Under Jewels. Bumblebee, Bombus pascuorum, and Tricyrtis hirta, Toad Lily, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Those Jeweled Droplets are really tiny. They're exudate of small glands on beautiful Tricyrtis's triple-headed style or pistil. And never having seen insects partake of them I assumed that this liquid isn't sweet. But to make sure the other day, I used my magnifying glass and set of small tweezers to gather some of that liquid on a forefinger, just enough for a taste. The plant is poisonous so to be sure I'd be able to write to you-all, I didn't want more...
Indeed, I couldn't discern any sweetness. Just perhaps a very slight vegetative relish not enough even for a buzz. I tried to but couldn't find any information on the chemical composition of this stuff. Does anyone Out There know?
Anyway, our Toad Lilly - apparently for the beautiful dark purple spotted flowers which remind of toadskins (why not of Leopard Frogs, a partisan might ask!) - was first seen for Europe by Carl Peter Thunberg - the Japanese Linnaeus - in Japan 1775-1776 and described by him in 1784 under the name Uvularia. But he didn't collect a sample. The plant was forgotten until it was rediscovered by Scotsman Robert Fortune (1812-1860) - intrepid tea-plant stealer (www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/7597741610/in/photolis...) - during his Japanese sojourn 1860-1862. Soon in 1863 it was described in Curtis's Botanical Magazine by William Jackson Hooker and the rest is history.
Bumblebee, Bombus pascuorum, I think, is seeking the Sweet Stuff from the tri-structured nectaries - hence the plant's Latin name - at the bottom of the tepals.
Under Jewels. Bumblebee, Bombus pascuorum, and Tricyrtis hirta, Toad Lily, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Those Jeweled Droplets are really tiny. They're exudate of small glands on beautiful Tricyrtis's triple-headed style or pistil. And never having seen insects partake of them I assumed that this liquid isn't sweet. But to make sure the other day, I used my magnifying glass and set of small tweezers to gather some of that liquid on a forefinger, just enough for a taste. The plant is poisonous so to be sure I'd be able to write to you-all, I didn't want more...
Indeed, I couldn't discern any sweetness. Just perhaps a very slight vegetative relish not enough even for a buzz. I tried to but couldn't find any information on the chemical composition of this stuff. Does anyone Out There know?
Anyway, our Toad Lilly - apparently for the beautiful dark purple spotted flowers which remind of toadskins (why not of Leopard Frogs, a partisan might ask!) - was first seen for Europe by Carl Peter Thunberg - the Japanese Linnaeus - in Japan 1775-1776 and described by him in 1784 under the name Uvularia. But he didn't collect a sample. The plant was forgotten until it was rediscovered by Scotsman Robert Fortune (1812-1860) - intrepid tea-plant stealer (www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/7597741610/in/photolis...) - during his Japanese sojourn 1860-1862. Soon in 1863 it was described in Curtis's Botanical Magazine by William Jackson Hooker and the rest is history.
Bumblebee, Bombus pascuorum, I think, is seeking the Sweet Stuff from the tri-structured nectaries - hence the plant's Latin name - at the bottom of the tepals.