Slatsz' plant photo-biography: Olsynium douglasii var. inlatum, grass widow

It seems like each new plant I look at comes supplied with new vocabulary.

Olsynium douglasii grows as a tuft, stems rise, close together, presumably from the same root system.

The bud is not enclosed in and protected by a calyx made up of sepals. It is enclosed in a pair of bracts that are called spathes.

Lomatium gormanii had an hypanthium so that’s not new vocabulary this time. The descriptive explanation might be, an hypanthium is only the receptacle at the top of the stem grown up around the ovary, cupping the ovary.

The petals of O. douglasii are not petals, they are tepals. Oh, well.

Olsynium douglasii var. inflatum, grass widow; Iridaceae, iris family

Olsynium douglasii, grass widow is a monocotyledon, a monocot.

Monocots:

Flower parts multiples of 3, usually 3 or 6

Leaf veins parallel

Roots fibrous

No wood or bark

O. douglasii is the third plant I found in bloom in 2011. It was forth in 2012 and 2013. Draba verna, spring whitlow grass was third. I don’t suppose I knew where to look for early Draba verna in 2011.

Burke Herbarium, UW, lists 10 Iridaceae family plants in Washington State, only 6 are native, one is native Iris, I. missouriensis. I. missosuriensis has been observed in Spokane County but not in Drumheller Springs Park.

Olsynium douglasii has recently been moved from the Sisyrinchium genus to the Olsynium genus. It has been a Sisyrinchium and still is in the writing of some botanists. It is the only Olsynium in Washington State.

Three native Sisyrinchium are listed for Washington State, one observed in Spokane County, Sisyrinchium idahoense. It has not been observed in the park. It looks a lot like Olsynium douglasii but would not be mistaken for it.

Olsynium douglasii has two varieties, both limited to the Pacific Northwest.

We only see one variety, Olsynium douglasii var. inflatum. It occurs mostly in the interior. Olsynium douglasii var. douglasii occurs mostly on the coast.

The botanists distinguish them because the base of the fused filament tube of var. inflatum is inflated. The fused tube of var. douglasii is also inflated but not much. Var. douglasii has rounded tepals. The tepals of var. inflatum have points.

As I said, Olsynium douglasii var. douglasii is not present here but I thought you might be fascinated by the distinctions made by botanists.

The inflation might be mistaken for a superior ovary by some of us. Note in the photo below that the inflation becomes a narrow connection with the top of the ovary. The ovary is inferior, it is within the green structure below the insertions of petals and sepals. The green covering of the ovary is an hypanthium.

Very early in the year you will see the ‘spikes’ of grass widow foliage come up from the earth, sometimes singly, but most often in clumps. Botanists say it is tufted because it comes up in clumps. The roots are fibrous.

The spikes are distinctive, you won’t mistake them. They look corded.

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The experts say grass widows are not very good to eat, even for animal food but I have a lot of photos that suggest that, at least early in the year when there isn’t a lot of choice, the animals don’t agree with them.

Spathes

My internet sources are not serving me. The bracts enclosing the buds are called spathes and they are also called spathe-like leaves. Spathes are persistent. They do not fall away. [Flower parts that fall away, such as the sepals on R. glaberrimus, are deciduous. The leaves of broad leaf trees, here, are deciduous.]

Spathes rise, from the receptacle at the top of the flower-stalk, just as a calyx would in other flowers.

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The small leaves at the base of the stem are called basal leaves and they are called bracts by some botanists.

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There are, at least occasionally, cauline leaves. The photo below has a tall spathe above the bud, a shorter spathe behind the bud, a cauline leaf [a leaf on the flower-stalk] and a basal leaf or bract.

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There are six tepals of about equal size. [What we call petals are tepals because there are no sepals. Make sense? No?]

Note the green base on the tepals. They tried to be sepals but got lost. [Wild speculation.]

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The tepals are usually distinctly lavender in color but occasionally a plant will have pink tepals so light they appear to be white.

There is striping in the tepals.

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The male reproductive organ, the stamen, seems to emerge first. Notice three yellow pods of the stamen. They are anthers, containing pollen.

The white structures are the three stigma at the top of three fused styles of the female reproductive organ. The stigma capture pollen. The styles are tubes that permit the pollen to grow down to the ovary to fertilize the ova and, eventually, created a seed.

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Several photos show pollen on the outside of anthers. Others seem to show open anthers with most of the pollen missing.

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A long style, reaching past the anthers seems to be a strategy for preventing self-pollination.

No pollen showing on anther or stigma

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Pollen covered anthers. Apparent pollen on stigma.

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Anthers apparently emptied of pollen. Stigma seems new and no apparent pollen on stigma.

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Anthers still covered with pollen, the style begins to wither, or so it seems

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But what’s going on here? Looks like 5 stigma instead of 3 and they seems to be loaded with pollen.

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O. douglasii has an inferior ovary. It is inside the green covering behind the tepals in the photo below. The green covering is called the hypanthium but it is only a receptacle of the pedicel [stem] of the flower grown up around the ovary.

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The O. douglasii bud is vertical when it forces its way out from between the two spathes. It looks to have been protected by a transparent sheath and to have broken through the sheath

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The bud lowers to a more or less horizontal position.

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The blossom matures, its ovary is fertilized, then it rises again to a vertical position with the maturing fruit.

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The tepals dry, fade and fall away.

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The sources speak of as many as 3 blossoms on a flower-stalk. There seems to be three in the photo below, a bud, a flower opening and a faded flower.

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Two developing fruit near the top of the tall persistent spathe. You can see a dark ring at the base where the spathe rises from the receptacle.

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The fruit are three celled capsules. The capsules have three cells because the pistil was made up of three carpels. The cells are the interior of dry carpels.

Caplules are dry fruit made up of two or more carpels. Capsules are usually dehiscent. They open on maturity. The other major dry fruit is an achene. Achenes are made up of a single carpel, they have one seed and they are indehiscent. They do not open on maturity.

Each carpel of a capsule develops several seeds.

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