Tilly had her first close encounter with a wild ungulate by the Rivanna river last week. Tilly didn’t give chase. Something I didn’t know about deer? “Though almost entirely herbivorous, white-tailed deer have been known to opportunistically feed on nesting songbirds, field mice, and birds trapped in mist nets, if the need arises.”–Wikipedia
A plant will abscise a part either to discard a member that is no longer necessary, such as a leaf during autumn, or a flower following fertilisation, or for the purposes of reproduction. Most deciduous plants drop their leaves by abscission before winter, whereas evergreen plants continuously abscise their leaves. Another form of abscission is fruit drop, when a plant abscises fruit while still immature, in order to conserve resources needed to bring the remaining fruit to maturity. If a leaf is damaged, a plant may also abscise it to conserve water or photosynthetic efficiency, depending on the ‘costs’ to the plant as a whole. The abscission layer is a greenish-grayish color.–Wikipedia
Huge crowd at Recreation Precinct, felt like a Presidential election. Lots of interest. Line snaking around inside, people waiting to vote backed out the door.
