Spring, Botanical Garden Munich, Germany, February 2016

Hamamelis x intermedia Mittlere Zaubernuss 'Rot Bruns'

Helleborus orientalis ‘White Lady’

Snowdrops in bloom_Munich, Germany, February 2016

     Last days the weather in Munich was variable. Some days were sunny, other rainy or snowy, but temperature during the day did not drop below 0°C. Today it was amazingly beautiful day with a lot of sun. I realized that there are more and more flowers in bloom ;) Today I was admiring the snowdrops that were growing in a small forest ;)

    Snowdrops (Galanthus) belong to the family Amaryllidaceae and they are native to central Europe. An interesting fact about the snowdrops is that their seeds contain special structures known as elaisomes that are rich in lipids and proteins. Why do the snowdrops produce such elaisomes? Well, it is a kind of business ;) Ants like elaisomes. These insects are eating the elaisomes, however they do not harm the seeds. So basically snowdrops provide the food to ants, and what the plants are gaining is seed dispersal ;)

    Another interesting fact about the snowdrops is that they contain a lot of chemicals from which some possess medicinal properties. An example is galantamine, a phenanthrene alkaloid, that was for the first time isolated from the snowdrops. Besides the snowdrops, this compound is also present in some other plants such as snowflakes (Leucojum), daffodils (Narcissus) and Lycoris. In medicine galantamine is used to treat dementia in Alzheimer’s disease. Mechanistically, galantamine inhibits acetylcholinesterase and as a result the levels of acetylcholine (neurotransmitter) increase, which slows down the neurological degeneration.

Nature wakes up! Munich, Germany, February 2016

Today in Munich it was a sunny and warm day (~ 11°C). There were already some signs of the early spring such as singing birds and some blooming flowers ;)

One of the blooming plants I observed today were hazelnut trees (Corylus avellana, family Betulaceae). Blooming hazelnut trees contain yellow male flowers (catkins) and red female flowers that are growing on the same tree. Therefore, hazelnut trees represent so called monoecious species, in contrast to dioecious species that produce male and female flowers on separate plants. Male flowers I saw today were ~5–10 cm long, whereas female flowers were extremely small (~3 mm long) and bud-like. Interestingly, a windy day is beneficial for the hazelnut trees (and people who like hazelnuts ;) because this enables the pollination.

Male (yellow) and female (red) flowers of the Corylus avellana.

Vibrant gerbera daisy_January 2016

      Yesterday a beautiful red-colored gerbera in a pot moved into my room ;) The Gerbera belongs to the Asteraceae family and is also called African Daisy. The Gerbera is native to Africa, South America and Asia. The Gerbera is a common cut flower and decorative garden plant. 

      In the picture below you can see that gerbera has few rings of stamens and stigmas. The stamens represent male reproductive part of a flower and produce pollen, whereas the stigmas are female reproductive parts of flowers.  While looking at the photo I was wondering why the pollen is yellow (in contrast to the white stigmas)??? The answer is easy – yellow color of the pollen comes from the flavonoids. Flavonoids are plant chemicals that are present not only in flowers, but also in fruits and leaves e.g. autumn leaves. Since flavonoids have antioxidant effects, probably they protect gerbera´s gametes against mutagenic effects of the ultraviolet radiation that is emitted by the sun.

The stamens (yellow) and the stigmas (white) of a gerbera.

Gerbera daisy in a pot.

Winter_part 2, Munich, Germany, January 2016

Winter, Munich, Germany, January 2016

Finally winter has come to Munich! When I woke up in the morning it was already white. I decided to go for a walk. Let´s have a look what I found! ;)

Water Drops & Reflections on Water_Munich, Germany, January 2016

Water is necessary for all living organisms. Where there is water, there is also life, and that is why NASA´s motto in the search for life on other planets is ´´follow the water´´ ;) Water is the most basic component of the organisms. Human body contains about 60-70% water (newborn babies ~78%, adults ~60%). The most watery organs in our body are lungs that contain ~83% of water, while bones contain only ~31% of water. Without food we can survive ~ 3 weeks, but without water only a week.