Botanical Wednesday: Love is in the air : Pharyngula

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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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Botanical Wednesday: Love is in the air

Category: Organisms
Posted on: February 10, 2010 7:24 AM, by PZ Myers

Aren't you all looking forward to spring, when all the plants strive to inseminate your nose?

(via National Geographic)

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Comments

Posted by: Antiochus Epiphanes | February 10, 2010 7:36 AM

Yes!

Posted by: Levi in NY | February 10, 2010 7:44 AM

Microscopic penises and vaginas...sexy.

Posted by: Antiochus Epiphanes | February 10, 2010 7:55 AM

You are ruining this, Levi. No need to animorphize.

Posted by: Benjamin "pardon my French" Geiger | February 10, 2010 7:57 AM

I say it's only fair, given what we humans do...

Posted by: Brian English | February 10, 2010 8:02 AM

Ahh, spring, only 8 months away. Still the weather's tropical here right now. Above 20c at night and low 30's during the day with thunderstorms or humidity. Bring on the future, at 6cm north a year, Melbourne will be fully tropical in the not too distant geological future...

Posted by: Barb | February 10, 2010 8:05 AM

it makes a nice change from pet dander.

*CA-SHOOO!*

Posted by: Riaan Moll | February 10, 2010 8:15 AM

LO! Is that a Most Noodley Appendage I see?

I am unworthy!

Posted by: EastexSteve | February 10, 2010 8:16 AM

I read an interesting article in one of the more obscure scientific magazines, Parade. "A mysterious condition is causing fish in rivers across the U.S. to exhibit both male and female sex characteristics." WTF. The article can probably be read at Parade.com/intel. Somewhat off topic, but interesting.

Posted by: Quotidian Torture | February 10, 2010 8:20 AM

Thanks for that image, PZ. I'm never going to be able to get the idea of a floral nasal gang-bang out of my head.

#10

Posted by: MrFire | February 10, 2010 8:21 AM

when all the plants strive to inseminate your nose

Godless bestiality. I'll stick with intra-species nose sex, thank you very much.

#11

Posted by: Selena | February 10, 2010 8:31 AM

Achoo!....Achoo!! Excuse me. Achoo!
Oh, I love spring. Achoo!

#12

Posted by: NewEnglandBob | February 10, 2010 8:40 AM

Some of those look like the mushrooms I put on the angel hair pasta with shrimp and broccoli I made the other night.

#13

Posted by: Eidolon | February 10, 2010 8:42 AM

It seems clear that National Geographic must be banned from schools! This is just as bad as the dictionaries!

I am certain that seeing a pollen grain getting a stiffy will lead to inevitable moral decay and a life of wanton debauchery!

#14

Posted by: Carlie of the lacy, gently wafting adjectives | February 10, 2010 8:45 AM

I would like to once again express my appreciation for botanical Wednesdays. Very nice.

#15

Posted by: mikecbraun | February 10, 2010 8:58 AM

Unfortunately, this reminds me that with the arrival of spring come pollen counts, which I don't much like performing. It's interesting the first day, then it's downhill from there.

#16

Posted by: mikecbraun | February 10, 2010 9:04 AM

That's probably a ragweed pollen grain on the left (the prickly one), and the yellow ones look like maple. Not sure what the greenish ones are. Maybe some sort of ornamental or grass, although grass pollen is usually quite large.

#17

Posted by: keeperofthepies | February 10, 2010 9:12 AM

In spring, every day is another money shot.

#18

Posted by: mikecbraun | February 10, 2010 9:22 AM

Yellow might be willow, too.

#19

Posted by: daveau | February 10, 2010 10:01 AM

Ever notice how PZ can take a lovely theme like botanicals and turn it into something creepy and disgusting?

#20

Posted by: llewelly | February 10, 2010 10:11 AM

Love is in the air

... and my sinuses fucking HATE it.

#21

Posted by: Sara | February 10, 2010 10:18 AM

mikecbraum - Thank You. Being entirely unschooled in the scientific - I was ignorant and was considering a comment to ask the dumb question...
I shall assume the white stuff they are laying on is Llewelly's snot.

#22

Posted by: Katrina, radicales féministes athées | February 10, 2010 11:41 AM

From the NG site:

Lodged in the rumpled tissue of a Viburnum tinus stigma, pollen grains from other snowball blossoms (gray) swell with moisture. One (at center) is already growing the tube that delivers sperm to the ovule. Other species' pollen (yellow and green) has landed amiss; genetic defenses exclude them from the fertilization race.

