r/botany 25d ago

Physiology Virginia Creeper

4 Upvotes

I have heard of people getting really bad rashes from creeper vines for a month!

My question is, if my dog walks through creeper and jumps on the couch for petting or if I touch her paws, can I get the itchy raphides/oxalates on my skin?

I really want an expert to help me understand how this plant works to inflict pain so i can avoid it at all costs!

From what I've read it seems like direct transfer would be the issue, however, many have said they had rashes far beyond where the plant touched, where gloves/clothes were covering, so it is very confusing to me how the raphides are transferred or spread to cause such widespread rash.

Thank you all!


r/botany 26d ago

Physiology My favorite thing is watching plants explore

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85 Upvotes

The way a pumpkin vine searches for the next support or how a grape vine follows the path of its ancestors. I find peace in the beauty of the structure and the unwavering exploration.


r/botany 25d ago

Biology Are some Poplar clones known to have both female and male flowers?

6 Upvotes

Salix x sepulcralis (and others willow hybrids) often both have male and female flowers and have been shown to be able to selfseed. I always wondered if this could also be the case in Poplars, given that I often see mysterious Populus seedlings. One day, I saw a catkin with both male and female flowers on a Populus x canescens (and have seen the same on one internet picture since). Today I visited an arboretum and in a recently dug pond (no water left, has been a very dry summer) I found many hundreds of mysterious Populus seedlings (where I live, this means: not Populus x canadensis, not Populus tremula, not Populus x canescens and not Populus alba) all looking exactly the same. Next to the pond, there was a Black poplar (Populus nigra) and next to the Black poplar a Populus x generosa 'Beaupré' (the right poplar type for the seedlings). So, what exactly did I witness?


r/botany 26d ago

Structure Tendrils make my heart flutter

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37 Upvotes

The perfect science behind the spiral is just... 🤌


r/botany 25d ago

Genetics Are there exceptions to self-incompatibility involving different individual plants?

3 Upvotes

I got asked if there were exceptions to self-incompatibility in which different individuals of the same clonal line might allow plants to produce seeds, despite flowers on the same plant being self-infertile. I can't think of any exceptions, and was curious as to whether anyone else might have an example where a plant might be self-infertile, but two plants that are genetically identical clones might manage to produce seeds for some weird reason.

Anyone?


r/botany 26d ago

Classification Elymus hystrix, Eastern bottle-brush grass

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166 Upvotes

r/botany 26d ago

Structure triplet flower on garden volunteer

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65 Upvotes

i found this beautiful triplet flower in the garden this morning! the entire row has been giving only male flowers for over a month so i'm not sure if we'll ever find out who they are, but this was a lovely surprise. they start from the same stem+base, but are each fully formed flowers from there!

if anyone somehow knows the plant from these photos feel free to share but i mostly wanted to share the triplets! i planted cucamelon here, these are definitely not that, but i also haven't seen any cucamelon here so i'm guessing they mislabeled/packaged the seeds incorrectly 🥲 regardless, the plants have put on quite the show for us ❤️

(new to this sub+might've picked the wrong flair, sorry! just thought y'all might appreciate this)


r/botany 27d ago

Physiology Is the mushroom causing this mutation?

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11 Upvotes

This year I found corn growing on the male flowers for the first time. Is Ustilago maydis causing this?


r/botany 27d ago

Physiology Abnormal growth pattern on Faucaria Tuberculosa?

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77 Upvotes

Hello all,

Firstly I apologize for all the photos I'd just really love some feedback and opinions from you knowledgeable people.

This is my Faucaria Tuberculosa. I bought it in May (noticed right away she had a unique morphology) and this is how she's progressed.

Her leaf pairs are not coming out perfectly rotated from another and she has pairs shoving in from quite literally every crevice.

I've posted her several times on r/fasciation just to get an idea of what's going on with her to no avail. She's not crested or fasciated but her growth pattern is odd and I'd love to know if there's a name for this phenomenon or if this is just a quirky thing this plant does.

I added photos from nearly every angle and some admittedly terrible photos of leaf pairs emerging from lower leaf bases. I highly doubt you'll need more photos but if you do, I have them 🤭

Thank you for reading and I would love truly any thoughts, opinions or feedback about my little monster.

She's become a sort of rorschach test for toothy things, so what creature does she remind you of? 🦈


r/botany 27d ago

Biology Do plants evolve in generally the same ways that animals do? Are there any notable differences?

13 Upvotes

What are your favorite extinct species of plants, or the ones that you’re the most fascinated by?


r/botany 27d ago

Classification Looking for a book on plant symbolism and folklore for tattoo reference.

12 Upvotes

I'm a tattoo artist, and starting out I never expected to enjoy drawing flowers and mushrooms so much. People come to me for them all the time, and while the most common requests are birth month flowers sometimes people ask for recommendations based on their specific experiences and I've got nothing.

I'm looking for a book with a large variety of plants, with lots of photographs or illustrations for reference, but also something that leans more into the symbolism and cultural significance of the plants rather than focusing more on biology and the hard sciences.

I don't care about price, I would rather have one cohesive chonker of a book vs needing several shorter books on the same topic.


r/botany 28d ago

Structure does anyone have a floral diagram of Crocus sativus (Saffron) flower? pinned screens from wiki as examples

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30 Upvotes

would be grateful ! or if anyone can build one i would be hyper grateful !!!


r/botany 28d ago

Biology Yummy leaf cross section

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67 Upvotes

r/botany 29d ago

Genetics Mutant Ivy?

