Plants are fascinating! Have you ever wondered why scientists work with plants? Image Image of petioles courtesy of Zishan (Sannie ) Fu It's because plants are really interesting! We even have a day dedicated to how fascinating plants are; Fascination of Plants Day (18th May) where scientists and plant lovers share what they find interesting about plants. The day is promoted by the European Plant Science Organisation and is celebrated by many different institutions around the world. To celebrate, I asked my plant scientists colleagues in IMPS about their favorite plants and fun plant facts. Here is what people said: Zishan (Sannie) Fu, PhD student in the Hetherington lab, says her favorite plant feature are petioles. She says: ‘The petiole is the bridge between the leaf blade and the stem of a plant. It's easy to ignore, but trust me, it's fascinating! If you slice through the petiole and look at it under the microscope, you see amazing patterns in the plant tissues – you might find some that look like a polar bear or an alien! If you look closer, you will see vascular bundles which are the transportation system for food and water inside the plants.’ Image Image of trichomes courtesy of Anshika Bhatla (L) & Yumali Hewage (R) Anshika Bhatla’s (PhD student in the Hudson lab) favorite plant feature are the trichomes of tomatoes! Trichomes are tiny hairs on leaves of certain plants – we have pictures of some included here. Trichomes protect plants against insects and pests! Another scientist who finds trichomes fascinating is Yumali Hewage, also a PhD student in the Hudson lab. Yumali finds trichomes fascinating because trichomes are like factories which produce natural products. Fun fact: the natural products which trichomes produce are sticky! Anshika and Yumali focus on trichomes in their research. Jeremy Wyman, a MScR student in the Hetherington lab, finds legumes fascinating. He says: ‘My favourite plant part is the Leguminosae seedpod (like in peas!). It fascinates me because I found some of the earliest specimens of these in fossils. The earliest legumes had previously been reported in Argentina from the Early Palaeocene over 60 million years ago and the earliest seedpods in Colombia from the Late Palaeocene. I was part of a team that described new seedpods from within the first million years after the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction that occurred 66 million years ago. I, personally, found at least three of these specimens in the Western United States. This finding showed that legumes originated at the same time in North and South America. Fun fact: the high protein content of these beans likely allowed the size of mammal bodies to increase immediately following the end of the Cretaceous.’ Image Image of gorse courtesy of Bob Mason (L), image of Rafflesia courtesy of Wikipedia Commons (R) Bob Mason’s (a PhD student in the Spoel lab) favorite plant is the common Gorse (Ulex europaeus). He says ‘What fascinates me about gorse is how well adapted it is to its environment. It can fix its own nitrogen, which is needed for plant survival, through root nodules, survive very low temperatures, spreads its seeds by catching fire, and it smells wonderful.’ A fun fact about gorse is that gorse seeds germinate in response to heat! As the plant readily catches fire, this means all competition is cleared from the area and the next generation can grow unimpeded. Sarowar Hosen’s (PhD student in the Frungillo lab) favorite plant is rice (Oryza sativa). Rice is a staple food for more than half of the world's population and is grown in more than 100 countries! Ninety percent of the total global production of rice comes from Asia. Dr Andrea Paterlini, a Principal Investigator in IMPS, says his favorite plant is Rafflesia arnoldi. He says ‘This species produces the largest individual flower in the world; it’s over a metre wide and very resilient. Rafflesia belongs to a genus of parasitic plants. Parasitic plants steal water and nutrients from other plants they live inside of (or attached to). Rafflesia covertly lives inside Tetrastigma vines in the jungles of Southeast Asia until its big flowers erupt out. You'd never know it was inside until it flowers. What is fascinating, from a genetics point of view, is that some Raffesia species seem to have lost most of their chloroplast genomes. Being a parasitic plant (and extracting nutrients from its host), Rafflesia doesn't need to produce its own sugars via photosynthesis (one of the functions of chloroplasts). The chloroplast genome has therefore lost most of its genes and functions. Rafflesia is also called the corpse flower. When it flowers it emits a strong smell like rotten meat which is a precious resource in a jungle. For that reason, the smell will attract insects (flies and beetles) that feed on dead flesh. They will travel long distances following this smell. This, however, is an elaborate trick perpetrated by the plant: when the insect visits the flower, it will only get covered in pollen and won’t find a “delicious” meal! The insect is then likely to visit another Rafflesia plant using the same ruse, pollinating the latter. This pollination by deceit is a great strategy for plants that grow at low densities quite far apart.’ Image of Rafflesia courtesy of Wikipedia Commons. Image Images of Parasitaxus courtesy of Wikipedia Commons (L) and Begonia courtesy of Lucy Turnbull (R) Laura Cooper, a PhD student in the Hetherington lab, has a favorite plant: Parasitaxus. She says, ‘Parasitaxus, found only on New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean, is the only parasitic conifer. But it isn’t parasitic in the way other plant parasites, like mistletoe, are. Other parasites use a modified plant organ called a haustorium to extract sugars and water from the host. Instead, Parasitaxus uses fungi to form connections between itself and the trees it is parasitic upon, and via these fungal connections it extracts carbon and water from the host plant. Therefore, this species has abandoned photosynthesis and doesn’t need to collect water from the soil. And it does all this in a soil extremely high in heavy metals!’ Image of Parasitaxus courtesy of Wikipedia Commons. Lucy Turnbull (PhD student in the Kidner Lab) studies genetic diversity in Begonias. Her most fascinating plant is Begonia dregei! This beautiful ornamental plant originates in South Africa and features these cute little white spotted leaves in its youth. Due to its swollen basal stem termed a caudex, it can also sometimes be grown as a ‘begonia bonsai’! Fun fact: there are over 2000 species of begonia with a wonderful array of morphological diversity. Philippe Gadient (PhD student in the Goodrich lab) studies the Liverwort Marchantia and says he is most fascinated by the gemmae cups that grow on the surface of its thalli. These special organs are a type of splash cup that are used for vegetative propagation. Within the cups, there are modified discs of tissue called gemmae, and when raindrops fall into the cups, they are ejected along with the water. Once dispersed these little bundles of cells can form new individual plants. Erin Ryan (Undergraduate in the Hetherington Lab) is most fascinated by Utricularia, commonly known as bladderworts! This genus of carnivorous plant is found all over the world in lakes, ponds and bogs. They use hundreds of sophisticated bladder structures to capture and digest their prey. These bladders work as they create a negative pressure within themselves; once the sensitive bristles on the trapdoor are triggered the trapdoors open and suck up the prey and any surrounding water. Bladderworts are the fastest carnivorous plant, engulfing their prey in less than a milisecond with an astounding force of 600Gs. These plants are also cultivated for their beautiful flowers that come in an array of colours. Fun fact: Bladderworts can be found on every continent except Antarctica! Image Image of Bowenia spectabilis (L) and coralloid roots (R) courtesy of Sandy Hetherington Sandy Hetherington (Principal Investigator in IMPS) says, ‘I find it fascinating that plants form symbiotic relationships with other organisms to help them survive. In many cases plants trade carbon they produce via photosynthesis for other essential nutrients they need for growth. One example of this is found in the group of plants termed cycads. Some cycad species such as Bowenia spectabilis form a symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria called Nostoc, and the symbiosis is located in specialised roots termed coralloid roots. Nostoc is able to take nitrogen from the atmosphere and turn it into ammonia that the cycad can use to boost its growth - in return the cycad gives carbon to the cyanobacteria to help its growth. Both partners are therefore winners in the relationship! Teaming up with other organisms has been a key part of plant evolution since they first colonised the land over 470 million years ago. Cycads are often thought of as “living fossils” as they have an extensive fossil record and some of their characteristics have stayed very similar for hundreds of millions of years. However, a recent paper demonstrated that cycad leaves have had a dynamic evolutionary history showing the group has changed extensively through time. Living species today therefore certainly can’t be thought of as “living fossils”. Read more about the work published in Communications Biology by Coiro and Seyfullah here.’ Image Image of Wollemia nobilis courtesy of Tea Reinert Finally, my favorite plant is Wollemia nobilis. It was thought to be extinct and was known only from fossils, but it was found in Australia in 1994. Even though it’s Critically Endangered in its native range, it can be found in many botanic gardens including the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh. I learned about it during my undergraduate studies, and then encountered it myself for the first time in Glasnevin Botanic Garden. I hope you have enjoyed hearing about what plants fascinating us, and made you think about what plants fascinate you. Stay tuned for more blog posts from IMPS outreach and happy Fascination of Plants Day! This article was published on 2024-06-17