#23

Posted by: destlund | February 10, 2010 11:49 AM

We get it year-round down here. Texas cedar. Sigh. *reaches for the nasal spray*

#24

Posted by: Brian | February 10, 2010 12:05 PM

The plants are one thing, but the there are the trees.

"TREES ARE FUCKING IN MY EYES! GET OUT OF MY EYES HORNY TREES"

#25

Posted by: Acronym Jim | February 10, 2010 12:19 PM

I am certain that seeing a pollen grain getting a stiffy will lead to inevitable moral decay and a life of wanton debauchery!

Eidolon, not to be pedantic, but pollen grains don't get "stiffies." They get woodies.

#26

Posted by: mikecbraun | February 10, 2010 12:38 PM

@Sara:
No problem--although many types of pollen look similar, so take my guesses with a grain of salt. There are probably hundreds that are spiky like ragweed, and willow and maple pollen look very similar.

#27

Posted by: Day | February 10, 2010 1:32 PM

Usually in spring or summer I loved the fact that it looked like snowing, when the large trees get there thing going. That was until I realized that the trees were literally giving me a facial.

#28

Posted by: mikecbraun | February 10, 2010 2:10 PM

So Day, are you saying that when one eats honey, they are, in effect, being snowballed by a bee?

#29

Posted by: mikecbraun | February 10, 2010 2:16 PM

Nah, my analogy doesn't work, since honey is made from nectar. Doh! I thought I had won the internets for a second there...

#30

Posted by: skeptical scientist | February 10, 2010 3:25 PM

Does anyone know what the scale is here?

#31

Posted by: chuckgoecke | February 10, 2010 4:48 PM

One of my pet peeves is the antihistamine commercial that shows a person being inundated with flowers like some kind of horror show of pollen overdose. Totally wrong -- Fail. The plants that cause hay fever are all wind pollinated, that is they throw up huge quantities of pollen, hoping that a few of the grains randomly hit the right spot on the female flower parts. Ragweed("Ambrosia" sp. - Carl Linnaeus must a been high when he named that group)), Cedar, many trees, grasses, etc are wind pollinated. Flowers(in the ornamental sense) exist to attract pollinators; the insects or birds and animals(even humans) that carry pollen from flower to flower. This type of pollen is sticky and heavy, not likely to get up into the air. The upshot of this is it creates a huge discrimination in many peoples mind towards flowers, and the hobby of gardening, which could cause the hobby to die out.... oh wait, gardening is the most popular hobby there is; never mind.

#32

Posted by: shatfat | February 10, 2010 6:59 PM

Rule 34

#33

Posted by: shatfat | February 10, 2010 7:08 PM

@Chuck

Well, buddy, I don't know about you (and I must admit ignorance of the mechanism) but so much as put me in a room with some carnations and I'll have trouble breathing and a wicked headache. And I'm not the only one.

#34

Posted by: deriamis | February 10, 2010 8:42 PM

Plant secks in my nose! Mmmm, gets the juices flowing, yes it does!

#35

Posted by: Lynn Wilhelm | February 10, 2010 11:10 PM

Love these pics. They are gorgeous.
I find it quite interesting (but not surprising) that many of the pollen grains look a lot like the plants themselves. For example, the Venus Fly Trap and the Crinum. I'm sure I could find more if I had time to look more closely.
As a horticulturalist, I have to agree with chuck @31.

Shatfat @33, you might need to do some controlled studies to see if carnation pollen really bothers you.
First of all, most florist carnations have extra flower petals developed from the stamens of the original species. I'm not sure how much pollen they can even produce, but the chances of much getting out through those stacked petals is really slim.
In many cultivated flowers, even bees can't get at the nectaries and the pollen for all the extra petals.

#36

Posted by: chuckgoecke | February 10, 2010 11:58 PM

Shatfat,
Its highly unlikely that carnation pollen is causing your problems, for the reasons Lynn mentioned above, plus others. Being a fragrant flower, a carnation is releasing a bunch(a highly precise scientific measurement term) of volatile chemicals into the air. Chemicals that you are not routinely exposed to, unless you work in a florist shop or carnation nursery. It is probably one of these chemicals that you are sensitive to. Or it's psychosomatic.

#37

Posted by: 朴競花/박경화 (Gyeong Hwa) | February 11, 2010 12:29 AM

Can we use the term "massive facial" do discribe this phenomenon?

#38

Posted by: https://me.yahoo.com/a/Upbe2b4egu4yLaveI308fs7LcDs.pwF6#e1466 | February 11, 2010 4:40 AM