Dr. Lew Feldman, Garden Director In a previous IGYA we began discussing the regulation of growth and development in plants via signaling molecules and focused on the naturally occurring compound known as auxin. In this write-up, we will consider a second group of signaling molecules called the gibberellins (abbreviated GA). As with auxin, in discussing…
Dr. Lew Feldman, Garden Director Over the past few weeks I have received many inquiries and questions about the effects of wildfires, and in particular, smoke and ash, on plants. In the western US fire has shaped plant communities for more than 300 million years and thus fire is regarded as an important factor in…
Dr. Lew Feldman, Garden Director In this issue of IGYA we want to begin a discussion of how plants control their growth and development. In particular, I want to consider how our understanding of these controls relates to common horticultural practices. As in animals, plants too have signaling molecules which occur in extremely low concentrations…
Dr. Lew Feldman, Garden Director Changing the Location of a Plant One of the more common and challenging activities for both indoor and outdoor gardeners is changing the location of a plant, which is sometimes necessary when a plant has become too large for a particular location, or, for indoor houseplants, perhaps associated with rearranging…
Dr. Lew Feldman, Garden Director In a previous IGYA: The Seed, we spoke of the seed being a most remarkable structure, comprised as it is of the embryo, nutrition to support the newly germinated seedling and often modifications to facilitate seed dispersal. Once dispersed, the seed is ready for germination; or is it? Getting seeds…
Of the many different structures produced by plants, one of the most remarkable is the seed. At its most basic, the seed is a reproductive structure consisting of an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective covering, the seed coat. But this simple definition hardly acknowledges all that the seed is and does. Within the seed…
Image above: A selection of cones from a variety of conifers Dr. Lew Feldman, Garden Director Cones, such as found on pine trees, serve to protect the developing seed. Sometimes too, pine cones function in dispersal of the seeds. Because of their often large sizes, it takes a lot of energy (photosynthate) to make a…
Dr. Lew Feldman, Garden Director Of the many products obtained from plants, one often overlooked as having a plant origin is cork. Cork forms part of the bark of many trees, but is most often associated with one tree, the cork oak (Quercus suber), which is represented in the UC Botanical Garden by a planting…
Dr. Lew Feldman, Garden Director Aspidistra elatior (the cast iron plant) was a popular houseplant in Victorian England and was often considered a “symbol of middle-class respectability.” After gas lighting was introduced to illuminate homes in the late 19th century, Aspidistra was often the only plant that could be grown successfully indoors, leading to the…
Dr. Lew Feldman, Garden Director A major theme of modern biology is the interconnectivity of life; that is, that no organism functions on its own, isolated from other life. Rather, all organisms, to one degree or another, depend on interactions with other species. In the Garden we have many examples of this interconnectivity, with…