7 Responses to Winter Botany Quiz #6

1. peteryeeles says:

   April 13, 2010 at 12:37 AM

   Curl-leaf Mountain Mahogany
   ROSACEAE, Cercocarpus ledifolius
   It’s a seed, shaped for wind dispersal.

   Reply
2. Alex/Watcher says:

   April 13, 2010 at 2:07 AM

   peteryeeles beat me. But you shot that in March? That’s how ours (Utah) look in July/August…

   Reply
   • Ted C. MacRae says:

     April 13, 2010 at 11:51 PM

     It was just one of a few hangers-on. The plants are amazing in late summer when they are completely draped in the silvery sheen!

     Reply
3. James C. Trager says:

   April 13, 2010 at 8:16 AM

   Not a seed, but a fruit, with a persistent stigma to aid in dispersal — not uncommon, but with many variants on the theme, in Rosaceae.

   Reply
   • peteryeeles says:

     April 13, 2010 at 9:11 AM

     Quite right of course, James. I knew there would be consequences for dozing off in the botany lectures all those years ago.

     I still have nightmares about all the (what seemed like thousands of) terms used to describe something as simple as a leaf margin…

     Reply
     • James C. Trager says:

       April 13, 2010 at 9:25 AM

       I’ve got near 20 years as a practicing botanist and am still learning them. It’s a rich language.

       Reply
4. Ted C. MacRae says:

   April 13, 2010 at 11:49 PM

   Yes, this is Cercocarpus ledifolius (curl-leaf mountain mahogany) in the family Rosaceae – one of the few tree species missing from my Trees of Lake Tahoe series of last year. Nice job from an Aussie to swoop in and scarf up the points for the plant ID and function of the structure, while James salvaged the remaining points for the name of the structure itself.

   More pics and info will be posted shortly.

   Reply

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