species of this genus, that this plant would help reduce swelling of the spleen.



Above you see some additional epiphytes, including staghorn fern (Platycerium) and what appears to be an epiphytic bromeliad, perhaps Nidularium.

The Philly Flower Show - Brazil

So as I mentioned last week, the Philadelphia Flower Show's theme this year was Passport to the World. There was some looseness as far as geographical boundaries go (as even the most pro-native plant person can be at times) - in one case a New World plant was used in a Central Asian exhibit, but for the most part, it worked.

This photo below (sadly unfocused; I'm still not an expert on flashless photography indoors with a budget friendly camera, in crowded conditions, no less) was of the Brazil exhibit.



I wish I had a better shot of the plants incorporated, particularly these two beauties below, but like any other site visit, you can take hundreds of photos and still wish you had a few more.



These are a cultivar of the vase plant, or Aechmea. The cultivar name is 'Del Mar'. The most common Aechmeas are the silver vases, or Aechmea fasciata, though I think these blue and white checkered flowers far outshine that species.

The common name vase plant is applied because the basal foliage is so tightly formed that the plant can collect water in its center, which helps the plant survive dry periods later on. Like Nepenthes this body of liquid is technically called phytotelma.



Aechmeas are in the Bromeliaceae family, a family of over 3000 species, half of which are epiphytes (like Spanish moss, another bromeliad). The remaining species are lithophytes or terrestrial plants. Lithophytes, as the name would imply, are plants that survive off of moss, old leaves or decaying matter. Of the terrestrial bromeliads, the most famous is likely to be Ananas comosus or the pineapple.

Orchids

Here's the last few shots of some beautiful hybrid orchids from Adore Florist in Noho. Most plant enthusiasts probably know that the orchid family, orchidaceae, is the largest family of flowering plants. There are, approximately, 880 genera and 22,000 species of orchid.



I'm guessing that these beautiful fuchsia stems are hybrids of the Vanda orchids, as Vandas may have magenta flowers, take easily to hybridization, and are popular among florists. But with all those genera to chose from, I'm only hazarding a guess. I love orchids, but only as much as the next person. Someday, when I live elsewhere than New York City (and thus have light and can avoid the searingly dry heat that comes with steam-powered radiators every winter) I will experiment further with orchid care. For now, I'm focused on keeping spider plants and sanseveria alive.



When I was a kid living in Malaysia, we had orchids - mostly Oncidiums, I think - growing in the trees of our yard. Like most of the orchids in subtropical or tropical regions, these plants were epiphytes; that is, they lived in the canopies of trees, benefitting from the canopy's microclimate without detriment to the host tree (just like the previously-mentioned Spanish moss).



Orchids in temperate regions are usually terrestrial, so New York natives like Platanthera and Spiranthes appear quite different from the orchids we see in flower shops. What groups such seemingly different looking plants into Orchidaceae are several characteristics: they are monocots (more primitive flowering plants that exhibit parallel veins); they have one modified petal that's called a lip or labellum; and finally, the reproductive parts of the orchid's flower are fused into one column (similar to, but different from the staminal columns of, for instance, Hibiscus).

Southern Live Oak

When my parents told me they'd be spending Columbus Day weekend in Savannah and Hilton Head, I was happy for them, to be sure. But I may not have expressed that adequately, as my first response was a bit self-centered: "Will you take some pictures of the live oaks for me?!"



I've seen the southern live oak, Quercus virginiana before - after all I did go to grad school in Georgia. But, unfortunately, my photos - taken on a trip to Savannah in 1999 - aren't digital, so I issued speedy instructions to mom and dad to shoot away.



I'm hard-pressed to name another tree that is more picturesque than the southern live oak. Its open, vase-shaped habit is stunning, especially when planted in allees. Add to that, the trees have this great, lazy lean to them like the one below. It really does remind you of the south: long, hot summer days, mint juleps and Tennessee Williams. ...Well, it can remind me of those things!


Of course, the other characteristic that makes the southern live oak so remarkably beautiful isn't technically part of the tree at all, it's the Spanish moss that cascades from the trees' branches, swaying so slightly in the warm breeze.



Spanish moss, or Tillandsia usneoides, is an epiphyte - which means that it grows on another living plant. Epiphytes are similar to parasites in the fact that they rely on other living things for sustenance, but parasites ultimately damage the host organism, whereas an epiphyte can 'live in peace' with the host.

Ficus benjamina

Most people in Manhattan would recognize Ficus benjamina or Benjamin ficus (also called weeping ficus) as this specimen:


Symbolizing the better intentions of a would-be plants person, the Benjamin ficus is abandoned to the elements, left to survive or perish on its own. Normally they perish, unlike the mythic baby NYC alligators that are flushed down toilets when they become too big to feed.

Benjamin ficus is one of those paradoxical plants that can be produced en masse quite quickly and cheap, but sadly as soon as it leaves a greenhouse and takes up residency in a dry, drafty apartment, it gives up the ghost. They are temperamental, known to drop all their leaves after a modest change in sun orientation. Move the Benjamin ficus from a west facing window to a north one and gamble with its survival.



All of which makes these specimens, which grew like weeds in Puerto Rico, all the more amazing.


Ficus is a genus with over 850 species. They include the common fig, Ficus carica, most known for it's fruit and a key plant in any Mediterranean garden. They also include the Indian banyan tree and the rubber tree.



A telltale identifier for species of Ficus can be found when you break a leaf at the stem -- a milky, sticky substance will drip out. That is latex and it is harvested for rubber from Ficus elastica (below).


Figs also typically have the aerial roots you see in these photos, designed to pull moisture out of the humid tropical rain forest air. This opportunistic growth actually provides Benjamin ficus with the status of hemi-epiphyte. That means this plant spends half its life (roughly) rooted in soil and half its life living entirely off the aerial roots. True epiphytes (like many orchids, or Spanish moss) survive without ever setting roots on solid ground.

Pacific Northwest Conifers

Okay, well, this may be the last post on my sojourn to the Pacific Northwest. But I had to touch on the coniferous forests once more before returning to Manhattan.

To whit, a few pics of the trees so prevalent in Washington. Below is yet another shot of Mount Rainier, primarily composed of Tsuga heterophylla and Abies amabilis, trees I mentioned briefly on Tuesday.

Douglasfir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) needles:


Note the white stomatal stripe down the side of the needle. Stomatal stripes are essentially strips of pores that exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide through the leaf's waxy membrane. A stoma is an individual pore on a leaf -- all plants have them, though in most cases they are microscopic.

Below, T. heterophylla. The species name most likely refers to the two different leaf types on Tsuga. Like Tsuga canadensis, Western hemlock has a small leaf that sits along the top of the twig. This leaf appears to be upside-down and displays that stomatal stripe otherwise existing on the undersides of the lateral leaves.


Though you are looking at the underside of a branch in this photo, it is overexposed so you can't see the stomatal stripes on the lateral leaves; I'm simply adding this pic 'cause I think it's really, really beautiful. Personally, it captured my experience walking around these forests.


Another shot of Tsuga, this time with an addition that looks suspiciously like Spanish moss -- the iconographic epiphyte that is ubiquitous on the live oaks in the south.


Whatever it is that is growing on the hemlock is probably an epiphyte (epiphytes are like parasites, only they survive off another organism without compromising said organism's survival) or a bryophyte (tree lichens), but I can't definitively find out. Please note I have just bastardized definitions of both epi & bryophytes. Non-vascular plants are way outside my expertise!

Happy Labor Day weekend!