Why Is the Bauhinia Tree Not Invasive ?

The Bauhinia tree (Bauhinia blakeana)(AKA Hong Kong Orchid tree) is a native of Asia. All Hong Kong orchid trees today are clones of the original tree planted in a garden in Hong Kong in 1880. It has been reproduced from cuttings ever since. Although they are one plant system they have not been susceptible to diseases.

Because the bloom is so attractive and had all of the anatomy to describe it as having flowers I could not see why it was sterile. The only option that I had was to inspect the organelles of the flower and see where the issue lie.

The feature image shows the flower with an obviously interested bee crawling inside.

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Macro dissection

I started with an intact bloom and removed parts to expose the major anatomic features. This was followed by a separation of the components for microscopic examination.

—-+—- Macro dissection

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Micro dissection

Each of the separated components of the system were examined microscopically. This examination revealed that the area of the ova was without a defined structure. There were no ova and the core was a simple homogenous field without characteristics. It was barren. It does not reproduce sexually and therefore cannot produce seeds. Because it cannot produce seeds and reproduction is limited to propagation from cuttings it is not invasive. The same is true for Plumeria which is also propagated from cuttings. We have shown a similar method in a previous post on Propagation of Orchids by Division.

This posting is made in response to questions rising from the Power Point Presentation titled Flowering Trees of SWFL. a full listing of the trees can be found on this site. To find it GoTo the banner on the home page, from the menu select Findings and select the PDF document. There are associated reference links. You may print the list for your convenience.

#Bauhinia #Hong Kong Orchid tree #flower #anatomy #micro anatomy #reproduction #cuttings #propagation #barren #sterile # invasive # petal #septa #carpel #stamen #anther #pollen

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