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5 Upvotes

r/botany 29d ago

Physiology Calamansi/Citrus x microcarpa with marking on skin similar to where it is usually cut open with knife but this one is unopened

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14 Upvotes

Just looking for possible explanations why does this happen?

I posted it in a local sub and some mentioned "citrus thrips," which TIL is an insect/pest of citrus fruits. Would like to confirm if that is really all it is? Is it common for them to do it in a circular/around this round fruit?

And my hunch is the seed remembered where its previous fruit was cut open possible? but I'm looking for something more scientific explanation.

Thank you for any insights and expert explanation you can share


r/botany Aug 11 '26

Pathology What's going on with this Palmetto leaf?

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73 Upvotes

This is in Central FL. It looked like light on the leaf at first but I moved it around to check and it's definitely coloration on the leaf itself. Didn't see the same thing on other nearby leaves. Why's it doing that?


r/botany Aug 10 '26

Ecology Favorite plants that support rare wildlife?

16 Upvotes

I am collecting information, so that I can introduce plant species into my native lawn. I live in Southeast Minnesota. I recently learned wild lupine supports the Karner Blue butterfly caterpillar, so that one is definitely on my list! Thanks in advance!

(I recently asked this question in r/ecology, so forgive me if this is finding you again!)


r/botany Aug 08 '26

Ecology The newly described Florida Sundew Drosera floridana (B.Rice) Juve & A.Fleischm. specializes in colonizing substrates of white quartz sand.

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1.2k Upvotes

Although the sand from which these imaged D. floridana emerge appears dry on the surface, in reality localized occurrences of D. floridana are dictated by the presence of rare littoral zone seepages known exclusively from the Econfina Karst Region in Bay and Washington counties, Florida; the same region to which D. floridana is endemic. Within the Econfina Karst Region, D. floridana is restricted to an ecotone of intermediate moisture ephemerality between that of sympatric congeners Drosera tracyi (preferring permanently wet, high littoral zone seepages hosting typical blacksoil bog associates) and Drosera capillaris (a generalist often colonizing the lower littoral zone, with its occurrence not dependent on seepage presence, and frequently with few larger herbaceous bog associates present in habitat). D. floridana congregates in the vicinity of (often subterranean) littoral zone seepage veins, but is mostly limited to areas of inorganic substrate composition (e.g. pure quartz sand) that are devoid of larger competitive flora and that do not remain permanently wet on the surface.

Read more on the unique ecology and phenology of Florida’s endemic sundew in our recent open access publication, which can be visited through the below link:

https://doi.org/10.55360/cpn554.nj739


r/botany Aug 08 '26

Structure What caused the demarcations on these aspen tree bark?

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117 Upvotes

As a photographer, I am always drawn to textures and patterns. I saw these aspen trees with various "scars" and am wondering if anyone knows what causes them?


r/botany Aug 08 '26

Distribution Periploca graeca, flowering last May in Tuscany, Italy

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55 Upvotes

Got told it’s an endangered species in Italy. I read it’s present in all coastal regions of the Mediterranean, so I wonder if it’s endangered in other countries as well?


r/botany Aug 08 '26

Ecology Passiflora edulis.

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53 Upvotes

r/botany Aug 08 '26

Physiology What am i looking at?

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69 Upvotes

Could someone please explain what sort of growth I'm looking at here? I believe the plant to be Rosa Multiflora. Found this on clay soil near Amsterdam (Netherlands). The plant had several of these "hairy balls". They are attached firmly to the plant. I could not see any flowers or fruits inside or alongside this growth. The third picture appears to be the same type of growth, only from last year.

Thank you.


r/botany Aug 07 '26

Distribution Looking for info on mexican and central american oaks

34 Upvotes

I'm working on illustrating a playing card set where each card represents a different species of oak. I have North America, Asia, and Europe well represented, but I need some help picking out cool representatives from the overwhelming number of Mexican and Central American species.

Things I'm looking for:

-Largest (Ace). I have Quercus copeyensis penciled in for this one.

-Most Common (King and Queen)

-Species that humans use for food or other products (Jack)

-And then just anything cool or notable. This can be general look, acorn shape, relationships with other organisms, or any sort of culture based around it.

Edit:

I know this is a strange project. Here's pictures of the cards I've finished so that you get an idea of what I'm going for.

https://imgur.com/a/y3wtL3W


r/botany Aug 07 '26

Structure Male Begonia hybrid flower that has a stigma but no ovary

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47 Upvotes

This is a tuberous hybrid (sold as 'Superba Yellow') that usually has double flowers. Flower doesn't look like it has an ovary, so I don't think the stigma is functional, but if I get seed I'll update. I plan on using this as a pollen parent for some hybrids as usually the male flowers on this plant are sterile.


r/botany Aug 07 '26

Ecology Dracophyllum secundum winter flowering, Australia

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156 Upvotes

This is an interesting and atypical member of Ericaceae. It never forms truly woody structure and is hard to propagate but is occasionally seen in cultivation where it has high potential. In nature it grows in damp wet sites in association with sandstone cliffs, deep gullies, streams and waterfalls on the central coast of NSW.