The flower that blooms at 4 p.m.

Marvel of Peru (Mirabilis jalapa)

The marvel-of-Peru or as it is known the four o'clock flower gets its English names from its country of origin and from its habit of opening its flowers in the late afternoon. 

It is a widely cultivated plant that is also found growing wild in the Maltese countryside. In Maltese it is known as ħummejr. 

It is believed that this plant was first exported from the Peruvian Andes in 1540.

The plant grows along country roads and lanes and can be easily recognised by its large number of brightly coloured flowers. 

The flowers can be of different colours ranging from yellow to red with some flowers being white, striped or marked with different colours. Sometimes differently coloured flowers grow simultaneously from the same plant. More surprisingly the colour of the flowers growing on a particular plant change in colour as the plant matures. Thus a plant that starts off by having yellow flowers ends with dark pink flowers while a plant with white flowers starts producing light violet flowers.

The marvel of Peru flowers from late spring to early autumn. The flowers remain open well after sunset and are pollinated by long-tongued moths such as the hawkmoths which are attracted to the flowers by a strong sweet-smelling fragrance.

Parts of the plant are said to be very toxic and can have effects similar to that of LSD. They can cause digestive disorders and abortion. 

As with many poisonous plants this species also has medicinal value. It is used as a laxative, or to treat constipation and to expel intestinal worms. The flowers are used in food colouring particularly as a crimson dye which is used to colour cakes and jellies. 

This article was published in The Times on 07.09.11

The protein-rich pecan nut

Pecan (Carya illinoinensis)

The pecan, is a large tree indigenous to the southern states of America and Mexico. 

The Spaniards brought the tree to Europe in the 16th century. It was later planted in parts of Africa and Asia. This tree is best known for its fruit which is referred to as a pecan nut. In Malta the tree has been planted in a number of places including Buskett Gardens. Several large specimens can be seen along the path leading to the valley known as Wied il-Luq as well as in Wied il-Luq itself.

The pecan tree is a deciduous tree. The flowers, which are wind pollinated, appear in spring. Fertilised flowers produce an elongated fruit consisting of a green husk surrounding a structure known as a nut. As the fruit matures the husk becomes dark brown. In October and November the fruit drop onto the ground.

Although this species is not well known in Malta, some people know exactly when to visit Buskett gardens to collect pecan nuts. Pecan trees can produce large quantities of fruit and some manage to fill up whole baskets with this edible fruit.

In Maltese the pecan tree is known as siġra tal-pekan and the fruit is called ġewż tal-pekan.

The nuts can be eaten fresh. In other parts of the world they are used as an ingredient for several desserts the best known being the pecan pie.

The trees that grow at Buskett Gardens are very large. Although they must have been planted several decades ago they are likely to be around for many more as in good conditions pecan trees can live for more than 300 years.

Pecan nuts, like walnuts (to which they are related) are protein-rich and a good source of unsaturated fats. Eating pecans reduces the levels of LDL cholesterol and in women the risk of gallstones. 

This article was published in The Times on 31.08.11

Seed dispersal to germinate away from parent plant

Squirting cucumber (Ecballium elaterium)

Most plants have strategies to disperse their seeds which ensures that they germinate away from the parent plant. 

Seed dispersal is important because most plants have little or no mobility and thus would not be able to colonise new areas and habitats. 

Dispersal is also important as it takes seeds away from areas where they would face stiff competition from plants of the same species.

Plants use both internal and external forces to scatter their seeds far and wide. These include gravity, wind, water, explosive forces, and dispersion by animals including humans. Sometimes dispersal can be by more than one means thus a plant might allow a seed to fall onto the ground so that late it would be carried away by water. This often happens when coconuts fall to the ground along the coast and then carried away when the tide rises.

Some species can forcefully discharge their seeds long over large distances. The seed pods of the bear’s breaches (ħannewija) open with such force that they make a sound like a small pistol shot. 

The squirting cucumber, known in Maltese as faqqus il-ħmir, belongs to the cucumber family. During the summer months it forms a green-yellow fruit about the size of a large olive. 

It gets its name from the fact that when ripe the fruit ejects the seeds out together with a stream of thick liquid. When very ripe the slightest touch is enough for the fruit to explode. 

Children sometimes play with these fruit shooting the seeds and liquid at each other or throwing them in the direction of each other to see them explode and hitting each other with the seeds. 

The liquid that forms in the fruit is highly toxic but it has been used medicinally since classic times. It can act as a laxative and is known as a violent purgative. In parts of Cyprus and Turkey the juice is believed to cure cases of sinusitis, hepatitis and earache.

This article was published in The Times on 24.08.11

The lappet moth family

Lappet Moth (Gastropacha quercifolia)

The lappet is a large moth that is found in all of Europe as well as in northern and eastern Asia. It belongs to a large family of about 2,000 species known as the eggars, snout moths or lappet moths. 

The family is characterised by having feather-shaped antennae, and an atrophied proboscis. The caterpillars are covered in short hair which is used as a defense mechanism as well as to build the cocoon in which they turn into a pupa. Four members of this family have been recorded in the Maltese islands.

The lappet is very common throughout the islands between May and June and from August to October. The caterpillar has decorative skin flaps on some of its legs hence the name lappet. 

It feeds on the leaves of fruit trees and is sometimes considered as a pest. When fully grown the caterpillar descends to the ground and builds a cocoon in which to pupate. The caterpillar is covered in short hair. This hair, together with silk which the caterpillar itself produces is used to build the cocoon.

