The mandrake's screaming reputation

"Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see whether the vine hath budded, whether the vine-blossom be opened, and the pomegranates be in flower; there will I give thee my love. The mandrake give forth fragrance, and at our doors are all manner of precious fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved."

Song of Solomon 7:12-13 

Mandrake is known from ancient times, its reputation runs in people's mouths for centuries. The oldest references are to be found in biblical scriptures, Genesis and Song of Solomon (or Song of Songs) where its hebrew name (דודאים) is found to mean literally love plant (hum, interesting!). 

There is no other plant in Europe associated with so many myths and legends. The Mandrake is popular due to its natural properties, and that includes (apart from the aphrodisiac effects that hebrews seemed to be so much aware of) hallucinogenic, analgesic and narcotic effects. But the bad reputation of this plant is probably due to the poisonous character of its whole - especially the root. And it is the root the basis of this whole story. The root of this plant resembles a human shape, so it was believed in the dark old times that a dangerous homunculus was the root of the plant. The imagination lead people to the world of non-sense and in the Medieval times it was believed that mandrakes could be fatal to its catcher because the homunculus root would scream so loudly while pulled out of the soil that the scream, they say, would kill the catcher. Creepy and doubtful, right? Nevertheless it was based on this myth that the price of the mandrakes became as high as an artisan's salary around the XVII century. Of course this was probably a high rentable business, people needed the plant to cast love spells, witches also to rub it on their bodies to be able to fly, and for other ordinary daily tasks that people used to do in the Middle Ages. 

The roots of the mandrake with its human shape

Now, I'm going to tell you how did the ancient mandrake catcher managed without killing themselves out of that loud scream, but first let me warn you - do NOT try this at home to avoid innocent deaths! This was done by experienced men, trained and skilled for mandrake cropping. 

According to medieval legends, the Mandragora roots should be collected close to the Summer solstice during full moon nights. It is wise to keep it still by wetting it with blood or urine. Then, a furrow must be dug around it until a rope can be tied to the root and the other end tied to a black dog. The catcher would then leave the place keeping his ears closed and the dog, by following the owner, will pull out the root. After this, the root is of no harm anymore and can be handled without fear. 

Here you can see a professional of the Mandrake catching in action

Ok, let's put some seriousness on this post, Mandragora officinarum L. belongs to the Solanaceae family and you can tell that straight away by looking at the flowers. How? Hum, good one! I think the petal tube and the 5 corolla lobes, associated with the haplostemony character of the stamens helps. The difference with Solanum species is that the dehiscence of the stamens isn't poricidal, and so Buzz Pollination doesn't happen in Mandragora.

Detail of the flower showing the longitudinal dehiscence of Mandragora flowers 

The majestic legends of a Sacred & Sad Tree

Had fell in love, couldn’t avoid the pain for this love wasn’t reciprocal, becoming sorrowful for the whole eternity.

In short, this is the legend I heard about a tree native to the Indian sub-continent – the Parijat or sad tree. The reason for such a name is something that always made me curious – why was this plant condemned to have such a dreadful and miserable destiny? Of course it had to have love involved at some level. After all, isn’t love the mother of all emotions? Love or the absence of love is the root of all feelings and such a pain that lasts the whole eternity had to be linked with this. 

Let’s start by dissecting the scientific name of the plant, Nyctanthes arbor-tristis means literally “night-blooming sad tree”, so it does give us already a clue about the behaviour of the plant – flowers bloom at night. Taking a look at the flower and blooming patterns, the candidate pollinator can be guessed. The flowers are definitely designed to attract night-pollinators – the colour, the night-blooming condition and the characteristic sweet fragrance that Oleaceae is well-known to exude is also very strong at night. Linked with the size and shape of the flowers, I can only think of a moth to do this kind of job!

