Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.
As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”
Your donations help support this blog.
Addendum: Dandelions are taxonomically complicated. There are around 250 species in Britain & Ireland and rate their own field guide. It seems like non-specialists here in the U.S. have been assuming that all we have are Taraxacum officinale. But Red-seeded, T. erythrospermum, is another possibility. How many others?
Like interconnected neurons, this single species of flower is a hub of communication of substance and information for many species of animal, plant and biota. This is a perfect demonstration of the web-like nature of life on planet Earth. Well captured, I add. Bravo!
With that many pollinators, no wonder there are so many fertilized seeds.
It gets more complicated, because dandelions — there are over two hundred species in Europe — can reproduced asexually, meaning the seeds are clones of the parent plant. They’re apomictic. They don’t require insects. And yet, the smorgasbord.
That’s a new word for me. I knew some plants can reproduce through self-fertilization, but didn’t realize they can even skip that step.
Sounds a lot like parthenogenesis for plants. It can happen to lizards and I think I heard the Calif. Condors just presented a case. I imagine there are other species which do this regularly, but not only.
Perhaps the polinators at the banquet aren’t polinators at all. They are increasing the range of seed dispersal, but not affecting the polination.
Backyard and Beyond 
Leave a comment