First of all, usually I don't have a keen interest in gardening, but my
Mother-in-laws Tongue, without any prompting decided to flower.

I have had the plant for about 4 years, split it several times over the last
12 months but seems to just keep outgrowing anything I put it in. Several of
my friends have commented that they have had a mother-in-laws tongue and
seem fascinated by the flowering - I didn't even realise that they flowered,
but some of the lower buds are now opening and the smell, quite pungent.

I just wondered though, there are lots of 'sticky' droplets of something all
down the flower stem, I could imagine that these would attract bees - but is
this the sole purpose of these droplets, I should imagine any small insect
touching any of these would face a very sticky end?

TIA

Mel

In article , Mel mel@scarboroNOSPAM.
fsnet.co.uk writes
First of all, usually I don't have a keen interest in gardening, but my
Mother-in-laws Tongue, without any prompting decided to flower.

I have had the plant for about 4 years, split it several times over the last
12 months but seems to just keep outgrowing anything I put it in. Several of
my friends have commented that they have had a mother-in-laws tongue and
seem fascinated by the flowering - I didn't even realise that they flowered,
but some of the lower buds are now opening and the smell, quite pungent.

Blimey - there's dozens of the things!

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.ga...nsevieria.html
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

Kay wrote:
In article , Mel
mel@scarboroNOSPAM. fsnet.co.uk writes
First of all, usually I don't have a keen interest in gardening,
but
my Mother-in-laws Tongue, without any prompting decided to flower.

I have had the plant for about 4 years, split it several times
over
the last 12 months but seems to just keep outgrowing anything I
put
it in. Several of my friends have commented that they have had a
mother-in-laws tongue and seem fascinated by the flowering - I
didn't even realise that they flowered, but some of the lower buds
are now opening and the smell, quite pungent.

Blimey - there's dozens of the things!

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.ga...nsevieria.html

It's a bloody conspiracy!

Mike.

Cheers:

http://scarboro.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/

please excuse my photo though, I flowered years ago, now I am turning to
seed I think. Yes it seems we are being taken over.

Thanks.



"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
Kay wrote:
In article , Mel
mel@scarboroNOSPAM. fsnet.co.uk writes
First of all, usually I don't have a keen interest in gardening,
but
my Mother-in-laws Tongue, without any prompting decided to flower.

I have had the plant for about 4 years, split it several times
over
the last 12 months but seems to just keep outgrowing anything I
put
it in. Several of my friends have commented that they have had a
mother-in-laws tongue and seem fascinated by the flowering - I
didn't even realise that they flowered, but some of the lower buds
are now opening and the smell, quite pungent.

Blimey - there's dozens of the things!

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.ga...nsevieria.html

It's a bloody conspiracy!

Mike.

The plant was prompted into flowering by the days getting shorter.

The nectary secretions attract ants and wasps to the floral stems to protect
them from other creatures eating the developing flower buds.


"Mel" wrote in message
...
First of all, usually I don't have a keen interest in gardening, but my
Mother-in-laws Tongue, without any prompting decided to flower.

I have had the plant for about 4 years, split it several times over the
last
12 months but seems to just keep outgrowing anything I put it in. Several
of
my friends have commented that they have had a mother-in-laws tongue and
seem fascinated by the flowering - I didn't even realise that they
flowered,
but some of the lower buds are now opening and the smell, quite pungent.

I just wondered though, there are lots of 'sticky' droplets of something
all
down the flower stem, I could imagine that these would attract bees - but
is
this the sole purpose of these droplets, I should imagine any small insect
touching any of these would face a very sticky end?

TIA

Mel

Excellent, thank you so much for that, it seems that the plant is putting an
awful lot of energy into those 'secretions', they had to be some reason for
it.

Just what I needed,

Thanks again

Mel


"Cereus-validus." wrote in message
om...
The plant was prompted into flowering by the days getting shorter.

The nectary secretions attract ants and wasps to the floral stems to
protect
them from other creatures eating the developing flower buds.


"Mel" wrote in message
...
First of all, usually I don't have a keen interest in gardening, but my
Mother-in-laws Tongue, without any prompting decided to flower.

I have had the plant for about 4 years, split it several times over the
last
12 months but seems to just keep outgrowing anything I put it in. Several
of
my friends have commented that they have had a mother-in-laws tongue and
seem fascinated by the flowering - I didn't even realise that they
flowered,
but some of the lower buds are now opening and the smell, quite pungent.

