A question about elaiosomes

Jane McGary janemcgary@earthlink.net
Tue, 22 May 2007 17:09:21 PDT
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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