Just a few thoughts...
1. Could the sclereids serve not to deter herbivory entirely, but to limit
it to certain animals?
2. Could the sclereids have served to limit or deter herbivory prior to
ripening, and have no function in the mature fruit?
3. Could they have been inherited from a distant ancestor who did use them
for something?
4. Could the sclereid gene have been planted in the fruit by someone as a
joke or as a ploy to increase the marketing potential of some product?
I'm pretty bad at quotes, but D'Arcy Thompson said something to the effect
of "Everything is the way it is because it got that way." I know that it is
annoying to students when we tell them that the purpose of a structure is
for "taxonomic purposes" or to show "biological variation," but sometimes
that is the best we can do. Furthermore, it is a mistake for us and our
students to assume that everything does have a function.
Doug
-----
Douglas P. Jensen
Assistant Professor and Chair
Biology Department
Converse College
580 E. Main St.
Spartanburg, South Carolina 29302
(864)596-9123
-----Original Message-----
"Bohmfalk, John" wrote:
> Esteemed and much more knowledgeable colleagues,
>> In botany lab, we did a phloroglucinol staining of pear to visualize the
> sclerids. A student asked a rather impertinent question about the
function
> of these stone cells. I have not a clue what their role is. Any
hypotheses
> or ideas or known role?
>> Thanks.
> John
>> Dr. John Bohmfalk
> Biology Department
> Hastings College
> Hastings, NE
>jbohmfalk at hastings.edu> (402) 461-7470
>> ____________________
> "Take interest, I implore you, in those sacred dwellings called
> laboratories. Demand that they be multiplied, that they be adorned.
These
> are the temples of the future, temples of well-being and of
> happiness."-Louis Pasteur
>> Dr. John Bohmfalk
> Biology Department
> Hastings College
> Hastings, NE
>jbohmfalk at hastings.edu> (402) 461-7470
>> ____________________
> "Take interest, I implore you, in those sacred dwellings called
> laboratories. Demand that they be multiplied, that they be adorned.
These
> are the temples of the future, temples of well-being and of
> happiness."-Louis Pasteur
>> ---
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