A wild conjecture: Might it have anything to do with the effect of daylight length on pigments, as with the changes of leaf colour in other plants at this time?
----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Brewer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 12:07 PM Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Yellow Flowers in the Fall > Howie, > > I don't have an adaptationist explanation for you, but a phylogenetic > answer is that there are a lot of fall-flowering yellow composites (e.g., > Solidago, Pityopsis, Chrysopsis, Heterotheca, Bidens, Helianthus, > Silphium) and many of these and other Asteraceae are adapted for disturbed > or open habitats. Close relatives of these, such as Aster, which do not > produce yellow flowers, also flower in the fall. > > Steve Brewer > > > > At 9:38 AM -0400 9/18/06, Howie Neufeld wrote: >>Dear All - I have been asked by a colleague if I know why yellow flowers >>seem to predominate in the fall, especially in open habitats, and I said >>I don't have any good theories at this time. Does anybody out there >>know about or have any theories? >> It could also be that yellow doesn't really dominate, but that >>certain species (goldenrods for example) are simply super abundant and >>they flower in the fall and "appear" to dominate. >>Thanks! >>Howie Neufeld >> >>-- >>Dr. Howard S. Neufeld, Professor >>Department of Biology >>572 Rivers Street >>Appalachian State University >>Boone, NC 28608 >> >>email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>departmental webpage: >>http://www.biology.appstate.edu/faculty/neufeldhs.htm >>personal webpage: http://www.appstate.edu/~neufeldhs/index.html >> >>Tel: 828-262-2683 >>Fax: 828-262-2127 > > > -- > Department of Biology > PO Box 1848 > University of Mississippi > University, Mississippi 38677-1848 > > Brewer web page - http://home.olemiss.edu/~jbrewer/ > > FAX - 662-915-5144 > Phone - 662-915-1077 >
