New Carnivorous Plant found

Carnivorous plants consume animals for mineral nutrients that enhance growth and reproduction in nutrient-poor environments. Here, we report that Triantha occidentalis (Tofieldiaceae) represents a previously overlooked carnivorous lineage that captures insects on sticky inflorescences. Field experiments, isotopic data, and mixing models demonstrate significant N transfer from prey to Triantha, with an estimated 64% of leaf N obtained from prey capture in previous years, comparable to levels inferred for the cooccurring round-leaved sundew, a recognized carnivore. N obtained via carnivory is exported from the inflorescence and developing fruits and may ultimately be transferred to next year’s leaves. Glandular hairs on flowering stems secrete phosphatase, as seen in all carnivorous plants that directly digest prey. Triantha is unique among carnivorous plants in capturing prey solely with sticky traps adjacent to its flowers, contrary to theory. However, its glandular hairs capture only small insects, unlike the large bees and butterflies that act as pollinators, which may minimize the conflict between carnivory and pollination.

A new carnivorous plant lineage (Triantha) with a unique sticky-inflorescence trap

Elowan: A plant robot hybrid

Plants working as light sensors is exactly what Elowan was designed to convey—Deep integration of technology with our nature. One small capability such as response of plants to light shows how plants could be harnessed for our physical devices or interaction purposes.

This leads to applications such as sensing a surrounding environment through a plant or tree signals or routing those signals through our interactive devices. The plants could be used as sensing platforms for monitoring their own health, minute changes in the environment or to give rise to new organic interactive devices.

I think such a process of hybridizing with nature leads us to think about how we design our future devices. The way we have seen environment and sustainability efforts have been much more passive and always about saving while we are the back foot, but if we start looking at capabilities in the environment, we align ourselves with the development, as opposed to being divergent from it. I called this new type of interaction design as convergent design.

Elowan

Scare your plants to produce stronger offspring

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — By temporarily silencing the expression of a critical gene, researchers fooled soybean plants into sensing they were under siege, encountering a wide range of stresses. Then, after selectively cross breeding those plants with the original stock, the progeny “remember” the stress-induced responses to become more vigorous, resilient and productive plants, according to a team of researchers.

This epigenetic reprogramming of soybean plants, the culmination of a decade-long study, was accomplished not by introducing any new genes but by changing how existing genes are expressed. That is important because it portends how crop yields and tolerance for conditions such as drought and extreme heat will be enhanced in the future, according to lead researcher Sally Mackenzie, professor in the departments of Biology and Plant Science at Penn State.

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Species, Variety, Cultivar

Groups

Angiosperms: Flowering plants

Gymnosperms: Conifers, cycads, allies

Pteridophytes: Ferns

Bryophytes: Mosses and liverworts

Families:

Currently 642 families

Genus:

Currently 17,020

Group of related plants

Origin, type, group

Species:

Genus name + specific feature that makes it different than other plants in Genus

Breeds true from seeds or cloning

The largest group in which two parents can create fertile offspring

Variety:

Usually occurs in nature and have same characteristics of parents

Seeds from varieties usually have same characteristics

Always written in lower case

Hybrid:

Crosses between species or different parentage in the species

Seeds rarely breed true

Cultivar:

Cultivated variety, created by humans. Some are mutations, some are hybrids of two plants.

Seeds don’t usually breed true, propagation by cloning is needed ( from cuttings, tissue culture )

First letter of a cultivar is capitalized

Heirloom:

Varieties found in nature for at least 50 years

The Plant List on going list of all known plant species

Seeds: Species, F1, F2, F3

P1 Species seeds are from two parents of the same species or self pollination
— breed true

F1 seeds are hybrids created from two unrelated parents ( children )
— hardy crosses, usually vigorous, healthy plants, children usually look like the children

F2 are self pollinated F1s or pollinated by other F1s ( grandchildren )
— might look like parent, might look like mailman, most diverse, greatest diversity in this cross

F3 are self pollinated F2s or by other F2s ( great grandchildren )
— who knows? usually selected to strengthen an F1 trait

F4, F5, F6 can also be found

The ‘F’ is short for filia

Species seeds are the most expensive, each F? gets cheaper the farther you travel down the family tree

S seeds are self fertilized seeds that have been treated chemically, or otherwise, to create a mutation. It’s not an accepted botanical grading, but often used by hobbyists