Here's another addition to my growing list of "nature doing weird things in 2025".
This is a harakeke, Phormium tenax, one of the NZ flax species. I found it in flower on Friday. It's not supposed to be doing that. I have never seen a harakeke flowering in July before.
The only other observation of a harakeke in flower from Canterbury any time during May–August on #iNaturalist was an observation I made on 18 August 2018.
It's very confused.
Here's a photo I took today in Ōtautahi, NZ, of a tarata (lemonwood) in flower. It's the first time I have ever seen a tarata in flower in June.
I just checked on #iNaturalistNZ and there's only one other observation of a tarata flowering in June, and it was in Dunedin 10 days ago (and there are no flowering observations ever from May or July yet).
2025 is so weird.
@nifta Yes, that is weird. Thanks for posting your pōhutukawa photo to #iNaturalist. That helps build up the picture of how the timing of flowering is shifting. Here’s the graph at the moment on iNat of when pōhutukawa has been seen flowering in Wellington. May is not normal.
#iNaturalistNZ #flowering #nz #phenology
foodpic (actually a summery drink) and also a chilli plant
magnolia
Discovery of compounds that delay #flowering could boost #crop yields.
#food_security #development #devernalizers #FLOWERING_LOCUS_C_gene #signalling #epigenetic #Arabidopsis
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-discovery-compounds-delay-boost-crop.html
#CRISPR manipulation of #UFO #gene reveals complex #plant #flowering dynamics.
#Solanum #Arabidopsis #cis_regulatory_DNA
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-crispr-ufo-gene-reveals-complex.html
Genetic mechanism of alternating sexes in #walnut #trees has some parallels to #SexDetermination in humans https://phys.org/news/2025-01-genetic-mechanism-alternating-sexes-walnut.html
Ancient structural variants control sex-specific #flowering time morphs in #walnuts and #hickories https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado5578
"A walnut #tree produces #flowers of one sex, then the other in the same season, but trees differ in which one comes first. Individual trees are consistently male-first or female-first in flowering."
Timing of #flowering in #plants is key to reproductive success. Plants cope with #salt #stress by delaying the process. How? Jiao et al. offer some answers in this study of #nuclear pore complex component HOS1. https://doi.org/10.1111/jipb.13784
@wileyplantsci
#PlantSci #JIPB #Arabidopsis #botany
For a change from snowy views I decided to look at some of the *many* photos and videos I have from #summer that have not been edited/posted!
From #July : a not common #wildflower here-not flashy but hey it's #green and #flowering ! Sanicula marilandica a plant in the #Apiaceae or #Umbellifer Family (carrots, parsley, celery etc). They were in a spot I'd seen them before but not for a few years so I was excited! #biodiversity #NativePlants #Alberta #BloomScrolling #nature
https://youtube.com/shorts/RFxzldui-OM?feature=share
#Lavatera in a border inspired by an #Austrian #Bauerngarten.
Upright. Click to see all.
Current #hostas situation.
All of my #flowering hostas are behind with blooming this year. Been a slow & cooler start to Spring.
Mum messaged me this evening to tell me that her kōwhai tree started flowering today. Each year she tells me when it starts flowering and I add it to my phenology database.
I like to make noise when things happen unusually early, but it's equally interesting when the warming world doesn't work this way. Some years this tree is late, others it's early, but there's no trend.
This is a Sophora microphylla she got as a seedling from Gore Bay in North Canterbury.
2 different #bees & 1 wasp - on this raspberry red #flowering #sedum patch. Huge #pollinators attractant.
#Dipelta #floribunda - #deciduous #flowering #shrub - native to Central #China, widely #cultivated as #pollinators attractant #plant. Ours is now over 12 feet tall & loaded with #flowers.
Here's a potentially interesting thing. Walking back from lecture today, at #LincolnUniversityNZ, I found a flowering cherry tree starting to flower.
On #iNaturalistNZ there are 86 observations of cherries in flower. Three are from June, none from May.
In Roy Edwards' book on campus trees, this individual tree is noted as "usually in full flower about mid to late September".
It's like the climate might be changing?
#Gene could unlock greater #wheat yields for a growing population.
#agriculture #food_security #flowering #Photoperiod_1 #transcriptomics #ALOG1
https://phys.org/news/2024-05-gene-greater-wheat-yields-population.html
The white dogwood in flower, from three perspectives. #Flowering #Trees #Florespondence #Bloomscrolling
