<\/a>The inconspicuous flower of fern-leaf goldthread has narrow, greenish sepals and petals (with nectar). (Courtesy Photo \/ Bob Armstrong)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
For now, however, let’s ignore the down-side and look on the bright side—think about the flowers. Within this family there is a considerable variety of flower shape, color, and gender arrangement. Members of most of the genera (Ranunculus, Kumlienia, Caltha, Anemone) that we observe here typically have sizable, open, nectar-bearing flowers that are available to a variety of insect visitors, including bees, flies, and beetles.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
However, some species have large colorful flowers that are pollinated by bees: There’s monkshood with its hooded purple flower that is first male and then female; what appear to be petals are really sepals, and the true petals, sexual parts, and nectar (not poisonous, at least to bees) are hidden under the hood that needs to be opened by a visiting bee. And there’s columbine with its dangling red (and yellow) bisexual flowers and nectaries (again, not poisonous) held deep in the long upright spurs. Members of two genera have inflorescences of multiple small white flowers. Baneberry flowers have no nectar and may lose their small white petals early in flowering; they display their conspicuous white stamens to attract small insects as pollinators. The local species of meadowrue exists as separate sexes; the many small, clustered flowers have no petals, just little sepals; females display their pale stigmas while males display dangling stamens with purple anthers, convenient for its pollination by wind (although other species in the genus may be insect-pollinated).<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Then there are the goldthreads (Coptis), characterized by golden rhizomes (underground stems) that allow clonal spreading. Of the fifteen or so species in the genus, we have two species here. When I came to Juneau, over thirty years ago, I did research on birds, primarily. But I soon got interested in the local plants, most of which were new to me. One forest species that drew my interest was fern-leaf goldthread (C. asplenifolia), which has reflexed, long and skinny, greenish sepals and narrow, greenish nectar-bearing petals. Two or three flowers are borne on a tall stem. I eventually did a small study (with a colleague) on some aspects of its flowering. We found that this species has variable sex expression, flowering commonly as males, but also as hermaphrodites. Individual plants often change sex expression between years; those that produced fruit in one year were usually male or sterile the next year, suggesting that the cost of making fruit often limits the ability to invest in fruit again the following year. The most common flower visitors were dance flies.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t