[pbs] A question about elaiosomes
Jane McGary
janemcgary at earthlink.net
Tue May 22 20:09:21 EDT 2007
For those who were perhaps puzzled by this part of Agoston Janos's post --
>Elaiosome (see: Galanthus, Leucojum) is preferred as far as I know. It
>contains olis or similar things. Caruncule (see Euphorbia spp.) is similar
>but it does not contain foood for animals. Both are favoured by ants
>(=myrme), which are carrying (=chore) them away.
The word he is etymologizing in the latter part is myrmechory, which is the
term for the way such seeds are dispersed. There is a very interesting
article by Art Guppy in the next issue of the Rock Garden Quarterly about
myrmechory in Erythronium, with close-up photos of the ants at work.
Jane McGary
Editor, NARGS
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