What Is Royphnol Made Of

-1 - Infinite beautiful forms

Epipactis atrorubens . Photo by Andrea Mangoni.

There is something grand in the idea of \u200b\u200blife, with its infinite potential, originally bestowed by the Creator into few forms or into one, and while this planet has continued to rotate, following the immutable laws of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms , more beautiful and wonderful , have evolved and still evolving.

Charles Darwin

E 'with these words of Charles Darwin concludes that the book "The Origin of Species" is the phrase with which apre il Carnevale della Biodiversità, con cui dodici blogger italiani cercheranno di farvi appassionare sempre più a questo argomento, facendovi conoscere la bellezza e la grandezza insita in questa "banca" della vita.

“Infinite forme bellissime"... un magnifico argomento per inaugurare il nostro Carnevale. Sì, ma nel nostro caso, di cosa potrei parlarvi? Potrei parlarvi dell'impossibilità applicativa ed esistenziale di quell'aggettivo, “infinito”, o cercare di inquadrare i concetti di “bellezza” o “biodiversità”... Invece, per ora mi limiterò molto più semplicemente a parlarvi di alcuni organismi che sembrano in qualche modo racchiudere pur con debite limitations on all three words in the title. Today riesumerò indeed a topic that was expecting to deal in the spring, but given the grayness of this period will be perfect to liven up our rainy winter days. We will talk about some beautiful plants, orchids.

A magnificent tropical orchid. Photo by Andrea Mangoni.

There seems obvious to talk about orchids? Oh, I assure you that it is not. You can write and describe orchids around the world without compromising the curiosity about these amazing organisms. They are one of the best examples to highlight biodiversity, beauty, and variety.

Infinite beautiful forms. Yes, the orchids are in the real world a good approximation of these concepts that sometimes seem the preserve of an abstract world. In addition, they are linked to the name of Darwin, who studied several times.

Epipactis helleborine. Photo by Andrea Mangoni

begin by saying that, obviously if the species of orchids are not infinite, there are indeed many. The family Orchidaceae, Asparagales order of , it has more than 20,000 species, and there are new discoveries every year. Of these, many species are tropical or subtropical, but there are among them who does not mind the cold Arctic territories and who comes close to lick the Antarctic continent virtually devoid of unique orchids. The size? Variable. The smallest known species, recently discovered, belongs to the genus Platystele , and is a small epiphyte discovered in Ecuador in 2009 (among other things, he lived on the roots of another orchid!), Which has flowers of only 2 mm in diameter, the largest among the orchids instead of the colorful orchids tiger ( Grammatophyllum speciosum Blume, 1825), chiamate anche orchidee canna da zucchero, che possono raggiungere e superare la tonnellata di peso, i cui grandi fiori di oltre 10 cm di diametro sono raggruppati in racemi alti fino a tre metri. I colori dei fiori? Un arcobaleno, come chiunque abbia avuto modo di vedere una sfilza di ibridi di Phalaenopsis davanti a sé in un vivaio. Le orchidee rivestono importantissimi ruoli nelle economie di certi Paesi: a parte infatti il commercio di esemplari destinati al mercato florovivaistico, non bisogna dimenticare che anche la profumatissima vaniglia viene prodotta a partire dai frutti di un'orchidea rampicante, la Vanilla parviflora , originaria del Messico ma esportata nelle regioni tropico-equatoriali over the world for production purposes.

Angraecum sesquipedalian. Source: Wikipedia

The forms taken by their flowers are the most diverse, yet always fascinating - it is logical to say - beautiful. The corolla of the orchid flower is composed of three sepals and three petals, one of which said lip is often takes the form very different from species to species, often with a spur cable to the base, took to the evolving role of "attractor "by pollinators, in some cases taking on shapes and colors are truly exceptional. Just a spur of orchid brings us back to good old Charles, who has kindly lent his phrase for the title of this post. In 1862, Darwin in fact, studying the bloom of a beautiful orchid in Madagascar, angreco or the Star of Bethlehem (Angraecum sesquipedale ) realized something rather remarkable: he actually had a spur on the beauty of 25 cm. Because like most other orchids were pollinated by insects ... how did they reach the bottom of the outcrop, because of its shape exceptionally long? He soon to the hypothesis that there was a moth with a proboscis long enough to get to do the same pollination pity that the moth non esistesse, o meglio peccato che non fosse all'epoca nota alla scienza. Questa falla nelle conoscenze entomologiche e botaniche venne finalmente meno quando nel 1903 gli entomologi Rotschild e Jordan scoprirono l'esistenza di una particolare sottospecie di falena sfingide africana che effettivamente svolgeva il ruolo di impollinatore per questa specie: la Xanthopan morgani ssp. praedicta , che dovette così il nome subspecifico ad un chiaro omaggio alla previsione effettuata da Darwin vent'anni prima.

Siamo però abituati a pensare alle orchidee come a specie bellissime ed appariscenti... ma tropicali. Non pensiamo - se non raramente - al fatto che esistono anche da noi piante di questa famiglia, e anche parecchie! A seconda delle bizzarrie e delle revisioni che subisce la tassonomia di queste piante, vengono contati fino a 29 generi e 189 tra specie e sottospecie; l'ultima segnalata sarebbe Ophris murgiana , salita al rango di specie solo nel 2009. E non parliamo poi degli ibridi spontanei!

