Botanizing in Alaska: Northern Monkshood

This flower was found growing on the same exposed rocky slope as a few of the plants I previously posted about (http://the-biologist-is-in.blogspot.com/search/label/rocky slope). It is the very pretty, but also deadly, Aconitum delphiniifolium (Northern Monkshood). The plant survives for several years, spreading slowly by producing daughter tubers.

The toxins produced by plants in this genus (aconitine, mesaconitine, hypaconitine, etc.) bind to the voltage-sensitive sodium channels of nerve cell axons. Upon binding, the toxin forces the channels open and over-stimulate nerve signals until the cells can't respond any further. The cells then fail to send the signals necessary to maintain breathing or the hear-beat and death soon follows without aggressive treatment. At this stage, you will need cardiopulmonary bypass in order to have a good chance of surviving. All the while, you will be hallucinating madly and so will be unable to seek or assist in treatment.

Seriously, don't eat this plant. That said, it is quite pretty.


References:

• www.alaskawildflowers.us/Kingdom/Plantae/Magnoliophyta/Magnoliopsida/Ranunculaceae/Aconitum_delphiniifolium/index.html
• www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233500017
• www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19514874

Botanizing in Alaska: Claytoniella bostockii

I've previously posted about a couple of plants from a shattered-rock slope we encountered outside of Fairbanks (the-biologist-is-in.blogspot.com/2015/07/botanizing-in-alaska-dwarf-birch.html; the-biologist-is-in.blogspot.com/2015/07/botanizing-in-alaska-mountain-avens.html). Though I had taken a break from posts about the biology I encountered on my Alaska trip, there remain still several to go from this site alone.

This particular plant was Marie's favorite. I was eventually able to identify it as Claytoniella bostockii, a plant in the Purslane family (Portulacea). It is a native plant to the area, but doesn't seem to have any common names in English.

It appears to grow perennially, regenerating from roots every year. There were many small plants in addition to ones as large as seen in the second photo, which presumably took several years to grow. I'm certain there are biologically interesting things about this plant, but I didn't spend any real time examining the actual plants so I can't add to the paltry amount of information available online. Maybe on the next trip, I'll take better notes.


References:

• the-biologist-is-in.blogspot.com/2015/07/botanizing-in-alaska-dwarf-birch.html
• the-biologist-is-in.blogspot.com/2015/07/botanizing-in-alaska-mountain-avens.html
• www.arcticatlas.org/photos/pltspecies/spp_details.php?queryID=mobo

Botanizing in Alaska: Dwarf Birch

I found this tree trunk on a rocky outcrop at the top of a mountain just outside Fairbanks, Alaska. The wood was spread over a foot or so, though I didn't have a measuring-tape handy to get a precise measure. The cold and exposed environment suggests that the tree would have grown very slowly and may be anywhere from decades to hundreds of years old.

In this environment, strong winter winds quickly abrade away overly-exposed living material. Dead material doesn't last very long either. Yet this tree remains alive, with vital growth attached to the dead wood at the lower-right and upper-left.

It was only by comparing the above tree to something more youthful (at right) that I was able to identify it as the Dwarf Birch (Betula nana). Forests of this tree can be ancient, but only inches tall.


References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betula_nana
• http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/betnan/all.html
• http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=BENA

Botanizing in Alaska: Mountain Avens

The Mountain Avens (Dryas octopetala) is a circum-arctic subshrub, growing up to a meter across while reaching only a few centimeters tall. The flowers typically have eight petals (hence the name octopetala) and track the arctic sun as it rolls around the summer sky. This heliotropism is thought to help the flower warm up so it can mature its seeds more quickly. There are several subspecies, including the Alaskan form (D. octopetala ssp. alaskensis), but little information is available about the differences between the forms.

Since I found them after the flowers were long gone, identification was a bit trickier. The seed-heads reminded me of those from the Pasqueflower (Pulsatilla), so I started my searches there. The leaves are distinctly different, however, so I meandered into looking at images of arctic wildflowers from Alaska until I found an image that had the right leaves. I was lucky in that the site included an ID of the plant, which I rapidly confirmed elsewhere.

Supposedly the plant takes well to garden culture, though its short-stature would make it sensitive to being overgrown by aggressive weeds when in a warmer climate. I did collect a few seeds, so I hope to see how it does here.


References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dryas_octopetala
• http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/dryas_octopetala.shtml
• http://www.flora.dempstercountry.org/0.Site.Folder/Species.Program/Species2.php?species_id=Dryas.octo