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Author Topic: Hepatica 2022  (Read 25598 times)

MarcR

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Re: Hepatica 2022
« Reply #315 on: May 01, 2022, 11:09:37 AM »
Maggi,

I love the way you insert truly germaine articles into almost every thread!
Marc Rosenblum

Falls City, OR USA

I am in USDA zone 8b where temperatures almost never fall below 15F -9.4C.  Rainfall 50" 110 cm + but none  June-September.  We seldom get snow; but when it comes we get 30" overnight. Soil is sandy loam with a lot of humus. 
Oregon- where Dallas is NNW of Phoenix

Maggi Young

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Re: Hepatica 2022
« Reply #316 on: May 01, 2022, 03:57:01 PM »
Maggi,

I love the way you insert truly germaine articles into almost every thread!
Thanks, Marc - if I see something of interest elsewhere I always try to share it here, where it will be able to be found for a looonnnngg time!
Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

Editor: International Rock Gardener e-magazine

Gabriela

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Re: Hepatica 2022
« Reply #317 on: May 01, 2022, 08:25:35 PM »
Wow Kris - your Hepatica specimens are looking more beautiful then ever!
Especially those huge H. transsilvanica :) Hopefully mine will look the same in 10+ years :))
Gabriela
Ontario, zone 5
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Gabriela

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Re: Hepatica 2022
« Reply #318 on: May 01, 2022, 08:42:51 PM »
Super post from Kristl Walek ( who used to be a very regular poster here) o Facebook :

Contrary To What You Thought: Hepatica Is A Cheater
Myrmecochory (/mɜːrmᵻˈkɒkɔːri/ (sometimes myrmechory); from Ancient Greek: μύρμηξ mýrmēks and χορεία khoreíā "circular dance") is seed dispersal by ants, an ecologically significant ant-plant interaction with worldwide distribution is exhibited by more than 3,000 plant species worldwide, and is present in every major biome on all continents except Antarctica.

In nature, when there is success, there is often a cheater. Hepatica, a beautiful purple or white spring ephemeral flower that emerges before its leaves, is an unassuming swindler. Instead of providing a detachable treat for the ant, hepatica just covers its seed in a non-removable elaiosome with the same chemical cues as its neighbors’ true elaiosomes.

When ants take hepatica’s seeds back to the nest, the elaiosome can’t be eaten, and the chemical cues stay intact. Instead of being stripped of its packet of fatty goodness and thrown in the trash heap, the hepatica seed stimulates each ant that passes by to pick it up by the permanent, fatty handle and carry it somewhere else. Hepatica saves energy by not making a large elaiosome, and it benefits when its seeds are distributed more widely. In return for their dispersal services, the ants get nothing. Hepatica is a parasite!

If cheaters win, though, then pretty soon everyone starts cheating. For a mutualism (a symbiotic relationship where both parties benefit) to continue, it must provide appropriate rewards. Scientists have found that seeds with true, tasty, edible elaiosomes are transported by ants much more often than the cheater seeds of Hepatica and others like it. “In this situation, cheating … establishes a background against which better mutualists can display competitive superiority, thus leading…to the reinforcement of the mutualism (Pfeiffer et al, 2009).”

Maggi, it is true that in the past mymecochory research was focused more on the plant benefits than examining ant benefits. But it had changed direction since. It's been known by now that various species of ants can be involved in mymecochory in different ways, for ex. some are eating the elaiosomes on the spot without transporting the seeds at all.
There is consensus that myrmecochore interactions are obligate for plants and facultative for ants, which means, ants can do very well without any of the plants with seeds with elaiosomes.

True that some plants are cheaters, by having elaiosomes with lower oleic acid content but the wording is not quite correct in few regards here:
there are no 'true' elaiosomes, just because there are no 'fake' ones. And also the word 'parasite' has a completely different meaning.


Gabriela
Ontario, zone 5
http://botanicallyinclined.org/

Gabriela

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Re: Hepatica 2022
« Reply #319 on: May 01, 2022, 08:46:04 PM »
Speaking of seeds, despite the late, cold spring, in a trip to some woods not so far from where I live, I was surprised to find H. acutiloba past flowering with new foliage.