Orchis morio . Foto di Andrea Mangoni.

Molte delle orchidee spontanee italiane sono accumunate dal fatto di essere geofite, di avere cioè organi ipogei che permettono loro di sopravvivere anno dopo anno e di moltiplicarsi. Per alcuni generi, tali organi assumono la forma di due rizotuberi, vagamente similar to a pair of testicles, and right here is the name of orchid: orchis actually means in greek "testicle," and Orchis is also one of the most beautiful Italian genres and representative. The Italian orchids usually have flowers of various forms: elongated chopsticks as flowers, or conic as a spiraling Turritella, full of flowers or loose. Generally depend on insects for their pollination, and in some genres to promote the arrival of pollinators evolution has brought the lip to change incredibly. The genus Ophrys , in fact, flowers are devoid of nectar, which have achieved a degree of specialization, or better than coevolution with their pollinators truly remarkable. We said we do not have nectar ... then what they offer to attract the insects, if not the food? Well, give the other "vital impulse" main: sex. The lip of these plants it is usually dark, hairy, with a translucent zone (mirror) that remind you of some hairless areas of the body of certain insects in short, look like a lot of females abdomen of certain Hymenoptera (bees, solitary sfecidi, vespidi ). If the look was not enough to convince the hexapod boy, this is taken literally for the ... nose: the flower it produces substances similar to pheromones produced by females during mating. Thus, the wasp, definitely duped, he rushes to copulate with the flower, covering it with pollen. Realizing the error, walks away angry but soon ends up committing the same mistake again ... fertilising so another flower. And to avoid ... errors, each species of Ophrys attracts a specific anthophilous.

Ophrys bertolonii . Photo by Andrea Mangoni.

If this aspect of the reproduction of orchids seems spectacular, wait till you hear the rest. Our native species have in fact often a peculiar feature: they produce lots of seeds, but tiny ... So children who lack egg and an embryo that have just sketched. In short, the seeds are dispersed in the environment have only one chance to survive: to form a mycorrhiza with a tiny fungus (usually of the genus Rhizoctonia ) that penetrate their hyphae in the seed and provides it to all the major nutrients , until the first leaves appear. The beauty is that this can happen long after the beginning of the mycorrhizal symbiosis, in some cases, even after twelve years! Among other things, it is unclear to what extent is the mutualistic symbiosis: though in many cases the fungus is then to live in the roots of the orchid, once the plant has grown, in other invece pare che l'interazione tra fungo e orchidea finisca con la crescita di quest'ultima.

Il giusto approccio davanti ad un campo di orchidee: meraviglia, rispetto e macchina fotografica!

In ogni caso, è' anche a causa di questo ciclo vitale dalle primissime fasi lunghe e complesse che le orchidee spontanee sono di norma ottimi indicatori biologici: possono di norma compiere il loro completo ciclo vitale solo in ambienti ecologicamente stabili e maturi. Le orchidee sono, giustamente, protette dalla Convenzione di Washington o CITES, che ne vieta detenzione, commercio e raccolta a meno che non other species reproduced under controlled conditions. It is a meritorious work that legally prevents someone can decide to take home some of these jewels to put it in the garden. However, this protection applies in the case of trade, and if destroyed a habitat of orchids in which they live ... it goes almost unnoticed.

Exterior . The banks of a canal in Codevigo (PD). Hedges of willows, poplars and locust trees, separating the channel from a bank covered with a stable meadow full of wild flowers.

include sage, poppies and allen grows a wonderful colony of Neotinea tridentata. Scores di esemplari, piccoli, medi e grandi, che sbucano rosei tra l'erba alta. Uno spettacolo magnifico. Mi aggiro tra i prati, scatto fotografie, resto un po' a godere il tramonto.

Neotinea tridentata . Foto di Andrea Mangoni.

Ritorno l'anno dopo. La siepe di salici non c'è più. Tutto eliminato per ottenere pellet da stufe. Il terreno intorno scavato ed asportato per uno spessore di 30 e passa centimetri. Al posto del prato stabile, una selva di rovi e luppolo. Cerco le orchidee che mi avevano affascinato così tanto... nulla di nulla.

Then

- fortunately! - I find it: shortly after the massacre, which continues the permanent meadows, here is a magnificent example of last Neotinea . I can only hope that this little giant can recolonize slowly, with his descendants, the remains of what was a wonderful habitat.

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Bibliography

Darwin C ., The various devices by which orchids are pollinated insects, Pisa, ETS, 2009.

Walker, E., Orchids of Val and Val d'Astico Leogra in Vicenza. Vicenza, Blacks Pozzi, 1987.

Lazzari, C., The wild orchids of the Veneto . Sommacampagna, Cierre Edizioni, 2008.

H. Ledford, The flower of seduction . Nature 445: 816-817, 2007.

Medal, P., & Cillo, C., Murgia Ophrys Cillo, Medals & Margaret, a new species of the Murgia (Puglia, southern Italy) . GIROS News 41: 23-25, 2009.

Last

splendid example of Neotinea tridentata habitat seen above. Photo by Andrea Mangoni.