Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Coming to terms, part I

Hooray, OCVN classes are over!  Saturday was test and "graduation" day.  Everyone in our class passed (no surprises there - we were a pretty bright bunch, wink, wink!), so now all we have to do is get out there and volunteer and share our love and knowledge of nature with others.  And I look forward to getting back to sharing my love and knowledge of nature with YOU via this very neglected blog.  It may take a while to get back in the swing of things, so bear with me for a bit.

I've been agonizing over this particular post for days.  The main content has been steeping in my mind for about a week, but technicalities have slowed me down in getting it posted.  More about that in my next post.

I learned many new things during my 40+ hours of classroom and field time for OCVN, including lots of new terminology.  In addition to being a nature nerd, I'm also a word nerd.  I love words, and knowing what they mean (much like knowing the names of certain birds, flowers, butterflies, etc... but that's a topic for another post).  Today I'm going to share with you a set of terms that really piqued my interest because the words are so unique and new to me.

The first set is saprophyte and parasite (or saprophytic and parasitic).  I'm sure you already recognize the word parasite, but have you heard of a saprophyte?  That was a new one on me.  I learned about these words in relation to plants when we came across many examples of a particular plant during one of our hikes:


A discussion ensued as to whether this was a flower or perhaps some kind of fungi.  After all, flowers usually have some green in them, right?  Well, not all of them.  Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora) is indeed a flower, but it's not green because it has no chlorophyll.  Since it has no chlorophyll, it cannot photosynthesize, so it cannot produce its own energy (or "food").  As a result, it has to get its energy from somewhere else.  Enter the term "saprophyte," which refers to an organism that gets its nourishment from dead or decaying organic material

By contrast, a "parasite" is an organism that obtains its nourishment from living material, often to the detriment and harm of the host from which it is taking energy.   This is a flower I happened upon a number of years ago:


At the time I was sure it was some kind of fungi, and I recall searching for "pinecone mushroom" and coming up empty-handed.  I was delighted to finally stumble upon it in my Audubon wildflower field guide one day as I was flipping through the photo plates, and was thus able to identify it as Squawroot (Conopholis americana).  This is a parasitic flower that gets its nourishment from oak trees.  Several other plants in this parasitic family (the Broomrape family) include Beechdrops (host: Beech trees) and Naked Broomrape (host: various, including asters and clovers), neither of which I have encountered in person.  In case you are wondering about the rather violent-sounding family name, it is in reference to what could be considered the "violent" parasitic nature of some plants within the family on certain shrubs in the pea family known as "brooms."

Lest you think that these terms can only be applied to plants, I came across an interesting example of these types of organisms in the animal kingdom: vultures are saprophytes and tapeworms are parasites.

In my next post we'll look at a set of terms that deals with reproductive strategies.

10 comments:

ksdoolittle said...

Excellent, excellent, excellent explanation!!! You are going to make an awesome sharer of nature!!
`karen

Heather said...

Karen - Awwww... thank you!

Kay Baughman said...

Interesting, Heather! I didn't know the term saphrophyte though I am always fascinated with our vultures, caracaras, and other birds that live off dead things (I wonder if a caracara is a saphrophyte since it also eats live lizards, snakes, etc. It's only a part-time scavenger.) I also wonder about the term since "-phyte" usually means plant. I too love words as well as nature--I'm so glad to have found your neat blog!

Heather said...

Kay - Thank you for your visit. Your point about "-phyte" meaning "plant" is right on, and after further investigation, I'm going to disqualify that statement about vultures being saprophytes. I will correct the text within the post when I get a chance. Thank you so much for your input!

Steve Willson said...

Congratulations on successfully completing your course. I'll be looking for you on the lecture circuit.

I'm still waiting for the release of your Heather's Guide to Native Plant Seedlings. I've left a hole for it on my bookshelf.

MaineBirder said...

Congrats on passing the OCVN classes!

Wonderful, informative post and photos!

Heather said...

Steve - Thank you! I see you haven't forgot about the seedling field guide. If I ever get around to it, I won't be able to do it alone, so you could expect a request for your assistance and expertise!

John - Thank you so much. Glad you enjoyed it!

FAB said...

I've been away for a while so belated congratulations on graduating AND teaching me something new. Cheers FAB.

Monika said...

I didn't know saprophytes only lived off dead and decaying material - thanks for that! I also have been misguided and looking in mushroom books for white/brown flowers. On my recent trip to Alaska I saw the northern groundcone which looks a lot like your squawroot.

Heather said...

Monika - I have to correct my terminology in this post (I think I actually need to say saprotroph rather than saporphyte, so...) Yes, I've seen pictures of the groundcone, very similar. Looks like you had an absolutely fantastic time in Alaska!