The Sausage Tree

Posted on May 16, 2013 by winderjssc

What weird fruits! The Sausage Tree [Kigelia africana (Lam.) Benth.] is aptly named. Strangely, the flesh of these seemingly appetising fruits, whether ripened or not, is toxic to humans. The exception is that in real hard times the seeds can be roasted and eaten. Also, the fruits can be dried and fermented along with the bark to provide a flavour enhancer for traditional beers.

However, every other part of the tree can be used in some kind of herbal medicine for conditions such as digestive and respiratory complaints, and for treating infections and wounds. Currently, investigations are being carried out to determine the potential of the tree to provide source materials for use as anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-tumour agents. Extracts from the tree are already being made up into lotions that are commercially available for treating skin disorders.

The photographs in this Post were taken at Cairns Botanical Gardens in Queensland, Australia where this is an introduced tree used for ornamental purposes. The species actually hails from tropical Africa where is grows wild in riverine rainforests, wooded grassland, savannah, and forest margins. In it’s native habitat, the Sausage Tree is considered sacred and is often protected from felling.

The tree can grow from 2.5 to 18 metres high. It has beautiful red tubular flowers with yellow veins. These have a distinct smell described as strongly unpleasant or musky. The flowers only open at night and are pollinated by blossom-feeding bats and hawk moths. The fertilised flowers develop into the sausage-shaped fruits that grow to lengths of between 30 and 90 cm long and to 7.5 to 10 cm in diameter.

By coincidence, 23thorns has also written about the Sausage Tree and it’s magical properties. Do go over and have a look – it is very entertaining.

Reference

Kew Royal Botanic Gardens Website

Septarian Nodules at Ringstead

Posted on May 15, 2013 by winderjssc

What is a septarian nodule? Well, basically, it is a big boulder containing a three dimensional jig-saw of smaller angular pieces of the same rock – and all the pieces are bound together with white crystalline calcite. I can’t do better than to quote the definition given in The Oxford Dictionary of Earth Science:

A concretion, roughly spheroidal in shape, usually of clay ironstone, and characterised by an internal structure of angular blocks separated by radiating mineral-filled blocks. The mineral filling the cracks is usually calcite. The structure results from the formation of a hard exterior to the nodule due to the development of an aluminous gell on the exterior, followed by dehydration of the colloidal mass in the interior, leading to cracking and subsequent infilling of the radiating pattern of cracks.

The British Regional Geology Series for the area indicates that the Ringstead Waxy Clays, which are virtually at the top of the Corallian Beds of the Upper Jurassic strata, comprise about 5 metres of clay with thin seams of clay ironstone that are nodular in places. It seems very possible that the septarian nodules are from this source. The Ringstead Waxy Clay is also the deposit in which numerous fossil oysters, Deltoideum (Liostrea) delta, are found [mentioned elsewhere in Jessica's Nature Blog and also on the sister site Oysters etc.]

References

Oxford Dictionary of Earth Sciences, Edited by Michael Allaby, Oxford University Press, first published 1990, third edition 2008, ISBN 978-0-19-921194-4

The Hampshire Basin and adjoining areas, R. V. Melville and E. C. Freshney (1982), British Regional Geology Series, Fourth Edition, Institute of Geological Sciences, HMSO, ISBN 0-11-884203-x.

Sea Belt Seaweed or Poor Man’s Weatherglass

Posted on May 14, 2013 by winderjssc

For more information about Sea Belt or Poor Man’s Weatherglass seaweed – Laminaria saccharina (Linnaeus) Lamouroux – see the earlier Postings about this species on Jessica’s Nature Blog.

Strandline Seaweeds at Ringstead Bay

Posted on May 14, 2013 by winderjssc

Many UK shorelines are characterised by the wealth of seaweeds that colonise them. These seaweeds are as often likely to become detached from where they have settled and subsequently wash ashore, sometimes in great profusion and abundance. The textures and colours are varied with representatives of many groups – often with species of brown (Phaeophyceae), green (Chlorophyceae), and red (Rhodophyceae) marine algae. They contribute to a great multi-coloured strandline along the waters’ edge and provide the average beachcomber with an opportunity to discover and appreciate varieties of algae normally well out of reach.

Rainforest Ferns 1

Posted on May 13, 2013 by winderjssc

These pictures show one of many varieties of fern in the tropical rainforest known as The Daintree, in Far North Queensland, Australia. I don’t know the specific name of it but I know it is possible to tell one species from another by (partly) looking at the distribution pattern of the spore-producing bodies (sporangia) on the undersides of the pinnules (leaflets) on the fronds (the equivalent of leaves in seed-producing plants). Ferns don’t have seeds or fruits. Instead, they propagate by releasing microscopic spores from the sporangia which are themselves arranged in groups called sori. The ripening sori are easy to see as rust coloured dots, circles or horse-shoe shapes against the bright green of the pinnule.

