Scaled image 10.webp

Echinocereus coccineus SNL172 Jarilla Mtns.     3/25/20
The Jarilla Mtns. of southeast New Mexico have some interesting cacti. This species, which has scarlet (coccineus) flowers in most other habitats, has a variety of colors here. Look at the stigma of this flower carefully. This is actually a female flower. There are very few anthers around the pistil. Investigation would show that there really are vestigial anthers. No pollen. This species is technically dioecious, just like humans and every mammal. That is, the two sexes are expressed in separate individuals. Many flowering plants are monoecious - one individual can bear the reproductive apparatus of both sexes. Each stigma lobe, by the way, is connected to a complete array of eggs in an ovary, waiting for pollen to pass the other half of the complete DNA package necessary for reproduction. I count 11 lobes. From my reading, I gather that the stigma lobes being spread open like this means that the plant is receptive to pollination.   (10/48)   

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