Hey Roger Whitlock, where are you? Cottonwood trees aren't bulbs either. Remember your nasty comment you wrote when I asked about hepaticas on 4 Dec 2006. Gerhard Stickroth "Jim McKenney" <mailto:jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com> schrieb: > John Grimshaw wrote: " There is of course a continuum between shrubs and > trees in terms of > growth form and the distinction is very artificial." > > Another example of just how artificial this distinction is became apparent > to me from some recent reading. It seems that the cottonwood trees which > cloak so many western North American mountainsides are, technically, not > really trees. Or at least not all of them. > > Why? Because these cottonwood trees are said to spread by underground > growths to form connected colonies. In effect, the tree we see is actually > part of what is really a shrub, the diagnostic connecting parts being > underground and not immediately apparent. > > This also reminded me of the structure of the flowering stems of Erythronium > multiscapoideum: what appear to be multiple flowering stems are actually one > stem which typically branches below ground to give the impression that there > are several stems. > > John also mentioned the botanical term frutex. Derived from this is > frutescens (becoming shrubby), which is sometimes used to translate > subshrub. And this reminds me: I still have plants of Bulbine frutescens > (the "subshrubby" Bulbine)if anyone would like a piece. > > > Jim McKenney > mailto:jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com > Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where we are experiencing > unseasonably mild weather - temperatures might reach 70 degrees F in this > area this week. > My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ > BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ > > Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS > Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ > > Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/ > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > mailto:pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > >