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Maggi,I love the way you insert truly germaine articles into almost every thread!
Super post from Kristl Walek ( who used to be a very regular poster here) o Facebook : Contrary To What You Thought: Hepatica Is A CheaterMyrmecochory (/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).”
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.
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 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.
