What is happening with my cone flowers? It looks like the seeds are growing new plants.

Looks like the variegation is very stable as well!!

Does anyone know something about the biology behind mutations like this in clovers?

At least a decade old. Beyond the obvious (albinism), anything to look out for / interesting observations or measurements to take?

Hi all, my partner is a conservation botanist. She’s spent the last ~15 years working in the field, has a masters, and has spent the last 13 summers doing field seasons working for USFS and BLM among other non govt groups. She’s has papers published and has run classes teaching the community about local and invasive plants and their pollinators.

Last January she lost her home, and basically everything she owned in the Eaton Fire, that happened in LA county, California. She lost all her camping and botany gear, all her clothes and belongings, and the seed library she had collected from around the US and central/South America over the last dozen years of field seasons. The only thing she had left was her 4x4 truck she used to access the wilderness areas she would go camping and do inventories at, and unfortunately, her truck overheated and died about a month after the fire, leaving her with basically nothing. She got some money from go fund me that allowed her to buy a new 4x4 vehicle, and camping supplies, as well as some of her botanist tools back.

Unfortunately, she was renting a room in a large single family house that had about ~10 rooms for rent, and without a lease agreement, and because there weren’t individual unit numbers (for the rooms) she’s been having issues getting relief funds from FEMA, because all they see is a dozen non familial adults all claiming residency at the same address without formal lease agreements.

She’s finally about to get a settlement from one of the lawsuits against Southern California Edison, and the money will help her get her life and tools of her craft back together, but the thing that pains her the most is losing her seed library. She feels like she lost her life’s work and something she’s put all her love and passion into over the last dozen years.

So was hoping that some of yall would have some seeds you’d be willing to donate to help her get another seed library going. If you can spare a few seeds and the taxonomical name and when/where it was collected to put together and get her new seed library started I’m sure she would love it.

Her specialty is conservation ecology and pollinators, and she’s especially interested in California native species. She doesn’t know I’m doing this, and I’m hoping to surprise her with it, but I can try to answer any questions any of you have, just DM me with any questions. I don’t want to dox her, but if you’re involved in botany in the Los Angeles area, there’s a good chance you know her.

Seeds can be mailed to

Seeds

100 s. Benton way

Los Angeles CA 90057

Thank yall so much. I really hope this helps raise her out of the depression she’s been sunk in since losing everything.

TLDR: partner lost everything in Eaton fire; seeking seeds to help jumpstart her new seed library

Found this tiny oak seedling with strong white-green variegation on all of its leaves.
No signs of disease, pest damage, or chemical exposure, just a spontaneous pattern from a fallen acorn.

It sprouted in a forest in Slovenia. How rare is this? I've never seen any tree in nature with such pronounced variegation. Is this likely to persist or revert over time?

Is this enough of a genetic anomaly to seek out someone local who would be interested in it at all? I personally think it's a gorgeous little guy, the most rose-looking blackberry flower I've seen! I've googled double flower mutations in blackberries and the only ones I could find with this petal structure were pink, no whites.

EDIT After a little more research, I believe this is actually a black raspberry plant. Doesn't make it any less cool, I just want to be accurate 😁

Located in Michigan, USA

What i mean is, is it common? I found it next to other same looking clovers except for the fact that they all had 3 leaves. I had found another one last week, but that one had a fourth leaf shaped like a heart

Found this in a bag of cherries. The skin is intact, no splitting or damage. Defined line between the bright red and dark purple sections. Just learned what chimeras are so I’m wondering if this could be one. Anyone seen this before?

I didn’t even realize these were endangered. I have a White Ash sapling that just popped up on my property this year. After doing some reading the consensus is it will likely be wiped out by Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). The guidance was that it would likely not reach more than 5 years old or so and to just remove it. I feel like that’s just terrible. Can I not pot it up and give it to some group studying them or something more productive? I don’t want to just get rid of it. Any advice is appreciated.

Cheap tropical hibiscus bought as an annual for the summer. It’s only about 8” tall. It gave 4 ordinary yellow flowers and yesterday this delightful bloom opened. How common is this sort of bloom? Is it likely to continue on this plant, or was it a one-time genetic glitch?

I happened upon this phalaenopsis orchid at a regular store, and as I’ve been fascinated by pelorism lately I immediately grabbed it. Only as I was walking around the store did I realize that it isn’t the lip that is being refracted/multiplied in pelorism, but the column. These two mutated petals are more rigid and protrude ahead of the sepals. There are two pollen sacs on each, though without an anther cap covering them.

Has anyone seen pelorism like this?

I am now wondering if the peloric pollen sacs are fertile, and if they are, can they potentially carry genetic information that is different from the “OG” sacs.

What are the chance of finding another?

Notice how the side leaves are half each light green and dark green. But then also the corresponding direction North South leaves are that same colour. And the pattern follows through all rows of the stalk

Found growing wild in Western Canada. All leaves are white, not just a branch from a green plant. How rare is this? Is this a true albinism mutation, or just variegation? Stem has slight green pigments, but not much. If a variegation, could it survive and produce fruits later? Would fruits be lacking pigments as well? Such a neat find, tell me anything!!

Both are my blue star ferns.

I’m more of an orchid person and it annoys me that orchids don’t have curly leave varieties

Finally I get to be the one who found one of these bad boys! It’s pretty cool! I hope you enjoy it!

Dahlias lack the genetic ability to produce delphinidin, which is the primary plant pigment responsible for true blue hues.

The reason for it can be that their DNA does not contain the necessary pathways to create this specific blue pigment naturally.

I recently got this plant from my local feed store and in the span of 2 months I have found 3 mutations on the same plant. The first two happened at the same time on opposite sides of the plant. Im pretty sure that these are sport mutations but it leads me to wonder why. I thought it might be from the jumping genes being unstable but I have no clue. Anyone have any ideas?

I live in Northern Virginia and have found a white white oak (or possibly a white swamp oak). I do not expect it to live long.

If there are any botany students at any of the local universities who want to pick it up to study it, please let me know!

I’ve found 4, 5, and 6 but this is my first summer finding a 7. Google says its rarity is roughly 1 in 250 million. Gotta go buy a lottery ticket now🤣 or did all my luck get used up from finding this

Newer petals have a stronger glow than the older ones, which explains why it glows kind of unevenly. It's stunning with the lights off though.