beautifulllll 2

IL-PINE · Post by **IL-PINE** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 4:19 pm

Chili peppers!

greenhorn · Post by **greenhorn** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 6:21 pm

Larva/ pupa of a Holly Blue???? No!!!
Something ornamental? Leguminosae???

Post by **MWP admin** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 9:07 pm

The lower fake teeth (denture) of dracula !

jackpot · Post by **jackpot** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:07 pm

what is a "Holly Blue"?

Post by **MWP admin** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:10 pm

I am quite sure this is an ornamental (and probably monocot) so not my piece of bread and butter. I should invite Calamatta here!

jackpot · Post by **jackpot** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:19 pm

no monocot and not only ornamental, typical mediterranean plant but sometimes/-where cultivated for ornament

Post by **MWP admin** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:23 pm

What is the ornament the flower or the fruit (I think I already know the answer from Mr. Jackpot = "both!" )

We have it a lot in Malta Wild Life?

jackpot · Post by **jackpot** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:31 pm

no, none of them, either the flower nor the fruit, just the plant

not very common in the wild and in cultivation

greenhorn · Post by **greenhorn** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:34 pm

jackpot wrote:what is a "Holly Blue"? :?:

A small blue butterfly with red children ( caterpillars ).
What`s about Fabaceae? I had that Scorpion Vetch in mind.

Post by **MWP admin** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:43 pm

She meant Blue Angel I suppose:

http://maltawildplants.com/forum/viewto ... blue+angel

greenhorn · Post by **greenhorn** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:52 pm

The scientif. name is Celastrina argiolus.

IL-PINE · Post by **IL-PINE** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:53 pm

Yes indeed Hippocrepis

Post by **MWP admin** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 2:24 pm

Do they form those type of fruit ???

RB · Post by RB » Wed Sep 20, 2006 6:16 pm

Those look like distorted leaves of pistachia lentiscus. dunno what gets them (some virus maybe) but they end up like that, some of the leaves.

jackpot · Post by **jackpot** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 10:08 pm

Excellent RB, yes, galls of Pistacia terebinthus! They are very characteristic in late spring-early summer, looks like a tree beautiful in flower! I have never seen those beautifullll insect nests in Pistacia lentiscus!

IL-PINE · Post by **IL-PINE** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 11:13 pm

wow! Excellent RB, never would have guessed it.

Post by **MWP admin** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 9:50 am

PS: the title was a bit mislading - nothing really full of beauty! Galls can be formed by viruses and even certain insects (such as Thrips of the Gynaeikothrips genus, recently found on Ficus ficaria.)

Sdravko · Post by **Sdravko** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 11:03 am

Actually, that sort of galls is being formed in Malta (and elsewhere) on P. lentiscus and sth we will call P. atlantica in the name of easy answers.

P. terebinthus is very rare in Malta and is characterized by large, horn-like galls.
But, to do jackpot justice, nobody seems to be absolutely sure about p. atlantica and p. terebintus in Malta.

jackpot · Post by **jackpot** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:53 pm

MWP: galls in the close sense are not made by viruses but insects only (their eggs), and an egg is a new life- a beauty (like your new life in your family!)

In fact, this insect seems to be specialised to the leaflets of Pistacia terebinthus only (no other P. species)- we will find out. However, in each swollen part of the red Hippocrepis-fruit-like gall (excellent il-Pine

) is 1 egg!

Post by **MWP admin** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 1:28 pm

The difference in "beauty" between those lurcid, nasty pests and my sweetheart Miranda _ _ _ _ _ A Mifsud is as big as the number of electrons in the universe!

Miranda is angry for your comparison but if you guess her second name she would give you a big kiss!

PS: Thanks for the educative info, here is more input to this post regards the galls.