Thistle #Carduus #acanthoides is #native from Southern/Central #Europe to China and is a #neozoan i.a. in #NorthAmerica. It prefers moist, nitrogen-rich #soils, such as on #Teufelsberg #Berlin, and is #pollinated by bees/bumblebees and dispersed by the wind. E. S. J. Rauschert et al. (2015) studied the plants around it in #Pennsylvania (USA) and found that it affects the #speciescommunities.

© #StefanFWirth 2025

Ref
E. S. J. Rauschert et al. (2015)
https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plv065

#Photos
©S.F. Wirth

The #redclover #Trifolium #pratense (#Faboideae) is a common #plant in Central Europe, growing on nutrient-rich #meadows. It is native to Europe, Western Asia, and Northwest Africa, but was introduced to North/South America a long time ago. It is #pollinated bumblebees/bees with long proboscis. It is #parasitized by, i.a., #seedweevils of the genus Tychius. A weevil of may be this taxon, is visible in my #photos. #Biodiversity

© #StefanFWirth #Berlin 2025

photos:

© S.F. Wirth, Berlin 2025

How cool is a #palm that #flowers and #fruits underground?

Explainer 🔗: https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/the-palm-that-flowers-underground

OA 🔗: https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ppp3.10393

Of course, questions abound. E.g., how on earth is this #pollinated?

While scientists only learned about this #plant recently:

"It is known in at least three #Bornean #languages by four different names: Pinang Tanah (Malay, West Kalimantan), Pinang Pipit, Muring Pelandok (both Kadorih, Central Kalimantan), and Tudong Pelandok (Iban, Sarawak)."

#biodiversity 🌴

Witch hazels (#Hamamelis species and hybrids) are lovely trees from North America and East Asia. Many of the common ones available to gardeners are beloved because they flower on bare stems around January, when not much else is happening, and so bring a bit of colour and joy to a bare garden.

The leaves and bark have many uses in traditional (and more modern) medicine. The #flowers are probably mostly fly-#pollinated but I guess in January they'll take whatever they can get!

#December 17, 1858
#OTD Charles Morren, #Belgian #Botanist & #Horticulturist, died.

He #Solved a 300-year-old #Botanical #Mystery when he #Discovered that #Vanilla was #Pollinated by the #Melipone ("meh-lip-in-ah") #Bee, a #Social & stingless bee #Native to #Mexico. Like #Monarchs + #Milkweed, they #CoEvolved over #Time.

In 1841, Edmond Albius, a 12-year-old slave discovered that Vanilla could be pollinated w/ a #Blade of #Grass or stick. Today almost all vanilla is hand-pollinated.

#Spice