What Nature Have

Tuesday, 11 April 2017

THE MORNNG GLORY-Ipomoea

A Beautiful Morning with Radiant Flowers
...Their beauty is noticeable in the morning. They present a picture of a fairyland decorated with bright colours, greased and moistened by the morning dew. What plant could possibly holds the glory of the day in the morning? Only the morning glory could do that.

General description
The morning glory is any creeping or twining climbing flowering plant known to belong to the family Convolvulaceae. They belongs to a genus called Ipomoea also known to be herbaceous, may have stem tuber, colourful flowers and seeds. Ipomoea are generally called morning glory. Their fruit is usually dry capsule which later become dehiscent (breaks open) when matured. Seeds are enclosed in a capsule. The leaves comes in different shapes and sizes. Some are cordate, narrow with a cordate base or lobed in two's' given it a palmate leaf shape.
Other species of the genus have a common name in which they are refer as. Morning glory as supposed was given because of the period in which they blossom. Based on observation, the flower start blossom from the 6^th to 11^th hour of the day and then wilt marking the end of pollination activities by insects; there could be exemptions. This is unlike other flowering plant with a prolong flower blossom for at least 12 hours of the day. Their bloom is beautiful in the morning.

Morning glories are widely distributed in the tropics and subtropics of the world. They are either annual or perennial plants with about 500 species.

Uses

Some of the species with tubers and beautiful flowers have been domesticated for food such as sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batata) and as well as for aesthetic purpose example include I. carnea, I. quamoclit (Cypress Vine). Other uses of the Morning glory are identified to have medicinal value of which many have been utilized traditionally. Ipomoea are a diverse species with a multidimensional uses to man and wildlife. The leaves are a good source of food to caterpillars of butterfly and moth while tubers are fed upon by nematodes, plant hoppers and rodents. Some species leaves are used as vegetables while tubers are consumed as food, a good sources of energy. Some species have been used as repellent against herbivores.There could be more values yet to be discovered from these members of the angiosperm.

Propagation
Many members of this family have a unique method in which they can be propagated and because of the variation in seasonality and vegetative characteristics, they can either be propagated from tubers, creeping stem or seed. Most of the Members are seasonal while few such as I. aquatic, I. pes-caprae, I. carnea subsp. fistulosa are observed to flower all year round.

Identifying and differentiating

Ipomoea are complex to differentiate in terms of flowers. Some species may possess same flower colour. So it is best to compare similar species along side with the leaves. Hybrids can pose a great challenge for identification. The best approach is to meet an expert of Plant taxonomist.

Online materials sourced
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipomoea
www.theplantlist.org/browse/A/Convolvulaceae/Ipomoea/

Thursday, 30 March 2017

Mushrooms, Nature's decomposer

NATURE'S ART WORK

What a beauty to behold when you see the art work of Nature in display on Mushrooms... they are known to decompose any material. The process and period to finish decomposing any material depends on the properties of that material.

From a numerous number to a wide horizon, there is not limit for their existence. Their adaptive habit of existence has given them a wide range of habitat to colonize. They occur on building made of clay-loamy soil, termite hills, standing or falling logs, leaves on the ground floor, dry and moist environments.These are not considered as plant or animals but definitely eukaryotic organism which grow and reproduce sexually and asexually like the living organisms. In shape they are graciously sized to fit their kind species. In sized they form an endowed body mass of chitin and in colours they form nature’s art work; pretty and lovely not to let go off sight without taken a snap shot.

Their fruiting body don’t live long but spores can stand the test of time and there is no place you go that they don’t occur. Out of their activities they create an enabling environment for plant to enjoy a by product as nutrient.

They do not photosynthesize nor do they hunt for food but break down complex substance by secreting enzymes and at the end animals and plant benefit.

Economic/Biological importance

Some are friendly-edible while others are deadly-poisonous if consumed without caution. Very vital as antibiotics but again can cause permanent deformation in plant or animal if encountered without precaution. Some use for insect control and others as an industrial raw material.

Their role is endless but they are sometimes considered less important. Except for nature that has not failed to acknowledge their wide fitted contribution of this poor-beautiful object, mankind wouldn't find his environment habitable without mushrooms. Like the great scholars, I called them "The Decomposers" which are well known as Fungi.

Forms

Fungi exist in micro forms (not visible to the human eye) or macro forms (visible to human eye
example are the mushrooms). The study of fungi in science is known as mycology.

Fungi come in diverse forms of shape of umbrella, thread-like, coral form, rounded; texture and colours.

Reproduction

Reproduction is by the use of spores and in some cases zoospores found at various reproductive vegetative parts(gills) can be dispersed with the aid of water, wind or animals.

