Baobabs in trouble

Baobabs are remarkable trees, so weirdly strange as to seem other worldly, and they mostly live in Madagascar, a hot bed of extinction.  Here's a news report from Scientific American about how development and climate change are a threat to their very existence.  HT to AoB Blog.
 

What do botanists do when not in their office or lab?

Field work!  Protecting biodiversity is a tough job, and biologists are racing against extinction, mostly from habitat loss, and now perhaps from climate change.  To help document and preserve plant biodiversity requires documenting species with specimens and in the case of rare species collecting seeds.  Usually you don't find important specimens growing in city parks, so field botanists end up in very remote areas where access can be difficult.  Sit down at a table of field botanists, buy them some beer, and ask them how many vehicle axles they've broken.  Ask them how many times they've been bogged down in the mud.  Ask them how many times they've been drenched trying to keep their specimens safe and dry.  Ask them about the worst illness or parasite they ever picked up in the field.  Everyone of them will have a story.  Even TPP has his blood enshrined in the CDC for bringing home a disease organisms fortunately without its vector.  Here's a nice promotional/educational film of a field expedition out of Kew Gardens on a plant collecting trip.  A short segment starting at about 6:30 shows you some views of the spiny forest in Madagascar.  HT to Agricultural Biodiversity who always finds the best stuff.

Friday Fabulous Flower - Dead Stick Plant

Some plants do not attract much attention, sometimes because people only notice gaudy, sometimes because they are relatively uncommon or quite strange and people just don't know what to make of them, and sometimes because they are not meant to be noticed. The dead stick plant (Cynanchum marnierianum) is a leafless succulent consisting of long slender, pendent stems that look quite dead, perhaps the perfect houseplant. It has been suggested that the plant avoids herbivores by being so cryptic, but since its native habitat are dry forests of Madagascar, the coloration might simply be a filter for intense tropical sun. However if the dead stick plant is not indeed dead, then seasonally it bursts into bloom and the stems are covered with these delightful 1 cm diameter chartreuse bird cage flowers. The more taxonomically more sophisticated among you may immediately recognize the flowers as rather typical for members of the milkweed family which contains many stem and leaf succulents. This is what discounts the cryptic coloration story; milkweeds are usually pretty well protected against most herbivores. These plants actually do make good house plants if you have a sunny place for a hanging basket and like a bit of bizarre among your plants and can avoid over watering.