PlantSpecies
Species portraits
Botanical portraits of the plants - their morphology, systematics and distribution.
Araceae Monstera deliciosa
Monstera deliciosa: why the leaves get holes
The holes in the Swiss cheese plant are not damage but programmed cell death, and a Danish botanist named the species in 1849. The botany behind Monstera deliciosa.
Moraceae Ficus lyrata
Ficus lyrata: the lyre-shaped leaf and the fig's hidden flowers
Ficus lyrata is named for its lyre-shaped leaf, but its flowers hide inside the fig. On the morphology, distribution and wasp symbiosis of the fiddle-leaf fig.
Strelitziaceae Strelitzia reginae
Strelitzia reginae: the flower pollinated by birds' feet
Strelitzia reginae is pollinated by sunbirds that pick up pollen on their feet. And its seed arils contain bilirubin, a pigment otherwise known only from animals.