After the Czech Republic, our next stop took us all the way across Germany by train, to Bonn, where we visited the
University of Bonn's Botanical Garden. They have a wonderful collection and let us choose plants in the garden to sample from; they actually did all the work once we had identified the plants we wanted, which made our job there easy. We spent some time in the greenhouses, where they had a wonderful collection of
Salvinia, one of only five genera of water ferns (Salviniales).
Salvinia has very interesting, complex hair-like structures on the top surfaces of the leaves. Their purpose isn't entirely understood, but they are thought to maintain a layer of air on the top surface of the leaf that may help the leaves remain dry and/or shed water if they get flooded. You can see these hairs in the first photo, of
Salvinia molesta.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO7sGsm615tMgWhCQNjAAgP1-bbUrtn5amdTW5o8TALMbh_dhTuuM2RVqA30Q0l3dCCDly6Gyv2VVNvQsfF_Ra9xiIhGRZX3XGlqTNssS21SbP_f80Xhzy8Y7idhkreAJ3aIKoeYN7t6w/s1600/IMG_2729.JPG) |
Salvinia molesta |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOPBnx_QauZrxJl_LE2QIKVw1JHkwnHljSgJZKd1L4ootfk9m4y-jsWVGWh_9dm8nQX58bFW54zzmM3lq6L3bcQCeHd7FiyvEpc6T46V05d-3A3IMOl4A6RmaEXZPdYkiFCiTztTbxyd0/s1600/IMG_2732.jpg) |
Salvinia molesta (big) and Salvinia minima (right) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGotiV4ircGPAxK5y-DZSwLsIyNw9dyZ5WVfBj-hPMOnwgcpwmWAb0mG-dEOc_1PZLB8UQvKlOiqfUWg1uvUyqEhT2o4L2h3gyscsyYhfghB0fu1mDOLHPcsX7XgT7Q7GbBAsQ_oXVrXQ/s1600/IMG_2736.jpg) |
Salvinia cucullata |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzmPx1z7MONozYVUwSiTA4to_iqbzWT2kXP2jobHL-vAnrN_VbC4DDCKf580-I63hPS1FZpmzlei2hFAaU-a8d9b5ECZ-_OSRmTbUqXe1J8yLUcNjTDhCmEbW021X45epHh6-qz-DT4oM/s1600/IMG_2742.JPG) |
Salvinia biloba |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYfdlKP_wdZCYv_wRgX5fFJ9P-C5r4bkUVnYsvGY1ObUCOAWVa-oueDzISkekiSHNMjHAuUkuKifew60aSyOlnYf8XlKphN6iDlrnxcCWZNWvOWgVFrqzyGH9nUNBv4s2vwW7JMgRAK_g/s1600/IMG_2761.jpg) |
Salvinia oblongifolia |
Some beautiful aquatic non-ferns...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifYzVX3PYI6a4jDQaWQKeTFlaFaE4IowIrr0nm9VNZhAwP7G8OvrG_WmGN1mYO657nMS_nUdR7-UVIorwXK9i6tCuMSGXpQIFn07_LQGklTGNM-cBH5U-Lps2Q5F9s6mmRq_peoSQCzC8/s1600/IMG_2725.JPG) |
Nymphoides aurantiaca |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje9L0sSwVjJ6iSYmgN9Yq2EJroEc54Gym6i6HXBcbqQY6Tb5y3gfu09OaK1eDAjAmmGRwDrEq7aTvuLLrXPeGM2iKBeX-obo40XqkFNsQp6IfXSAz4Gav6monlzGjLLVbMSP7rr9uzunc/s1600/IMG_2752.jpg) |
Ludwigia sedioides |
The garden was full of these wonderful animal sculptures. This was near the end of the trip so the alligator/crocodile reminded us of home!
No comments:
Post a Comment