Ferns love the moist conditions of the rainforest undergrowth. In The Daintree, which is in the area of Australia receiving the most rainfall, there are over 250 species of fern – 20 percent of which grow exclusively in that region. They range in size from tiny to huge – and include towering ancient tree ferns with the fronds growing from a tall trunk.

Reference

Ramsey, Damon (2008) Ecosystem Guides: Rainforest of Tropical Australia, 2nd Edition, Yes Printing, Sydney, Australia, ISBN 978-0-9757470-4-9.

Giant Green Sea Anemones from the Oregon Coast

Posted on May 10, 2013 by winderjssc

Amazingly, the Giant Green Sea Anemone (Anthopleura xanthogrammica), can grow the size of a dinner plate – up to 12 inches (30 cm) across and the same in height – though the examples shown here were only about 6 inches across. It is also known as the Rough Anemone or Solitary Anemone.

It grows on exposed rocky shores from the intertidal zone right down to depths greater than 50 feet (15 metres). It is found on the Pacific Northwest Coast from Alaska down to Panama but it is common only from Southern California northwards. These photographs were taken on the rocky shore intertidal zone at Yachats in Oregon.

Giant Green Anemones are found either growing on their own or in groups. They seem to favour living in deep and narrow cracks in the rocks where the sea rushes through with great force – these are called surge gullies. Most of the pictures in this Posting show the anemones growing tightly packed in places like this, either on the floor of or on the near vertical walls of the surge gullies – where, incidentally, I found it extremely hazardous to maintain a firm foothold while taking the photos. The nature of the location means that the creatures are alternately thrashed by incoming waves or left totally exposed while the tides are ebbing and flowing.

I also found this type of anemone in two other kinds of habitat. These were tidal rock pools (where the numbers were less numerous and the animals were totally immersed at all times) and almost completely buried in sand in areas adjacent to rock outcrops. They seem well able to withstand potential burial in softer sediments.

The beautiful green colour of the anemones, which can vary in intensity from bright blue-green emerald to more yellowy-green hues, is caused by microscopic green organisms that live symbiotically in the tentacles and disc part of the body. The column is a dull olive green and typically has many small stones and pieces of broken shell attached to it.

A. xanthogrammica supports a large population of algae. There two kinds:

Zooxanthellae, characteristically yellow brown because of the presence of pigments that partially mask the (green) chlorophyll, are dinoflagellates which have no flagella in the symbiotic phase. The other algae, called zoochlorellae, are bright green. The two types may be mixed in one specimen – even in the same tissue – or separate anemones may have only one type or the other. The algae are concentrated in the gastrodermal layer, that is, in the tissue that lines the digestive tract. Since the core of each tentacle is a branch of the digestive tract, the green color shows through the overlying tissue.

Eugene N. Kozloff 1993

This species can be eaten: the Haida people used to slowly roast it over a fire before eating. Certain chemicals can also be extracted from the anemones as a basis for medicinal heart stimulants.

More information about SEA ANEMONES on Jessica’s Nature Blog.

References

Kozloff, Eugene N. (1993) Seashore Life of the Northern Pacific Coast – An Illustrated Guide to Northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, University of Washington Press, ISBN 0-295-96084-1.

Sept, J. Duane (2009) The Beachcomber’s Guide to Seashore Life in the Pacific Northwest, Harbour Publishing, ISBN 978-1-55017-453-3.

Pacific Sea Nettle

Posted on May 6, 2013 by winderjssc

Beautiful jellyfish swim hypnotically in a tank at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. They are a species that swims in ever-increasing numbers in the waters off the North West Pacific Coast of America and are called Pacific Sea Nettles (Chrysaora fuscescens).

Oregon Sea Anemones at the OSU Hatfield Marine Science Visitor Center

Posted on May 5, 2013 by winderjssc

Whilst in Oregon a few years back I explored the seashores along the North West Pacific Coast, and found fascinating and varied forms of seashore creatures. I also visited the Oregon State University Hatfield Marine Science Center which is an excellent place to find out all about the region’s marine wildlife. It also provides a wonderful opportunity to get up close and personal to many inter-tidal creatures by providing a Touch Tank or simulated tide pool. It was fantastic to be able to photograph at close quarters many varieties of sea anemone which I had only been able to spot with difficulty in tide pools and surge gullies on the rocky shores themselves.

Here are some images of the large and colourful sea anemones (with other marine invertebrates) representative of the types that could be encountered locally in the wild.