Keyed Out #050 — Gunnera manicata

Question 1

Its nitrogen-fixing partner is a blue-green {cyanobacterium}, drawn in through sticky glands set between the leaf bases well above ground, rather than a bacterium housed in swellings on the roots.

Accepted Answer

gunnera family

Question 2

Each minute flower is built in twos, a pair of hooded {petals} over a pair of thread-like {styles}, above an {ovary} sunk beneath them that holds one {ovule} and ripens to a one-seeded {drupe}.

Accepted Answer

Gunneraceae

Question 3

Everything above ground collapses at the first hard frost, and the whole canopy is rebuilt from scratch each spring out of a barkless, ringless stump lying flush with the soil.

Accepted Answer

a herbaceous plant regrowing from a crown at ground level

Question 4

Handling a leaf stalk barehanded draws blood, and the hazard carries on out along the raised ribs on the underside of the blade.

Accepted Answer

stalks and blade ribs armed with stout prickles

Question 5

One blade spans 4 to 6 feet (1.2 to 1.8 m) and a single clump shades a circle 10 to 16 feet (3 to 5 m) across, dwarfing every other member of the genus.

Accepted Answer

Gunnera manicata

Question 6

Its flowering head is loose and open, the side branches long, thin and slightly drooping at 4 to 8 inches (11 to 20 cm), not short thick ones under 3 inches (8 cm) packed into a tight cylinder.

Accepted Answer

Gunnera manicata