I just wondered though, there are lots of 'sticky' droplets of something
all
down the flower stem, I could imagine that these would attract bees - but
is
this the sole purpose of these droplets, I should imagine any small
insect
touching any of these would face a very sticky end?

TIA

Mel

"Kay" wrote in message
...
In article , Mel
mel@scarboroNOSPAM.
fsnet.co.uk writes
First of all, usually I don't have a keen interest in gardening,
but my
Mother-in-laws Tongue, without any prompting decided to flower.

I have had the plant for about 4 years, split it several times over
the last
12 months but seems to just keep outgrowing anything I put it in.
Several of
my friends have commented that they have had a mother-in-laws
tongue and
seem fascinated by the flowering - I didn't even realise that they
flowered,
but some of the lower buds are now opening and the smell, quite
pungent.

Blimey - there's dozens of the things!

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.ga...nsevieria.html

I wonder why the author of that site decided to produce his essay on a
pressed paper doiley with side lighting. It makes it so awful to read
that I did not persevere to the end.

Franz

"Mel" wrote in message
...
Cheers:

http://scarboro.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/

How interesting!

As an aside, is there any way one can get rid of those distracting
jumping advertisements?

Franz

"Cereus-validus." wrote in message
om...
The plant was prompted into flowering by the days getting shorter.

The nectary secretions attract ants and wasps to the floral stems to
protect
them from other creatures eating the developing flower buds.

If this is a good idea, why do the majority of plants not use the same
technique?

Franz

Your premise makes the erroneous assumption that evolution is consciously
driven and uniform in all plants. It isn't.


"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
...

"Cereus-validus." wrote in message
om...
The plant was prompted into flowering by the days getting shorter.

The nectary secretions attract ants and wasps to the floral stems to
protect
them from other creatures eating the developing flower buds.

If this is a good idea, why do the majority of plants not use the same
technique?

Franz

In article , Franz Heymann
writes

"Cereus-validus." wrote in message
. com...
The plant was prompted into flowering by the days getting shorter.

The nectary secretions attract ants and wasps to the floral stems to
protect
them from other creatures eating the developing flower buds.

If this is a good idea, why do the majority of plants not use the same
technique?

Some plants live in more insect-rich areas than others. The pay back has
to be sufficient to justify the energy cost of the secretions.

Some flowers are more worth eating (and therefore more at risk) than
others

There's lots of different strategies for survival. Some plants have
masses of flowers (so it doesn't matter if a few get eaten), some put a
lot of energy into crafting a few flowers highly targeted towards
different pollinators. Some plants produce seed in abundance and scatter
it to the winds, some put energy into producing berries to persuade
birds to scatter their seed for them. And so on.
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

"Mel" wrote in message
...
First of all, usually I don't have a keen interest in gardening, but my
Mother-in-laws Tongue, without any prompting decided to flower.

I have had the plant for about 4 years, split it several times over the
last
12 months but seems to just keep outgrowing anything I put it in. Several
of
my friends have commented that they have had a mother-in-laws tongue and
seem fascinated by the flowering - I didn't even realise that they
flowered,
but some of the lower buds are now opening and the smell, quite pungent.

I just wondered though, there are lots of 'sticky' droplets of something
all
down the flower stem, I could imagine that these would attract bees - but
is
this the sole purpose of these droplets, I should imagine any small insect
touching any of these would face a very sticky end?

--------------
How did you manage to photograph it on 11th November when today is only the
4th?

:-))

Marina
E. Sx

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 4 Nov 2004 10:56:44 -0000, "cross"
wrote:

How did you manage to photograph it on 11th November when today is only
the
4th?

That was a deliberate mistake, I was just checking people were taking notice
cough cough

Fixed

....and thanks for all the replies:

Mel

:-))

Tardis technology is classified.
--
Martin

"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
...

"Kay" wrote in message
...
In article , Mel
mel@scarboroNOSPAM.
fsnet.co.uk writes
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.ga...nsevieria.html

I wonder why the author of that site decided to produce his essay on a
pressed paper doiley with side lighting. It makes it so awful to read
that I did not persevere to the end.
Franz

It's the "I can, so I will" syndrome "~)

Jenny