Human Flower Project

Don’t Forget to Check the Swamp


Stumbling upon a strange new variety of garlands at the flower market, Sandy Ao starts clicking and minds start bending. Clue: this plant is also a salt slaker.


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What is it? A discovery at the Mullickghat flower market

Kolkata, India

Photo: Sandy Ao

A red mystery’s been brewing here at HFP… ever since photographer Sandy Ao celebrated the New Year with a trip to the Mullickghat flower market in Kolkata and returned with a novelty to share. The Mullickghat vendors this day were selling long garlands of plants (or plant parts?) the likes of which she had never come across before.

“At one glance, these garlands look so plastic. But they are not!” Sandy wrote.  “I have not seen the real flower; again it is a flower pod, like the woodrose,” a plant she introduced to us back in 2007.  “I was informed that this pod contains lots of honey… and bees love it,” she wrote, adding, “They do smell very honey!”

But what are these honeyed spiders?

imageA garland of floral coral

Photo: Sandy Ao

We first went searching on the fine Flowers of India site. Tongue-tied by botanical names? No matter. This friendly resource lets you search by flower color – and Sandy’s specimen was no-bones “red-orange.” But we sure couldn’t find it.

Then, to the experts. We contacted seedsman Allen Bush. “You got me on this one,” Allen wrote back “—not a clue. I’m in Baltimore at a plant related tradeshow this week and Sandy’s market plant has stumped the chumps.” Allen said he showed photos “to Janet Draper from the Smithsonian’s Ripley Garden. She would know, if anyone, but she drew a blank. A couple of others looked puzzled, too. I look forward to seeing what the HFP uncovers!”

We asked neighbor and macro-visionary Margaret Adie for help, and she first thought of pomegranate. Just the right color, but as Margaret pointed out, the Mystery Pod has 12 clawlike “petals.”

Then we turned to Daniel Mosquin, of the enlightening UBC Botanical Garden’s Botany Photo of the Day, posting a query on his website’s forum, too. Daniel has seen everything, but he and his colleague Douglas Justice, associate director of the botanical garden, could only come “close.”

Daniel sent Sandy’s photos on to Dinesh Valke “(a frequent submitter of photos to BPotD) to help with this one, since it’s near his part of the world and he has a good set of references.” And so we waited….

We could tell people were looking at the photographs on the UBC’s popular “Plant Identification” group but nobody ventured a guess.  Boldly alone, Lorax remarked, “Well, it looks like the flower petals and base to me; flower structure on this one is tubular with semi-independent petals. No clue what it is, though.”

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A basket full of ???, Mullickghat flower market

Photo: Sandy Ao

The more closely we examined the pictures of this oddity, the more we began wondering if it were a plant at all. Could it be some sort of sea urchin? It looked rubbery enough to have come in with the tide.

Splash—Dinesh wrote back today and Daniel Mosquin sent us the news –

“Hi Daniel,

Please review Bruguiera gymnorhiza.  I am not quite sure, however I remembered having seen such mangrove flower in one of my text books.

I will let you know later, if I get to know it to be any different ID.

Cheers and regards”

Cheers for you, Dinesh, and right you are!

In Malay, the plant is known as Tumu and it also goes by many other names—including Burma Mangrove. Ah, it was there all along on the Flowers of India site, but listed among the trees. A good lesson in plant identification.

It turns out we were on the right track with the sea urchin idea, as mangroves are specially adapted to grow in a “tidal environment.” They are able to metabolize salt water, whereas salt water withers normal plants. We learned: “Plants experience many problems living in or near sea water which is ‘physiologically dry’ because most plant and animal tissues are more dilute than seawater. For osmosis to occur, water must move from a more dilute to a more concentrated compartment. This is why when one waters a normal plant with sea water, the plant will wither and die as the salty soil now extracts water from the plant instead of replenishing it!”

With their capacity to live along these salty lagoons,  mangroves serve as natural buffers against flooding. This radio program points out that in the tsunami of 2004, shorelines with vigorous mangrove forests withstood far less damage – less erosion, fewer lives lost. An amazing species of the world’s natural borderlands.

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Mangrove forest in Lampi Island Marine National Park, Burma

Photo: Mergui Archipelago Biodiversity Project



We also learned that mangroves (the name for forests of these trees as well as the trees themselves) are now severely endangered across much of the world. Wulf Killmann, of the FAO, writes: “The rate of mangrove loss is significantly higher than the loss of any other types of forests. If deforestation of mangroves continues, it can lead to severe losses of biodiversity and livelihoods, in addition to salt intrusion in coastal areas and siltation of coral reefs, ports and shipping lanes. Tourism would also suffer. Countries need to engage in a more effective conservation and sustainable management of the world’s mangroves.”

According to the World Wildlife Federation, “More than 35% of the world’s mangroves are already gone, and the figure is as high as 50% in some countries. Less than 1% of the remaining mangrove forests are adequately protected.”

imageBruguiera gymnorhiza, a.k.a. largeleaf mangrove

Photo: Tatters:)

Loss of mangrove forests has been greatest in Asia, according to the FAO. In Taiwan, for example, mangroves had already become extinct more than 40 years ago.

Here’s a major report on the subject for those interested in prepping for World Wetlands Day, February 2.

Mangroves have been introduced to Hawaii and their flowers (actually the plant calyxes) strung into leis, perhaps much like these glorious coral garlands from India. We understand, too, that in many rural communities mangroves are used to make tannins, traditional medicines and – you guessed it, Sandy – honey.

Many thanks to you for the stunning photographs from Kolkata, and to all the champs and chumps good enough to chime in.


Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/12 at 09:28 PM

Comments

Thank you for all the information…Humanflowerproject is the source to keep me moving… I am so honoured to have a wonderful friend like you.. Julie, you simply amaze me with all your hardwork and talent.. ever there to solve the puzzles that I have all the time!I’ll try to digest all the inforamtion in my own sweet time… like savouring the honey in my mind..
Woh, it is like the woodrose, I mean at least related to Hawaii again .. will love to see how this “Honey Pod” looks in the Hawaiian leis!!
Thanks to all the wonderful folks who took part in solving this “Honey pod” from Mullickghat Kolkata.
Once again, I gain a knowledge in 2009 for a start!
Happy New Year to everyone in Humanflowerproject from Mullickghat, Kolkata.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/13 at 01:29 AM

I am surprised by the showy nature of the mangrove flower.

Posted by Georgia / localecology.org on 01/13 at 04:20 PM

Thank you for the interesting information.  Are they edible, or in the market for ornamentation?  Did I just ask a dumb question?~~Dee

Posted by Dee/Oklahoma Gardening Examiner on 01/14 at 05:22 PM

Dear Julie,

The pink color flower from Kolkatta, is of Bruguiera sp. a mangrove variety.

Bruguiera gymnorhiza, is Mangrove variety from family Rhizophoraceae. It’s found  along coastal area. commonly found along Western & Eastern India  Ratnagiri, Goa, Sunderbans (Kolkata), Bhitakanika (Orissa),etc areas.

Regards
Dhiren Pania
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/17 at 01:33 PM
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