Natural Science Forum / Biology / Botany / March 2006

I have noticed that when I burn wood it leaves little ash but when I
burn mostly tree bark, that it leaves a volume of ash that is about 5
times greater than wood. I have asked this question before with no
answer. What is the element or chemical compound in tree bark versus

Since there is a small increase in CO2 levels
in recent times, why don't the forests of the
world grow faster to  compensate for this?

With Spring here, I decided to make a few little improvements to my free
wildflower and tree identification programs:
http://www.realtimerendering.com/trees/trees.html for trees
http://www.realtimerendering.com/flowers/flowers.html for wildflowers

I have a couple of questions I was hoping someone
could help with....
Given the following two names:
Tillandsia usneoides fo. longissima André, 1889

Good afternoon,
My boss just came to me and asked, "Do you have any idea what the
"n.o." in front of a botanical family name means?"
Now, I probably knew the answer to this back when I was in college, but

A while back I came across a term (poly-something) referring to the
fertilisation of an ovum by more than one sperm cell, which happens more
often in plants than in animals and is a possible route to polyploidy.
(Not double fertilisation.) I don't seem to have taken a note of the ...

An example:
http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=638679276&searchurl=y%3D0%2
6kn%3Durban%2Btimber%26bsi%3D90%26x%3D0
Compared to the price at amazon.com (US $16.35) this is 6.5 × as much as
new. Compared to the list price it is still almost 4.5 × as much as new.

I am looking for a simple, educational web site which would explain
about Mehler Reaction.
Any Ideas?
Thanks!

The February, 2006, American Biology Teacher has three plant articles,
all by science educators. They may be interesting reading for members
of this group because they offer a different perspective. Each has the
now-required discussion of the National Science Education Standards.

The February, 2006, American Biology Teacher has three plant articles,
all by science educators. They may be interesting reading for members
of this group because they offer a different perspective. Each has the
now-required discussion of the National Science Education Standards.

I have found several sites which mention how a flower stops it's own pollen
from fertilizing it, but none mention if this same flower can accept pollen
from a compatible plant while holding back it's own pollen.
In other words, if pollinated with it's own pollen, will the bloom ...