Day 331 - Interaction between insects and
flowering plants shaped the development of both groups, a process called
coevolution. In time flowers evolved arresting colors, alluring fragrances, and
special petals that provide landing pads for their insect pollinators.
Uppermost in the benefits package for insects is nectar, a nutritious fluid
flowers provide as a type of trading commodity in exchange for pollen
dispersal. The ancestors of bees, butterflies, and wasps grew dependent on
nectar, and in so doing became agents of pollen transport, inadvertently
carrying off grains hitched to tiny hairs on their bodies. These insects could
pick up and deliver pollen with each visit to new flowers, raising the chances
of fertilization.
Day 332 - Insects weren't the only obliging species to help
transport flowering plants to every corner of the Earth. Dinosaurs, the
greatest movers and shakers the world has ever known, bulldozed through ancient
forests, unwittingly clearing new ground for angiosperms. They also sowed seeds
across the land by way of their digestive tracts.
Day 333 - Dinosaurs disappeared suddenly
about 65 million years ago, and another group of animals took their place—the
mammals, which greatly profited from the diversity of angiosperm fruits,
including grains, nuts, and many vegetables. Flowering plants, in turn, reaped
the benefits of seed dispersal by mammals. "It was two kingdoms making a
handshake," says David Dilcher, a paleobotanist with the Florida Museum of
Natural History. "I'll feed you, and you take my genetic material some
distance away."
Day 334 – As humans evolved, they and the plant kingdom continued to evolve together, through agriculture, angiosperms met our need for sustenance. We in turn have taken certain species like corn and rice and given them unprecedented success, cultivating them in vast fields, pollinating them deliberately, consuming them with gusto. Virtually every nonmeat food we eat starts as a flowering plant, while the meats, milk, and eggs we consume come from livestock fattened on grains—flowering plants. Even the cotton we wear is an angiosperm. Aesthetically, too, angiosperms sustain and enrich our lives. We've come to value them for their beauty alone, their scents, their companionship in a vase or a pot. Some flowers speak an ancient language where words fall short. For these more dazzling players—the orchids, the roses, the lilies—the world grows smaller, crisscrossed every day by jet-setting flowers in the cargo holds of commercial transport planes.
Day 335 – Bittersweet is a species of vine
in the potato genus Solanum. It is
considered an invasive problem weed in North America, but is available
in the autumn as cut branches and used by florists in fall floral designs and
wreaths. They have a small bi-colour orange skin with
red berries that dry on the branch, maintaining the same appearance as when
fresh.
