Online
Articles about nature - by
Boyd
Shaffer,
artist /naturalist This
Article:
Flower Nomenclature,
pg 2 --> back
to pg 1 Campanula
Campanulaceæ
is the "Bell Flower" family and
includes all of the genus
Campanula and some others.
Alaska's members of this group
are all in the genus
Campanula and called "Hare
Bells". That insinuates they are
not true Bluebells , which of
course, they are. Lily
Liliaceæ
(Lily) is a typical
Monocotyledon having petals in
"threes" or multiples of three.
They lack sepals and have stamens
in "threes' or multiples of
three. A single style with a
flattened stigma at the top is
usual for this genus.
Yellow
Clematis
(pronounced klem-ate'-us,
see Webster's Dictionary) is one
of those rare vines that do
especially well in Alaska. They
will grow as high as a two story
house and the most severe winter
never seems to bother them.
In the far north, the seeds
(right and far right) do
not blow and grow as weeds in
your yard. They must be taken
indoors before a hard freeze
(early October) and planted in
trays or pots in early April
indoors. Plant them out June 1st
with lots of climbing space, with
their roots in the shade and the
vines in sunlight. They don't
need scarifying in cold to
germinate. Just keep them in a
dry place in the house until
ready to plant.
Observations
of a Naturalist
TOP
The flowers of this group are
identified by their corollas
being fused with five lobes, and
they have five sepals. There are
five stamens with noticeable
anthers at their filament
tips.
The pistil has a superior ovary
(above the sepals) and a three
parted stigma at the top of the
style. Notice that the stigma in
the photo insert (left) clearly
shows only two, the third is
behind the one on the left and is
barely visible.
The species with the largest
flower, found in Alaska, is
Campanula lasiocarpa, a very
small plant with beautiful large
flowers. It is found in alpine
heaths and gravel in the
mountains. It is abundant along
the Denali Highway at mile 17 and
in a gravel pit area at mile 70.
It also can be found in other
areas: Crow Pass, Hatcher Pass,
and it is common at Paradise Lake
on the Kenai peninsula. You may
find it whenever you are high in
the mountains or far north. Its
range is restricted to the lands
of the North Pacific, to the
Arctic and into North Western
Canada.
Inside a
lily
Leaves of Monocots have all veins
beginning at the center vein at
the bottom and meeting at the
center vein at the tip, No cross
veins occur in monocots.
As with most lilies, this species
has no true "bulb". A bulb is an
underground leaf bud being
nothing but young leaves. An
onion is a true bulb. Most lilies
have corms.
In the spring they look and feel
dead and dry, but they soon
sprout leaves and climb fencing
or poles using their leaf
petioles to wrap around anything
they touch (left clasping its
own stem).
The flower (above) has no
petals, it has yellow sepals,
dark brown stamens and greenish
anthers.
At left is the flower with sepals
removed showing how the styles
grow and spread after pollination
by, primarily, bumble bees.
The seed head then turns upright
and the filaments grow and
spread. At first they produce a
beautiful silver bouquet and then
becomes much larger and remains
like a mass of white puff-balls
through the winter.
In my Alaskan home, I built a
tall garden gate for them to
cover, arbor-like. If you make
one, it must be strong enough to
withstand heavy snow, because
this plant becomes very dense.
-End