Images of few out of Thousands explains nature's art work

Texture varies among species as some appears woody or soft; jelly or dry forms exist and are well adapted to their environments.


Podaxis pistillaris Occurs in Termite hills as observed in Amurum Forest Reserve. Photo by Elisha ©2016

Many still in the wild waiting to be discovered, recorded and further be utilized as food or for medicine. If only you could carefully observe a dumping refused site, better still you immediate environment there you could find amazing species of this great Kingdom of organism called Fungi likely to belong to one of this Phyla (Division): Microsporidia, Chytridiomycota, Blastocladiomycota, Neocallimastigomycota, Glomeromycota, Ascomycota, and Basidiomycota.

Never you attempt to consume any mushroom without a confirmatory knowledge even if it's familiar for substrate type can influence it chemical composition.

Sources:

Kent H. McKnight and Vera B. McKnight Accessed 2016. Peterson field guide. ISBN 0-396-91090-0.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungus accessed 2017.
Alexopoulos , C. J. , C. W. Mims , and M. Blackwell . 1996 . Introductory
mycology. Wiley, New York, New York, USA.

Wednesday, 15 March 2017

What is a GRASS

ARE ALL HERBACEOUS PLANTS GRASSES?

When someone point at a group of plants growing around or when people hear the word “grass” the first thing that pops in their mind is “oh That grass…!” in this case from a layman point of view all plant as long as it(they) is(are) not tree(s) is referred to as grasses. Are all herbaceous plants grasses? From a professional point of view, all herbs are not grass. The word “grass” is not just any plant but a particular kind of plant that have special features.

Grasses or gramineae are one of the 5th largest family with over 700 genera composed of over 12, 000 species. They are monocotyledonous flowering plants; that is, they do not have visible flowers as seen in most flowering plant; they have scattered vascular bundles, maybe hollow or corky with no tap root but have adventitious roots and leaves ranked alternating. They are well distributed in most habitat types such as rocky outcrop, savanna, marsh lands, along streams or water bodies some even occur in water. Based on these special characteristics they have been grouped into the plant family called Poaceae.

Major characteristics of Grasses

Grasses are diverse in forms such as leaf shape and sizes, density of hair, unique grain size and shape, but one thing is prominent about them which is the fact that they have inter-nodes and ringed at the inter-node. Other features include presence of hair-like structure that could either be soft or tough strong to penetrate human skin. Leaf is narrow and tapering with parallel veins. Petiole appears as a sheath material covering the stem from the node.

Herbs mistaken for grasses

Other forms of herbs mistaken for grasses include seagrasses, rushes and sedges, they are not grasses but in appearance they resemble. But because they do not possess these simple characteristics highlighted other plant types such as herbs should not be mistaken for grasses.

Few have been domesticated by human for food. Those domesticated grasses include Sugarcane, bamboo, cereals such as rice, maize, millet, wheat to name but a few.

Benefits of grasses

Many of the different species have benefited human, arthropods such as insects, spiders and herbivores which includes cattle at many stages of life.

To human their uses includes:

Source of Food: Domesticated ones serve as a good source of carbohydrates example is maize, sorghum, millet, wheat, rye, barley rice, and oat.
In the food chain, they are the primary producers of about 95% of the total energy. They are a source of food to most herbivores which we human depends directly or indirectly.

Industrial material: Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) is an industrial material used to produce sugar.

Building material: Roofing material for houses examples are thatched grass, bamboo use for furniture and crafts.

Some are used as beverage such as the lemongrass (Cymbopogom citratus); cereals are also use in brewery.

Beautification: Many creeping species used in landscaping; lawn grass are used for ground cover (carpet) at home, recreational centers and along walk ways. Aside beautification, grasses prevent soil leaching and erosion.
Many grasses are considered as weed and if not controlled; they may create home for unwanted visitors such as reptiles, leaf hoppers, spiders and termites.

Because of their similarities, identifying numerous genera have become difficult. But to deal with that, field exposure, experience and consistency is vital.

Major Keys for Identifying grasses is to look out for the following : Cyclic inter-nodes along the stem, Leaf petiole as sheath covering the stem, presence of hairs, Leaves always linear with tapering end and spikelets of flowers . All grasses have a panicles or spikes bearing the fruit.

Few of these grasses are shown below:

You need to know that not all plants are grasses and at every point in time, these nature's gift of grass can be utilized to make life much more beautiful. Try to different a herb that is not grass and identify a grass; you will find how exciting it feels to have not call spinach a grass.

Find out what you could do with a species of grass around you than just destroying it by spraying herbicide.

Source(s)
Akobunku, I.O. and Agyakwa C. W. (1998) Second edition. A hand book of West African Weeds. International Institute Tropical Agriculture. JSB;.J: 978 13] 129 0