[Leica] IMG: Weirdnesday already

[steve.barbour at gmail.com (Steve Barbour)]

On Jun 8, 2011, at 3:13 PM, Steve Barbour wrote:

> 
> On Jun 8, 2011, at 2:32 PM, Geoff Hopkinson wrote:
> 
>> Thanks for looking and commenting everyone. For the botanists amongst us,
>> this is a Bird's Nest Firn which has improbably grown (it's an Epiphyte) 
>> on
>> a liana vine rather than more commonly on another tree or a rock.
>> If you are a rainforest tree, Epithytes will do you no harm although liana
>> vines are like annoying cousins that turn up, hang around, get in the way
>> constantly and consume some of your food.
> 
> 
> good point Geoff,raises the question....What distinguishes a parasitic 
> plant from epiphytes and saprophytes?

beling a biologist I looked it up...    

Parasitic plants get their nutrition by taking it from a living host. The 
host is harmed (a little or a lot), and the parasite benefits.Dodder and 
mistletoe are parasitic plants. Of course if they are too aggressive and 
kill the host it's bad for the parasite.

An epiphytic plant just lives stuck onto another plant, usually up on a 
tree. The epiphyte doesn't take anything from the plant that it's living on. 
This is a commensal relationship. The epiphyte benefits by getting to live 
up higher in better light, and the host is neither helped nor harmed. 
Examples include the bromeliads.

A saprophytic plant uses enzymes to break down dead organic matter and then 
absorbs nutrition from it. The Indian pipe is a saprophytic plant. It is not 
photosynthetic, so it has to get food somehow! Not too many plants are like 
that.



nice photo,

Steve
        
>> 
>> Cheers
>> Geoff
>> 
>> *Life's not black and white, except at both ends*
>> http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On 9 June 2011 02:30, George Lottermoser <imagist3 at mac.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> On Jun 7, 2011, at 6:00 PM, Geoff Hopkinson wrote:
>>> 
>>>> From a walk in Lamington National Park that included some very Tarzany
>>>> rainforest
>>>> http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman/image/135378083
>>> 
>>> quite amazing
>>> where and how
>>> a see may thrive
>>> 
>>> Regards,
>>> George Lottermoser
>>> george at imagist.com
>>> http://www.imagist.com
>>> http://www.imagist.com/blog
>>> http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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>> 
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>