April 19, 2005
April 19, 2005
|
And the Winner Is... Dennis Hawley, Program Coordinator for Crooked Creek Environmental Learning Center, is the winner of the fern quiz! Dennis correctly identified the fern in the background of the photo of rock tripe in the tidbit for 22 February. The fern is lobed spleenwort (Asplenium pinnatifidum). Dennis wins the dubious honor of having the voice of WPC's botanist Steve Grund on the greeting of his home answering machine! Asplenium pinnatifidum is part of a group of ferns known as the Appalachian spleenwort complex. The members of this complex form hybrids relatively easily in nature. Several of the hybrids, by doubling their chromosomes, have become reproducing species in their own right, and form backcrosses with their parents, and even with other species and hybrids in the complex. Since the core species are very distinct, the hybrids are easy to recognize, and finding them is a joy that birders can only dream of! Pictured today is walking fern (Asplenium rhizophyllum), mountain spleenwort (Asplenium montanum), the hybrid between them – lobed spleenwort (Asplenium pinnatifidum) and the backcross between lobed spleenwort and mountain spleenwort, known as Trudell's spleenwort (Asplenium x trudellii). The walking fern was photographed by Dan Tenaglia, http://www.missouriplants.com/. The other photos were taken by WPC Botanist Steve Grund. E-mail Today's WPC Daily to a Friend! Sign Up for the WPC Morning Tidbit Play "How Well Do You Know Your Western Pa. Trees?"
| |
