Mastodawn

#Cycads /ˈsaɪkædz/—constituting the division Cycadophyta—are seed plants with a stout, woody cylindrical trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and usually pinnate (feather-shaped) leaves. The species are dioecious, that

Lukas VFN 🇪🇺Dec 26

These ancient #plants attract #pollinators by getting hot https://www.npr.org/2025/12/11/nx-s1-5637486/ancient-heat-producing-plants-glow-infrared-scent-not-color

Infrared radiation is an ancient #pollination signal: Wendy Valencia-Montoya et al. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz1728

"long before brightly colored flowers evolved, these plants would metabolically rev themselves up when they had pollen at the ready. Nocturnal #insects such as #beetles could then see the heat from afar and home in on the target. These heat-producing #cycads exist today in tropical forests around the world"

jakalopes Dec 15

Cycads, an ancient plant group, attract beetle pollinators by producing heat, becoming hotter than the ambient temperature by 15-25 degree Fahrenheit. The beetles sense the heated-up plants via infrared radiation.

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/11/nx-s1-5637486/ancient-heat-producing-plants-glow-infrared-scent-not-color

#biology #ecology #entomology #science #botany #cycads

Soh Kam Yung Dec 15

"A study published today in Science reveals that cycads, tropical plants that resemble palms, attract beetles using infrared radiation generated by their conelike reproductive structures. [...] [T]he results offer a window into “the earliest form of pollination”—a prototype for what is today one of the most transformative ecological interactions on Earth."

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/before-flowers-existed-ancient-cycad-plants-lured-insects-with-heat/

#Pollination #Plants #Cycads

Before Flowers Existed, Ancient Cycad Plants Lured Insects with Heat

New research on strange cycad plants offers a glimpse into the prehistoric origins of pollination

Scientific American

Charring Auh Sep 22, 2025

Cycads /ˈsaɪkædz/ are seed plants with a stout, woody cylindrical trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and usually pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male or female. #Cycads vary in size from having trunks only a few

Atlas Obscura Jun 11, 2025

In greenhouses from Berkeley to Santa Barbara, a little-known rescue network protects endangered cycads from poachers, smugglers, and extinction.#poaching #flora #blackmarkets #cycads #crime #plants #botanicalgardens #section-Articles
The Secret Gardens Saving the World’s Rarest Plants

The Secret Gardens Saving the World’s Rarest Plants

In greenhouses from Berkeley to Santa Barbara, a little-known rescue network protects endangered cycads from poachers, smugglers, and extinction.

Atlas Obscura

Bob Nicholls Art Mar 12, 2025

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

Some zooms into my "The Salt Lake Severn" painting (2022) of the Severn Estuary during the Middle Triassic, featuring Thecodontosaurus, cycads, and ferns. Commissioned by the Clevedon Pier Trust.

#Art #Painting #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #SciArt #SciComm #DigitalArt #Illustration #Dinosaurs #Birds #Reptiles #Palaeontology #Paleontology #Thecodontosaurus #Cycads #Ferns #Triassic #JurassicPark #JurassicWorld

Bob Nicholls Art Mar 12, 2025

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

Into 2022 with a painting of the Severn Estuary during the Middle Triassic, called "The Salt Lake Severn," featuring Thecodontosaurus, cycads (Dioonitocarpidium), ferns (Thaumatopteris), and dust devils.

George the Gorilla Sep 25, 2024

Preparing some herbarium sheets for display in our new dinosaur gallery. All of these plant groups – a fern, cycad, and horsetails – were around during dinosaur times.

Installation of this new gallery has been a little delayed but we're planning to open in October if all goes to plan.

#NottNatHist #plants #leaves #herbarium #museum #display #ferns #horsetails #cycads #WollatonHall #botany