Rat's Tail

Rat's Tail

Taxobox | name = Rat's Tail
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Liliopsida
ordo = Asparagales
familia = Iridaceae
subfamilia = Ixioideae
tribus = Ixieae
genus = "Babiana"
species = "B. ringens"
binomial = "Babiana ringens"
binomial_authority = (L.) Ker Gawl.

The Rat's tail ("Babiana ringens") is a flowering plant native to South Africa. The foliage is long and erect with a sterile main stalk. The plant bears bright red, tubular flowers on side branches close to the ground. It grows in sandy soil.

The main stalk acts as a perch for birds, enabling birds to land within reach of the plant's flowers. The bird that seems to be a pollinator of the plant is the malachite sunbird ("Nectarina famosa"). The male sunbird is twice as likely to perch on the stalk as the female and, on average, spends four times longer on a perch. The stalk does seem to play a role in pollination as plants without a stalk produced only half as many seeds as plants with a stalk intact (Anderson, Cole, and Barrett, 2005).

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • rat's-tail — rat sˈ tail or ratˈ tail noun 1. The tail of a rat 2. Anything like a rat s tail 3. A thin coherent dangling lock of hair 4. An excrescence on a horse s leg 5. (ratˈ tail) the grenadier fish • • • Main Entry: ↑rat rat s …   Useful english dictionary

  • rat's-tail grass — /ˈræts teɪl gras/ (say rats tayl grahs) noun any grass with an inflorescence thought to resemble a rat s tail, as the grasses of the genus Sporobolus. Also, rat tail grass …  

  • rat's tail — /ˈræts teɪl/ (say rats tayl) noun a hairstyle in which the hair is cut short except for a small lock of hair at the nape of the neck …  

  • rat's-tail couch — /ˌræts teɪl ˈkutʃ/ (say .rats tayl koohch) noun a slightly tufted annual grass, Sporobolus mitchellii, found in damp places along river banks and flood plains of NSW and Victoria …  

  • rat's-tail fescue — /ˌræts teɪl ˈfɛskju/ (say .rats tayl feskyooh) noun a weed introduced into Australia, Vulpia myuros, which has a hairy inflorescence …  

  • rat's-tail orchid — /ˌræts teɪl ˈɔkəd/ (say .rats tayl awkuhd) noun an epiphytic orchid, Dendrobium teretifolium, found on trees, especially swamp oak, and rocks of eastern NSW and Qld …  

  • rat's-tail cactus — noun commonly cultivated tropical American cactus having slender creeping stems and very large showy crimson flowers that bloom for several days • Syn: ↑rattail cactus, ↑Aporocactus flagelliformis • Hypernyms: ↑cactus • Member Holonyms:… …   Useful english dictionary

  • rat's-tail fescue — ˈ ̷ ̷ˌ ̷ ̷ noun : rattail fescue …   Useful english dictionary

  • rat|tail — «RAT TAYL», adjective, noun. –adj. having a tail or taillike part like that of a rat; long and slender: »Everything in the house, down to the last rattail hinge and hickory floor peg, is historically accurate (Atlantic). –n. 1. something… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Rat-tail — (r[a^]t t[=a]l ), a. Like a rat s tail in form; as, a rat tail file, which is round, slender, and tapering. See Illust. of {File}. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”