One of the legends say that the heavenly Parijat tree was brought to this world by Lord Krishna as a gift for one of his wives, Rukmini. [Source: www.indianminiaturepaintings.co.uk]

As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, the first legend I heard is about an Indian princess, Parijat who fell in love with Surya-deva (the Sun-god), which deserted her. Heart-broken and in despair, the princess committed suicide, was cremated and brought back to life from the ashes in the form of a tree. Incapable to bear the sight of the one that lead her to kill herself, the flowers only bloom at night, and it is said that the flowers are shed like tear-drops in the first shade of dawn. It is a romantic but cruel story from which Linnaeus was probably based to name the tree. But apart from this one, there is a much important story that puts this plant into a sacred level in several Asian religions as Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism. The Parijat tree is linked with a very famous episode from the sacred texts Puranas that describes a wish-fulfilling divine tree formed during the Churning of the Milky Ocean. Other legends were made around this incredible tree, but it would be an endless post if I start telling them all!

Sagar Manthan by Raja Ravi Varma representing the Churning of the Milky Ocean, and the Parijat tree represented as one of the treasures churned by the gods

No wonder though that this tree, known to be sorrowful, is full of stories and legends around it. It has a special behaviour, and descriptions say that the fragrance produced take us to drawn into its sweetness – it perfumes the entire universe it is said and so its essential oil is used in perfume-making. Also, it is popular for medicinal purposes in Asia, including Ayurvedic medicine.

The flower of Nyctanthes arbor-tristis. [Source: Saroj Kumar Kasaju]

Botanically it might be a bit boring – or is it?! This is Oleaceae, we are in the realm of Lamiales, the land of merism hodgepodge. But in Oleaceae things seem to be more pacific and there is a pattern we can rely on: usually flowers are hanged in the tips of branches forming wonderful cymoses of rather small flowers. These usually have four petals and two stamens, so it seems to be quite easy to spot a member of the Oleaceae family. But because this lovely one has to be special in every field, the merism is higher here than in the rest of the family (along with some Jasminum) and the number of petals can go from 5 to 8. 

I am only sorry that we cannot feel fragrances through internet yet! :)

The legend of the money tree

Dillenia indica is a plant native to tropical Asia, brought to Brazil by the Portuguese and it was a Portuguese that built up the idea of a tree that produces money. The legend says that D. Pedro I of Brazil (D. Pedro IV of Portugal) sent the fruits of this plant to Portugal with the note “In this land money grows on trees”. When the Portuguese opened the fruits they were astonished! All the fruits had patacas’ coins inside! – the Brazilian currency used on those days. This was a very extravagant way that D. Pedro found to symbolize the natural richness of Brazil. 

D. Pedro I of Brazil

As you can imagine that was a trick, Dillenia does not grow patacas nor any other currency in their fruits, but the trick was so good that the legend remained and stayed in people’s imaginary – even today people from Portuguese speaking countries keep talking about the Patacas’ tree as a hypothetical easy way to make money, but I can assure that such trees do not exist!

Imagine what it would be like if you find a coin inside this fruit...

But the mystery remains – if Dillenia don’t make patacas, how did the fruits had patacas inside without being opened before? I must say D. Pedro had sense of humor, and by using a very cheap trick he managed to keep this legend in people’s mouth until today. The Patacas’ tree is known in Brazil also as the chest-fruit tree, and the origin of this name is the key to solve the mystery. When the flowers of Dillenia are fertilized, the fruit grows in the middle as usual, however, also the petals start developing and growing around, becoming juicy, edible and protecting the fruit inside. Whatever you place in the flower (between the ovary and the petals) remains there, and obviously the coins that D. Pedro placed in the flowers remained inside until they got ripe and someone shopped the fruit. 

Chopped fruit of Dillenia indica - the coins were placed in the gap between the fleshy petals and the inner core - the real fruit! Source: http://come-se.blogspot.pt

Basically, the coins were not inside the real fruit, even though for non-botanists that’s what it looks like, the petals and all organs that are part of the flower are not considered to be the fruit, so the juicy edible petals are just that - petals and are not considered to be part of the fruit (at least, botanically speaking). For all those that are now disappointed knowing that money really doesn’t grow on trees, at least now you know how to trick a friend!

