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Camouflaged - Lithops in the mix #PlantsAreCoolToo #IAmBotanist #Nature #PlantPower #Succulents

Repotting tropical tree and liana saplings with Ariadna Mondragon-Botero Laura Toro Chau Pham @Vivsack all day in the greenhouse = AWESOME!

So glad to have been part of this review. Amazing conversations were had and friendships developed. Shoutout again to BioRender for changing the way I approach illustrations.

A great way to end the semester with a tour to the new & state of the art CBS Conservatory experiencing the biomes. Always blows my mind, especially walking in during winters. Thanks to Angie and Lisa Philander for hosting. St. Kate's Biology @StKate University of Minnesota UMN CBS

twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/co…

It's published: The story of the blood red nectar from a flower endemic to the island of Mauritius. Let me summarize the story and the biochemistry behind what makes this nectar attractive to day geckos. pnas.org/content/119/5/…

A couple of years ago me and my then postdoctoral advisor, @ClayCar92280263 were facilitating a middle school outreach tour led by the CBS Conservatory at UMN CBS. We still remember as we first laid eyes on the flowers of Nesocodon mauritianus endemic to the island of Mauritius

It has blue bell shaped flowers and blood red nectar. It was love at first sight. What ensued over the years was a journey that I will forever hold dear to my heart. Every collaborator/author on this paper came onto the stage at the right moment.

They brought amazing insights, new experiments and data that helped pin down the biochemistry of the coloration by the previously unknown pigment "nesocodin" and its role in attracting geckos.

The true pollinator of Nesocodon flowers is unknown, but several Mauritian species produce colored nectars and are visited and pollinated by day geckos. We wanted to crack the enigma of the red nectar and whether it would attract day geckos (Phelsuma)

The flower starts off producing a yellow nectar that has a pH~6 and it turns red within a couple of hours due to alkalinization (pH~9). The nectars displayed differences in spectral properties and LC-MS/MS analysis revealed that the pigment was an imine conjugate of proline and

Our study documenting the discovery of a new red plant pigment found in the nectars of vertebrate-pollinated plants has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science! doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2…

Epic news on Guien: She flowerin'! Last Tuesday on 1/25/22 she began the flowering process which starts at the bottom & proceeds slowly to the top of the quiote (flowering stalk). On Tuesday 2/1/22 she measured 20 ft 1 in! She is flowering w/beauty this Black History Month.

Started bloomin from the bottom now we’re here. Guien is about done flowering. The blooms started at the bottom of the stalk & move slowly to the top. After this it’ll be a several week process of slowly saying good bye. Her leaves are collapsing & she’s getting wrinkles. (1/2)

Today the adventure was 220 meters under the #tropicaldryforest #mataseca at Gruta Rei do Mato

Queen of carbon, champion of women in science nature.com/articles/d4158…

Luv this beautiful picture of Josh O. getting some nature healing, smelling azaleas in the Spring Show. Some of the offspring of the azalea plants at GPC hail back to the 1893 World’s Fair that took place in Chicago! #Persevere Here are some azaleas u can see in the show. 🌸🌼

Does nectar chemistry act as a filter and drive the community composition of nectar microbes? Check out our preprint "Nectar compounds impact bacterial and fungal growth and shift community dynamics in a nectar analog" with Rachel Vannette& Jake Francis! doi.org/10.1101/2022.0…

A great resources for finding open and sustainable teaching and learning materials. libguides.humboldt.edu/openedu/biol