-by Bourbon Zenovka
Without a doubt, the avocado is one of the coolest plants on the planet. Let me explain. Flowering plants, like people, reproduce sexually. They have male parts (the pollen), and female parts (the ovaries, which develop into seeds). Now, plants want to avoid self-pollination, because when you think about it, self-pollination defeats the whole purpose of sexual reproduction. So plants have evolved a variety of strategies to work around this: some plants have both male and female parts on the same flower, but the flower may be structured so as to avoid self-pollination; some kinds of plants have separate male and female flowers on the same individual; some have separate male and female individuals; some produce both flowers, but not at the same time, yada yada. But the avocado has the coolest strategy of all! It’s called “protogynous dichogamy with synchronous daily complementarity.” (Laila – I learned this at UCR :-P)
Here’s how it works. Dichogamy – the flowers develop both male and female parts, but at different times. Protogynous – the female parts of the flower develop first. (You go, girl!) Synchronous daily complementarity – here’s where it gets a little complicated. The avocado world is divided into A type and B type trees. On A type trees, new flowers open in the morning (as female flowers, of course). They close up at midday, and when they reopen later in the afternoon, they open as male flowers. On B type trees, new flowers open in the afternoon as females, close up over night, and reopen the next morning as male flowers. You can see where this is going: A type trees can only pollinate B type trees, and B type trees can only pollinate A type trees. Isn’t God brilliant? She never ceases to amaze me!
And all of this has nothing to do with Yvette’s cartoon, except that she is wearing an avocado-colored top. Although I did the write-up, Yvette wanted to tell you herself about her most recent catastrophe.
I would be tempted to say that Yvette is cute but kind of dumb, except that I know that greater minds than hers have done the same thing. More than once.
- Here’s what she’s wearing:
- Tank: Jane Strapped Tank Avocado
- Shorts: *COCO* Gift Denim Shorts
- Tights: Jane Lil Piggies Tights Striped Honey
- Shoes: Frangipani Designs Ballet Black
- Necklace: Darling+ed Amore BlackwaterGold Necklace
- Earrings: Charleston Capra Holliday’s Gold Hoop Earrings
- Bangles: Pure Poison Gold Bangles (included with Business Woman outfit)
- Hair: Truth Becky Strawberry
- Skin: Dutch Touch MegAn Olive
- Lipstick: Dutch Touch LIPStick – Rose
- Eyeliner: Dutch Touch Eyeliner nr 2
- Eyelashes: Miamai No Alpha Lashes No1
- Nails: R.icielli French Nails
- Prop and pose: The television that Yvette is sitting on in the top picture is the latest release from Fluke. It includes 8 poses, and the tv screen cycles through about 5 or 6 pictures.