Even though the way that the fruit is formed is pretty odd, also the flowers are quite impressive, and have a lot of evolutionary clues to be demystified. From my view, one of the most interesting morphological characters of Dilleniaceae, apart from the petals that become part of the fruit, is the androecium. The androecium is known to be polyandric in most cases, which means that it is formed by many stamens (more than double the number of petals), originated by the division of common primordia.

Dillenia indica flower. Source: André Benedito

Some other morphological aspects are said to be related with basal Caryophyllales (including the centrifugally developing multistaminate androecium, persistent calyces and campylotrous ovules), but the truth is that the placement of this group among eudicots is not entirely clear yet.

Primula’s little secret

“The earthly manifestations of God’s world began with the realm of plants, as a kind of direct communication from it. (…) Plants were bound for good or ill to their places. They expressed not only the beauty but also the thoughts of God’s world”

Carl Jung

I have heard from many people that plants are boring creatures because of their incapacity of movement, but on the other hand this is an incredible challenge they have to deal with all the time. They have to answer to with certain problems even though they cannot move or see to, for example, choose the visitors of their flowers. They need to be selective enough to attract pollinators, avoiding nectar robbers, herbivores and their own pollen (self-pollination); they are to me one of the most incredible examples of the mysterious abilities of Nature. There are many fascinating examples on pollination strategies to avoid inbreeding in plants and Primula seems to be quite talented on finding the right strategy on this matter, avoiding selfing like no other. 

Primula acaulis. Source: Flora-on

To avoid selfing, Primula flowers managed to find a way to create hermaphrodite flowers of two different types, each type can only pollinate the other type, and each individual only forms one of the morphotypes. Pin plants (morphotype 1) have a long style and short anthers; thrum plants (morphotype 2) have a short style and long anthers. Pollen of pin plants can only grow down on the style of thrum plants and the pollen of thrum plants only fertilizes pin plants. For this reason, flowers of one type cannot be fertilized by pollen of their own type, and since one individual can’t produce both types inbreeding is hardly possible to happen. 

Morphotype 1 cannot fertilize morphotype 2 and vice-versa, as the pollen is only "fertile" with the opposite morphotype

The secret recipe for this special strategy can be easily explained genetically – pin plants are heterozygous (Aa) or homozygous-dominant (AA) and thrum plants are homozygous-recessive (aa). Because crossing happens only between both morphotypes, there are only two possibilities of crossing, Aa x aa or AA x aa. 

Crossing between both morphotypes can be explained in two ways, depending on the genotype of the pin plants. If they are homozygous (AA, example on the left), all offspring will also be of the pin morphotype because their genotype will certainly be heterozygous (Aa)

However, it is not as simple as this, as there is not only one locus responsible for this character, but a group of three loci tightly linked together (linkage), forming a complex locus or a super gene. Because these genes are so closed together, a cross-over that separates them is highly improbable to happen, however it may happen in rare situations and only in this rare situations self-pollination might occur. When crossing-over takes place within those loci, two complementary kinds of homostyle are formed, with the stigma characteristic of one type and the pollen characteristic of the other, allowing self-fertilization to happen. These homostyles are though naturally eliminated from most populations because of the selective disadvantage that inbreeding brings along. 

Primula veris thrum mophotype (aa genotype). Source: Flickr (padikeo)

Primula veris pin morphotype (Aa or AA genotype). Souce: Flickr (Viveka)

So now, whenever you find a Primula flower, take a look at the reproductive structures, and you will be able to tell if they have an AA/Aa genotype or an aa genotype!

The involving aroma of seductive Oman

Walking in the charming markets of Oman is not only about what we see, it is much about the scents. Unlike most places I’ve visited in Europe and Asia, in Oman even the Market (Suq in Arabic) has a lovely aroma, leaving a comfortable warm feeling in the air. I could feel this scent everywhere – in the streets, markets, houses, clothes and it is about the best memories I have from this land. Therefore I still keep a wee wooden box filled with Omani frankincense in my room, and whenever I open this box the aroma makes me fly back to Arabia, so I do it several times. And I do also keep a little scented stone on my wallet, just because it’s nice.

