Cephalanthera falcata is a member of orchid family. In 1997 it was nationally designated as endangered species of VU. Before, its yellow flowers were familiar spring Prima donna in Japanese countryside. Its “pretty in yellow” backfired. Many of them were stolen from forests. Alas, it‘s orchid, and so, mycoheterotrophic plant (my post on August 12, 2022). It cannot survive without underground network of mycorrhizal fungi that can feed them. You dig up a pretty yellow flower and plant it in your cute pot. Sooner or later, the beau is starved to death. Hence is the current VU status.
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| Its buds are waiting to flower … |
In addition to their eating habit, orchids are very fastidious flowers. Basically, the propagation of any orchid from seed is very difficult. One reason is their mating habit. They have very tiny pollen that chooses very special insect carrying for pollination. Accordingly, their anatomy of flower is a bit different from ordinary flowers. OK, that’s their strategy. For me collecting pollen to admire them under microscopes (my post on April 28, 2023), it means pasting Cephalanthera falcata's pollen on scotch tape is VERY difficult. Their tiny pollens are on gynostemium which is an amalgam of stamens and pistil. I could not be sure if I have collected the minuscule pollens from gynostemium … Last year, I failed completely. My scotch tape was empty under the microscope. This year, I took a deep breath, and told myself “Slow, slow, and very gentle …” I tried several times patting the flower … And, I think I managed to have them this year. Here is the microscopic photo. According to Google search, the pollens of Cephalanthera falcata are yellow and tiny. I think these yellow dots on the black drawing paper are pollens … Don‘t you think?
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| Pollens
of Cephalanthera falcata. Their streaks look like some astronomical objects ... |
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| Sure,
gynostemium of Cephalanthera falcata is obvious. But do you think we can recognize pollens on it? |
Cephalanthera falcata is not the only flower for us to identify stamens. Fringed iris, Iris japonica, is actually not Japanese endemic, but brought from Chinese Continent more than 1000 years ago. Some say ancient Kreans carried them to our archpelago when they immigrated, as its roots were/are emergency food for famine. (To eat their roots, we have to grate and wash them to collect starch from it, same as we do for potatos. Then, we need to expose the starch powder under running water for days. You have to be careful. If your clearance is not enough, the taste of it is VERRRRRRY bitter, it is said.) Why can we say their origin for sure, you think? Well, unlike their cousins in Asian continent, Japanese fringed iris are all autopolyploid, or triploid to be exact. They have three sets of chromosomes, and so sterile. Even though, it is not at all difficult to find them in Japanese forest especially when there are/were human settlement. i.e. They were artificially planted, often millennium ago, and propagated by separating roots. For me, this special feature of the flower makes it difficult to identify stamens for collecting pollens. “I don’t want to crush the flower, I don’t want to crush the flower, I don’t want to crush the flower …” I recited the mantra and patted the flowers very gently. Here is my catch this year!
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| Pollens of Fringed iris. They look like rolled oats, don’t you think? |
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| Fringed iris in Mt. Ogusu. Sure enough, the place was once for Japanese samurais. |
The color and the form of pollen are so diverse from each species. It’s fun to collect them especially in spring when lots of flowers burst open … and I noticed pollens of Asteraceae family are so so so COVID-19 lookalike. Heck. I’m getting better.
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| Pollens of flatweed |
If you find environmental issues in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター
657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121
〒243－0121 厚木市七沢657
Phone: 046-248-0323
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