I think I'll be able to start sharing some photographs from this year soon, as spring is on the early side locally (for now). This image is from last summer, in early July.

Crown brodiaea or harvest brodiaea is a 10-30(40) cm (4-12(16) in.) tall herbaceous perennial, associated in extreme southwest British Columbia with mesic to dry grassy slopes and rocky bluffs (with a few outliers). Its range extends south through Washington and Oregon into California.

A rare rosy-purple to rosy-flowered variant is recognized as Brodiaea coronaria subsp. rosea, found only in three localities in northwestern California. Photographs of both subspecies are available via Calphotos: Brodiaea coronaria.

Today's entry was written by BPotD work-study student, Katherine. She writes:

For today's entry we have two lichens, Cetraria ericetorum and Flavocetraria cucullata. Many thanks to Richard Droker (aka wanderflechten@Flickr) (Daniel adds: I believe the vascular plant in the image is Sedum stenopetalum).

Cetraria lichens are commonly known as Iceland lichens, Icelandmoss, or heath lichens. While Cetraria ericetorum is commonly known as Iceland lichen, Centraria islandica (as inferred by the name) is known as "true Iceland lichen", according to Brodo et. al.'s 2001 tome, Lichens of North America (hereafter referred to as Brodo, as he was the principal author). The USDA lists two subspecies of Cetraria ericetorum, Cetraria ericetorum subsp. ericetorum (cetraria lichen) and Cetraria ericetorum subsp. reticulata (reticulate cetraria lichen).

In Lichens of North America, Cetraria ericetorum is described as having a pale to dark brown usually-curled thallus (body) with narrow lobes 1-3mm across, which may become fused where the edges touch. However, according to the Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region Vol. 1, it may be anywhere between 0.5mm and 8.0mm in breadth. Brodo goes on to describe Cetraria ericetorum as growing on the ground with grasses and heath, and, in order "to tell one species of Iceland lichen from another, look for the white pseudocyphellae [= "a tiny white dot or pore caused by a break in the cortex and the extension of medullary hyphae to the surface"] on the branches"." Furthermore, that "the lobes of [Cetraria ericetorum] are narrower [than Cetraria islandica], and [Cetraria ericetorum] never contains fumarprotocetraric acid".

The Consortium of North American Lichen Herbaria (linked above re: Sonoran flora) cites that Cetraria ericetorum is found on "soil and moss, or rarely on bark or wood" in "temperate [or] boreal areas of western North America from low altitudes to alpine areas and at high altitudes" (distribution map). Brodo shows a range further northwards into most Canadian provinces, with some gaps in northern Alberta and central Saskatchewan.

The second species present belongs to the genus Flavocetraria. Brodo characterizes them as small to medium-size, with pale greenish yellow to yellow colouring, having a smooth lower surface which is the same colour as the upper surface, without any rhizines or cilia and having white medulla ["internal layer of the thallus or lecanorine apothecium, generally composed of loosely packed fungal hyphae"]. He also notes their resemblance to the genus Cetraria, except for their colour, and note that "several species of Cetraria grow in the same habitat" as evidenced by this photo of the two growing together.

Flavocetraria cucullata may be "2-6 (-8) mm wide and 25-60(-80) mm high, ruffled at the margins, and curled inward, almost forming a tube (sometime fusing where the edges touch), often curving back at the tips [...] the base of thallus [may often become] red-violet". The species is found "on the ground among mosses and heath" and "in open conifer woodlands and tundra, usually at high elevations". Brodo also reports that Alaskan indigenous peoples incorporated this lichen as a flavouring for fish or duck soups.

The distribution map for Flavocetraria cullata is available via from the Consortium of North American Lichen Herbaria.

DigitalMycology.com provides several photographs which may help for distinguishing between Flavocetraria cucullata and Flavocetraria nivalis, a very similar looking lichen: Flavocetraria.

This photograph is from two autumns ago, when it was a later-than-usual year for autumn colours in eastern North America. Fortunately, one small stretch of Highway 215 near the New Brunswick-Québec border was nearing peak in late September, though I only discovered it on my last day in the area. It's not really a "Natural Landscape" (how I've categorized it), as the shrubs and herbaceous plants in the foreground are trimmed low from time to time (they are along the roadside). It's not really an intentional cultivated landscape, though.

Thanks to Damon Tighe@Flickr for submitting his photo of Quercus agrifolia from Oakland, California (via the Botany Photo of the Day Flickr Pool). Damon's photostream on Flickr has quite a few recent botanical images from California.

A photograph of the acorns and foliage for coast live oak or California live oak is available from a previous Botany Photo of the Day entry, Quercus agrifolia. In trying to track down the meaning of "live oak" when it is used in a common name, my conclusion so far is that all live oaks are evergreen and North American, but not all evergreen North American oaks are known as live oaks. Also, the live oaks belong to different taxonomic groupings within Quercus. Five species, in Quercus Section Quercus, or the white oaks, are native to southeast and south-central North America. Four species given the common name live oak are native to southwestern North America. Three of these species are in Quercus Section Lobatae, the red oaks, and one is in Quercus Section Protobalanus, or the intermediate or golden-cup oaks.

Calphotos has many images of this iconic Californian tree species: Quercus agrifolia. Quercus agrifolia can also be found in Baja California.

This image from last autumn (late October) was taken in the E.H. Lohbrunner Alpine Garden here at UBC. Since no cultivar name is specifically assigned for this plant, it suggests that it is either an unidentified cultivated variety or grown as a seedling (and therefore would not be the same as its parent, even if its parent was a named cultivar). The peculiar notation, "[Dissectum Viride Group]", adds some information, indicating that this plant belongs to a Group of dissected-leaf Japanese maples from cultivation.

Missouri Botanical Garden has a gardening factsheet available: Acer palmatum var. dissectum [Dissectum Viride Group].

I used a different piece of software for processing this photograph--a program that merges two (or more) photographs taken at different planes of focus. It looks like I'll have to play with some of the settings, as the photograph appears a bit too saturated.

Well, let's see if the multiple email notifications glitch happens again...

A thank you to wlcutler@Flickr, aka Wendy Cutler, for sharing today's image of Triplaris cumingiana from her recent visit to Florida, where she visited Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Much thanks, Wendy!

Triplaris cumingiana, known commonly as long-john, is native to Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. As explained by Georgia Tasker on one of the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden blogs (weblog article), it is also known as ant-tree, as the trunks are hollow and can be inhabited by stinging ants when growing in habitat. It seems the ant species associated with this tree, Pseudomyrmex triplaridis, was named after the genus.

Both male and female flowers are shown in Wendy's photograph. The female (pistillate) flowers are the far showier ones, while a couple male (staminate) flowers are present near the top left of the image. A few side-by-side images of the male and female flowers, as well as many additional photographs of this species and a botanical description, are available via the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute: Triplaris cumingiana.

Botany and mathematics resource link: A continuation of the earlier Doodling in Math: Spirals, Fibonacci, and Being a Plant video from last month, here are part 2 and part 3, concluding the series from Vi Hart. And, using what you learned in the those 3 videos, you'll quickly see why this was necessary: an Open Letter to Nickelodeon, re: SpongeBob's Pineapple under the Sea.

Featured a few times previously on Botany Photo of the Day (including here and here), I thought I'd share another take on this (to me) iconic tree. Ponderosa pine or yellow pine is native to western North America, stretching from British Columbia south to central Mexico. The band of green leaves in the foreground is from Arctostaphylos patula, or greenleaf manzanita.