Frankincense from Oman

Frankincense is very special and sacred since ancient times, and in the past it was equated to gold in the market. It was used as an offering to gods, and as a medicinal fumigant for diseases and against evil odors. Egyptians also believed that frankincense was the sweat of Gods. Frankincense is also mentioned several times in the Bible, and it has been used to make holy incense used for worship since the time of Moses. In Christianity it is very much known as one of the three gifts to baby Jesus, along with myrrh and gold, representing the divinity of Christ, as it was used as an offering to God.

All that made sense to me, and I do understand the status of divinity associated with this odoriferous resin – frankincense has a unique and magical aroma, leading you to a deep involvement with the place. And it is not to be surprised that it brings so many feelings as it comes from the plant’s own “blood”, carrying along all the purity of its nature. It is much as you have the whole soul of the desert transformed in the sense of smell.

Sap from wild Boswellia sacra. Photo by: Khalid Al Farsi

Frankincense stones are nothing but the dried sap (resin) of Boswellia sacra (Burseraceae), a shrubby tree native to Oman, Yemen and Somalia, growing also in Ethiopia.

Natural habitat of Boswellia sacra, in Omani lands. Photo by: Khalid Al Farsi

Burseraceae is a family belonging to Sapindales, having Anacardiaceae as a sister family. The flowers are small but gorgeous, organized in racemes. Floral structures are simple, not hard to recognize, and they seem to have what well-behaved Rosid is expected to have: five sepals, five petals, 10 stamens arranged in 2 rows of five, a superior ovary and a beautiful and wide nectary disc. The most characteristic structures here are the white broad petals, and the conspicuous fleshy nectaries.

Flowers of Boswellia sacra. Source: Flickr (Scott Zona)

Notice that the first row of stamens (closer to the petal row) is opposite the sepals, and the second row (closer to the gynoecium) is opposite the petals. Sorry for the low quality of the pictures.

I admit that today the story wasn’t much of a flower story, but I felt like introducing you this very special plant that brings along with it a high spiritual feeling. Unfortunately, it seems that the wild population of these trees is declining due to a lower regeneration caused by the early death of the youngs before flowering and thus, seeding. However, it seems that it is not considered to be threatened, according to the IUCN Red List, and we hope that it remains likewise and that the population of Boswellia can grow happy and healthy, inspiring us all with its warm and exotic sense from South Arabia.

The family from the skies

“Aster” is the greek name for “Star”, which is also the name of the type genus of one of the most diverse families of flowering plants: Asteraceae (also known in Botany under the old name of Compositae).

When I think of the name Asteraceae I cannot avoid thinking about the supreme star that lights and heats the planet we live in. In fact, I think the name Aster is well attributed due to morphological similarities that we might find between an Asteraceae flower and a star, or even the Sun itself. Stars usually have a core and irradiate light through rays of light. In Asteraceae inflorescences do also resemble stars by having the core flowers tightly grouped in the centre and the ray flowers on the edges.

The fact of having this extremely cosmopolitan and diverse family under the name of “Star”, makes me think that they can be found anywhere in the world as easily as finding stars in the dark sky above. So let’s explore a bit the secret recipe for the high success of this family which became the largest among core eudicots. They which are so widespread that can be found naturalized in all continents (except Antartica) and in most environments. Such success must be related with their floral morphology! And if it’s not directly related with the floral morphology it doesn’t matter because I will introduce it anyway.

The inflorescence type is an exclusive of the family, it is very odd and it comes in a pseudanthium-like inflorescence. I bet some of you are now wondering what the pseudanthium is, or scrolled down the window to check on the glossary. Botanists call pseudanthium to some types of inflorescences where flowers are organized in such a way forming a structure that looks like a single flower, even though it’s a group of flowers! We find these pseudanthia in all Asteraceae, and in this family the pseudanthia are special as they are organized in a disc. The botanical name Compositae was also based on the morphology of such inflorescences, which can also be called compound flowers, meaning a flower made out of many flowers, or opposite to single flower.

