Spiders can help scientists survey plant life by trapping tell-tale pollen in their webs

Spiders can help scientists survey plant life by trapping tell-tale pollen in their webs, says an international team of researchers.

Dr Cheng-Sen Li, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Beijing Museum of Natural History, and colleagues report their findings in the July issue of the journal Review of Palaeobotany and PalynologyCheng and colleagues studied pollen captured in spider webs of southern and central Yunnan, China, and showed that the sticky webs are good at capturing and hanging onto pollen grains from local plants. They say the method may be useful in plant surveys worldwide.

"The [type] of pollen and spores identified from the spider webs can reflect the
vegetation of the sampling site," says Cheng.

Read full story: http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1964751.htm?enviro

Xeriscaping plants: List of succulents.

Here is a list of succulents. Please note that the images that you see originate from Flickr. Unfortunately, I do not any images of beautiful succulents, so I have linked up to Flickr.com photos. This is a rather small list of succulents, but I have to tell you, the images are absolutely breath taking. I plan to provide you with a longer list and will make sure that I have the images readily available. For now, you will need to do a bit of clicking.

Aloe brevifolia
Aloe ferox
Aloe polyphylla
Aloe rauhii
Agave americana 'Variagata'
Agave Stricta
Crassula Falcata
Crassula Perforata
Crassula Argentea 'hobbit'
Echeveria Pulvinata
Echeveria Pulvinata 'Ruby Blush'
Echeveria purpusorum
Echeveria agavoides
Echeveria nodulosa
Echeveria subrigida
Echeveria setosa
Echeveria agavoides
Echeveria 'Perle Von Nurnberg'
Echeveria elegans
Echeveria multicaulis
Echeveria Black Prince