7th Grade Flowers
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7th Grade Flowers |
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Fabaceae, Leguminsae
The Blue Lupine is a part of one of the largest species of plants in the world. The Fabaceae family consists of over 13,000 species of plants, including the Blue Lupine. The Blue Lupine gets its name from the plant it produces, Legume. Legume is a kind of seed pod that is not edible until you cook (and even after cooked it is not very tasty). The Blue Lupine contains five sepals that are all joined together. The stamens all come in ten sets, of each flower that all combine in a tube, then split apart into ten separate stamens. The stigma is located in the middle of all the stamens, and is noticed easier because of it's different color and size compared to the stamens.
The most common pollinator for the Blue Lupine is the bumble bee. Over many years the Blue Lupine has co-evolved with the bumble bee. When a bumble flies over to the Blue Lupine it lands on the wing bud which is unstable. The unstable bud falls off, and under it appears ten stamens with a stigma in the middle. In order to get to the nectaries, the bee has to rub against the stamen collecting pollen onto its hairy thorax. The bee does the same thing with another lupine, but this time the stigma collects the pollen from the previous plant. That begins the process of cross-pollination. The symbiotic relationship between the bumble bee and the Blue Lupine is truly remarkable. The bee receives nectar from the Blue Lupine which gives it energy and its source of food for the day. On the other hand, the Blue Lupine depends on the bumble bee for cross-pollination. If the Blue Lupine wasn't alive the bumble bee would not receive it's source of food, and eventually die. If the bumble bee was not alive, the reproduction of the Blue Lupine would be very hard, and eventually all of the Blue Lupines would shrivel up and die, while not producing new plants. The Blue Lupine and the bumble bee work great together, while still depending on each other to come through in the clutch.