Gabriela
Ontario, zone 5
http://botanicallyinclined.org/

kris

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Re: Hepatica 2022
« Reply #320 on: May 05, 2022, 02:04:38 AM »
Hepaticas are still flowering in the garden and some of them are still in buds. The North American Hepaticas are not fully bloomed.
Here are two Hepaticas I got from Gabriela. Very nice flowers and multipetal. They are still small. I hope they will have more flowers next year.
Saskatoon,Canada
-35C to +30C

kris

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Re: Hepatica 2022
« Reply #321 on: May 05, 2022, 02:20:06 AM »
Few more interesting ones I got from Garden friends in the Hepatica thread. I got them as seeds labelled cross between Hepatica nobilisXH.bergfexing.  The seedlings were very robust and lots of them survived our cold winter. I got few of them dark purple, pinkish and few with the petaloid pistils with anthers. Some I got maiden flowers. The maiden ones are still not fully opened. I will take few pictures later and post it here.
Saskatoon,Canada
-35C to +30C

kris

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Re: Hepatica 2022
« Reply #322 on: May 05, 2022, 02:29:50 AM »
I have one Bergfexing cross maiden flower that opened. Still small seedling but I think it is a maiden. One more Hepatica. The Beautiful Hepatica nobilis "rubraplena"
Saskatoon,Canada
-35C to +30C

Herman Mylemans

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Re: Hepatica 2022
« Reply #323 on: May 05, 2022, 07:30:54 AM »
Kris, the multipetale forms are very beautiful. Concerning the crosses from Bergfexing, you should definitely take seed from it and sow it again for new surprises.
Belgium

Carsten

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Re: Hepatica 2022
« Reply #324 on: May 05, 2022, 07:39:54 AM »
Few more interesting ones I got from Garden friends in the Hepatica thread. I got them as seeds labelled cross between Hepatica nobilisXH.bergfexing.  The seedlings were very robust and lots of them survived our cold winter. I got few of them dark purple, pinkish and few with the petaloid pistils with anthers. Some I got maiden flowers. The maiden ones are still not fully opened. I will take few pictures later and post it here.
Congratulations, Kris! Excellent range in the seedlings.
Bavarian Oberland - 695m - zone 6b

Leena

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Re: Hepatica 2022
« Reply #325 on: May 05, 2022, 10:44:49 AM »
Kris, you have really nice Hepaticas, and such big clumps of older ones!
Here to my surprise my Hepatica transsylvanica plants have suffered a lot last winter, and some show no sign of life yet.
I earlier wrote that all my older H.pubescens plants have died, but now couple are starting to grow and are not dead, though I don't know if they will flower.
Here is picture of a white H.pubescens planted last summer. Really pretty and I'm so happy it has survived.
'Hakurin' is doing well, and also 'Shirayuki'
Leena from south of Finland

Herman Mylemans

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Re: Hepatica 2022
« Reply #326 on: May 05, 2022, 12:54:37 PM »
Kris, you have really nice Hepaticas, and such big clumps of older ones!
Here to my surprise my Hepatica transsylvanica plants have suffered a lot last winter, and some show no sign of life yet.
I earlier wrote that all my older H.pubescens plants have died, but now couple are starting to grow and are not dead, though I don't know if they will flower.
Here is picture of a white H.pubescens planted last summer. Really pretty and I'm so happy it has survived.
'Hakurin' is doing well, and also 'Shirayuki'
Leena, good to hear that some of your pubescens survived. Snow covering is probably the best way to survive. Here finally H. yamatutai also showed some leaves but no flower this year. Still no leaves at my pubescens. Now it is here very dry, the plants are begging for rain.
Belgium

kris

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Re: Hepatica 2022
« Reply #327 on: May 05, 2022, 06:18:31 PM »
Thank you Carsten and Herman.   I am really excited about the flowers. I am also crossing them in my amateur way. I don't have any experience in crossing before. But read some articles online and follow that.
Leena it is really surprising to see that your weather is not that favourable to Hepaticas like ours. I am not an expert in growing plants. I visited my friends garden yesterday and her garden has also lots and lots of Hepaticas with full head of flowers. I think the cold weather in winter may be helping us.
Here are some more pictures taken today from the garden.
Saskatoon,Canada
-35C to +30C

kris

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Re: Hepatica 2022
« Reply #328 on: May 05, 2022, 06:20:28 PM »
Leena your Hepaticas with pristine white flowers are amazing.
Saskatoon,Canada
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Leena

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Re: Hepatica 2022
« Reply #329 on: May 05, 2022, 07:39:13 PM »
Thank you Kris, I like them very much, too. :)

Leena it is really surprising to see that your weather is not that favourable to Hepaticas like ours. I am not an expert in growing plants. I visited my friends garden yesterday and her garden has also lots and lots of Hepaticas with full head of flowers. I think the cold weather in winter may be helping us.

You probably had a lot of snow when it was cold. Like Herman wrote snow would be best for Hepaticas. :)
Here it was cold without any snow in the beginning of winter, and then in January a warm spell with a lot of rain, before cold and snow came back.
This winter was not usual, but who knows if weather here is going to be like this also in the future.
Leena from south of Finland

 


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