When it comes to Asteraceae, even some structures have special names as they don’t occur in other plant groups, starting with the inflorescence, the capitulum. Also the calyx usually differentiates into a pappus (a series of hairs or bristles) instead of the typical 5 sepals. Petals are always fused, forming a stamen-petal tube (disc flowers) or forming the monosymmetric corolla we find in peripherical flowers. Finally, the tubular flowers are bisexual but the peripherical ligulate flowers are usually pistillate (lacking male organs) or sterile.

Florets of an Asteraceae cappitulum

One of the most interesting characters of these flowers is known by the secondary pollination mechanism. This mechanism is simple and effective at the same time. The tube formed around the stigma on tubular flowers is the basis of this mechanism, as stamens are organized all very tight around the gynoecium, and when it pops outside the flower, it is covered with pollen on the outer (abaxial) side of the stigma. This mechanism is interestingly effective as it avoids self-pollination (as the pollen is attached to the abaxial side of the stigma and the fertile region is the inner or adaxial side, which only opens when it sticks totally out from the floral tube).

The pollen gets attached to the abaxial side of the stigma, the receptive part of the stigma is the adaxial side. Mature anthers in the left side and mature stigmas in the right side. The ovaries are always bicarpellate and inferior.

The beauty of simplicity

I have been trying for long time to talk about palm tree flowers. Palm trees have a great symbology in some religions, being considered as the tree of life in ancient Egypt, and in the Kabballah. In Judaism it has a symbolic importance as one of the four plants used during the Sukkot, according to the Torah. Also in the Quraan palm trees, especially date palm trees, are mentioned several times, and so a certain significance is given in the Islamic culture. In Christianity, palm leaves are used to celebrate the Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, remembering Jesus’ triumphal entry in Jerusalem. It happens that in the region where all these monotheistic religions were founded, palm trees are probably the taller trees growing in the wild, so it does not surprise me that they are mentioned in the sacred books in many different occasions, giving them this mysticism.

Virgin Mary nurtured by a palm tree, as described in the Quran (Source: Wikipedia)

However, Arecaceae (the family of palm trees) is originally from tropical and sub-tropical regions, where they are much more diverse due to the typical wet and hot conditions. That is probably why palm trees are usually associated with our idea of paradisiacal islands, exotic beaches and holiday’s advertisements. Only in South-East Asia these trees started to gain a different meaning to me. They were part of the landscape everywhere, giving that tropical touch to the surrounding environment. I could find them in the beach, in the mountains, near the rivers, you name it! And even though I have never paid much attention to these plants because I never found them neither pretty nor very attractive, it seemed to me that I was starting to understand their beauty somehow. In Thailand I had the opportunity to look closely at the flowers like never before, and it was like finding a hidden treasure that nobody have ever heard about.

Male inflorescences and flowers of Pinanga sylvestris

Female tree, infructescences and fruits

The flowers are amazing, they are tiny and immaculate, strong and vivacious – a mix between delicacy and will to live. It was like the flowers were confident and ready for the adversities of the world! Yes, I kind of gave them “flowerality” (or the “personality” of the flower). However, I thought that the structure itself was a bit inglorious to talk about, in the sense that they are so simple that it won’t bring anything new, but I will introduce you the palm tree flower structures anyway! Like all monocots they are trimerous, having a bipartite perianth of 3 organs (3+3 tepals), and 2 whorls of 3 stamens. The carpels are also trimerous. The flowers can be both uni- or bi-sexual, depending on the species, but they are usually small and white, organized in panicles or spikes hanging from the tree top.

Bi-sexual flowers of palm tree

How did such a small and simple flower return such a feeling of amazement? Maybe there was nothing complex to show you here, but isn't simplicity the purest sense of beauty? Isn’t simplicity effective? There is no doubt about this! Keeping it simple seems to be the watchword in palm flowers, and that leads to a pollination syndrome which is still not very well defined in many groups only because it is not specific.

It is just simple, effective and beautiful.