Sphaerocarpos spontaneously materializes in my angiosperm tray

 

Was it originally a sporecluster buried in Santa Fe Dam's dunes? Or was it one from the Sphaerocarpos I cultured last year, dormant until a piece of lint floated it into my tray? Who knows!

Also of note is the fact that its bubblesacs are not deflated; apparently getting them to stay swollen in captivity isn't too hard if the humidity is low enough. But I transplanted it into a sealed cup (so the mosses don't smother it) so I expect they'll deflate soon. Whatever?

Tray 12/21

 

[Yawn!]

Nonvisual flight in a chironomid?!

 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0152884

Visually unmediated flight is one of those things one expects insects to evolve regularly but which seems to be almost nonexistent for some reason (even Tenebrionidae have larger eyes in flighted than flightless species, said some paper I'm too lazy to refind).

Addendum, 12/21: I also suspect some (perhaps even most) epigean Tipulidae may be capable of flying more or less correctly if experimentally blinded.

Tray 12/17

 

Tray 12/16

Still not much has happened besides growth (I bet they won't be much interestinger during flower time either). Also yes yes I know the leaf tips are getting burnt, I bet the tray evaporates water too fast.

Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area tray 12/10

 

A few new seedlings of various spp. exited dormancy and germinated, but nothing detectably interesting happened. The leaves of all the plants got bigger, and some jelly dot algae (domeshaped as oppposed to spherical, probably Nostocales) showed up, but that's about it.

Also, remember the "long cotyledon" plant from that other post? It looks like this now. Note the suspicious resemblance of the mature cotyledons to the mature true leaves.

I'm now highly confident it's the suncup Camissoniopsis bistorta. Google Scholar indicates that nothing has been written on the adaptive function of that genus's cotyledon longness, but I suspect it has something to do with competition and/or resource limitation.

If things work the way I suspect they do, then "make its preexisting photosynthetic organs longer" is a way less resource-intensive strategy than "rapidly kill them off and grow new ones" and/or allows it to grow hastily-but-sloppily during a part of its life cycle where haste is more important than quality. Perhaps they help it race against the clock to grow a deep taproot before the ground dries up? After all, it (and micrantha) seem to be far more tolerant of poorly-water-holding habitats than most other native microflowers in my area.

Also note one of the hairless Riccia I transplanted from Bonelli Park making a cameo (I really ought to create a blog label for the marchantiophyte).

Iridescent fernthing plasticity part 2

 

Note the long gemmifers (gemma-bearing "stalks").

Succulent update

 Pleased 2 report: annual micro-Crassulaceae can, in fact, grow roots out of their leaves.

Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area sand tray, 12/1/2022

 

Note the low density of the non-succulent angiosperms. I bet they're doing that bet-hedging thing where only a fraction of the seeds germinate each year (I didn't refrigerate my tray this year so cues for 100% of seeds to sprout may not be present).

I also tossed some native crystalworts in there and they're growing (this one is Riccia trichocarpa if my key can be trusted).

Its photograph's blurry until you click on it, for some reason.