Female lappet moths are larger than males. They produce a pheromone which smells of charcoal or burnt wood to attract males. When resting, lappet moths are very well camouflaged. They fold their wings in the shape of a tent to look like oak leaves hence its Maltese name werqa niexfa.

In the lappet, the snout, which is a characteristic of members of the snout family, resembles a petiole (the part of the leave attached to the twig or branch). This adds to the resemblance of the moth to a dried leaf and enhances its camouflage.

In the same family as the lappet we also find the oak eggar (baħrija tal-ballut) which is common especially at Buskett and its surroundings, the grass eggar (baħrija tas-silla) which is also common and the lackey moth (malacosoma) which has been recorded in Malta once in 1956. 

This article was published in The Times on 17.08.11

The field bindweed: A bright funnel-shaped attractive flower

Field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis)

Maltese summers are characterized by high temperatures and lack of rain. Many plants survive this difficult time as seeds. This results in a dry brown countryside. Where it not for the thousands of trees that have been planted during the past fifty years or so it would be very difficult to find any green vegetation. 

Few species of plants are able to flower but those that do immediately catch one’s attention. One of these species is the field bindweed (leblieb tar-raba’). This species grows in fields and gardens from early summer to early autumn. It also grows in similar habitats such as patches of soil in centre strips and along roads.

The flowers of this plant can have different colours. They are usually white or pink but can also be striped white and pink. As practically no other plant is in flower the bright funnel-shaped flowers are very conspicuous and often attract one’s attention to their beauty. Flowers come in a variety of colours, shapes, sizes and scent but their beauty is not there to please us but to attract insects especially bees which are essential for pollination. 

The most attractive part of flowers are the petals which induce insects to land on them and to visit the nectaries from which they obtain nectar.

To make it easier for the insects to locate the nectaries, many flowers have lines or other markings called nectar guides which lead the bees to the centre of the flower where the flowers’ reproductive structures are found. 

Some of the guides are visible to humans while others can only be seen in ultraviolet light which is invisible to humans but which bees can detect. The nectar guides make it possible for the bees to collect nectar faster and more efficiently. This is advantageous for the plant because of more efficient pollination. 

This article was published in The Times on 10.08.11

Moths on the Maltese islands

Moths are far more common than most people believe. They are not as familiar as the closely related butterflies because with the exception of a very small number they are nocturnal insects. They spend the day trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. They often settle on a surface with the same colour as their body, they place the antennae close to their body and keep their wings flat and close to the surface to avoid making a shadow.

Several hundred species of moths have been recorded from the Maltese islands. Some of which are endemic to Malta, that is they are found only on the Maltese islands. Some are very common while others have been seen only once or twice and more species will be added the list as this group of insects is still being studied by lepidopterists.

For many Maltese a moth is a baħrija but for others especially country people who learnt about nature from their parents, moths are known as farfett ta’ billejl (butterfly of the night) or just farfett. For them the baħrija is a hawk moth. 

Moreover the baħrija was associated with either good or evil. If a hawk moth entered a house it meant that somebody was about to die. 

There are several species of hawk moths in the Maltese islands but the one which was believed to be the portent of death was probably the humming bird hawk moth which is known in Maltese as ħabbara (messenger). This species is one of the few day-flying moths and often enters houses.

Many species of moths that are plant pests are known as susa a word that is more widely used for the woodworm (susa tal-injam). 

The caterpillar of these moths lives in the branches, leaves or fruit of plants and like the woodworm feeds on the plant inside which it lives. 

This article was published in The Times on 20.07.2011

Butterfly diversity peaks in June

Butterfly numbers and diversity reach their peak in June. After that month, the number of butterflies in the Maltese countryside start to decrease.

By now, many species have disappeared and will not be seen again, until next spring. At the moment the most common species and the one most likely to be seen is the small white butterfly which happens to be one of the most common butterflies during the rest of the year.

Another common species is the large white butterfly which looks very much like the small white but is usually much larger.

These two species are common because they feed on, among other things, on the leaves of wild and cultivated members of the cabbage family such as cauliflowers, kohlrabi and of course cabbages.

Up to 40 or 50 years ago in some villages in Malta children trapped these butterflies using the same methods that adults used to trap birds.

Their aim was not just to catch the butterflies.

They used to catch them by using very crude methods such as hitting them with a piece of cardboard while they were resting on a flower.

The trapping was a serious exercise which taught them the skills required, later in life, when they would start to trap birds.

In their play they copied adult bird trappers.

They prepared a trapping site by clearing it of vegetation, levelled the ground and removed all stones.

They then laid down two pieces of cloth on the ground. The cloth was attached to two thin sticks to which they attached a long piece of string.

When the string thread was pulled the sticks and cloth flipped onto to butterflies preventing them from escaping.

To make the site more authentic they even had a decoy butterfly attached to a stick by a thread. The stick could be moved up and down by means of a string to make the butterfly flutter as if it was flying. Some boys even had decoy butterflies tied to sticks stuck in the ground around their trapping site.

When caught the butterflies were placed in a carton box or tin can as trophies to be shown to their friends who had also been trapping butterflies.

The best trappers enjoyed a high status and would boast and brag about the number of butterflies they caught and recount stories about the ones that got away...

This article  was published in The Times on 03.08.2011