originally posted: March 28, 2002 | by chelsie

The toquilla or jipi-japa (Carludovica palmata Ruiz & Pavón) [car lu do' vi ka pal ma' ta] is a palm-like plant native to Central and northern South America. The leaves arise from the ground on petioles (leaf stems) up to 3 meters long. The palmate (fan-shaped) blade can measure a meter across. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: March 21, 2002 | by chelsie

Fields of fragrant tuberoses (Polianthes tuberosa Linnaeus) can be found growing in such places as France, Morocco, Egypt, India, and China. Now cultivated for the perfume industry, it was one of the first plants taken back to Europe by the Spanish. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: March 14, 2002 | by chelsie

John Bartram was a self-educated man and a friend of Benjamin Franklin. John made sure his son, William had an excellent education. In 1765, two remarkable things happened to John; he was awarded the title of Royal Botanist by King George III, and he and William were exploring the Altamaha River in southeast Georgia. Father and son discovered a small grove of trees which had never been seen by the botanical world. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: March 7, 2002 | by chelsie

The sausage tree (Kigelia africana (Lamarck) Bentham) of sub-Saharan Africa is beautiful in flower. The blood-red to maroon flowers hang in long panicles. The fragrance of the flower is not pleasing to humans but attracts the dwarf epauleted bat (Micropteropus pusillus), its pollinator. As the flowers drop from the tree, animals come to feed on the nectar-rich blooms: impala, duiker, baboons, bush pigs, and lovebirds. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: February 28, 2002 | by chelsie

The four-o'clock (Mirabilis jalapa Linnaeus) is a perennial native to tropical America. It is grown as an annual in temperate zones. If grown where the soil never freezes, the taproot becomes massive. There have been reports of old four-o'clock taproots weighing up to 40 pounds (18 kilograms). [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: February 21, 2002 | by chelsie

The barroom plant (Aspidistra elatior Blume) [as pi dis' tra e lay' te or] seems indifferent to humans. Removed from its native Asia to the stuffy, gas lit houses of the Victorian Era, it simply decided to endure. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: February 14, 2002 | by chelsie

Ylang-ylang (Cananga odorata (Lam.) Hooker f. et Thomson) is a tree native to tropical Asia and Australia. It is thought the tree was introduced throughout Polynesia as these islands were settled by aboriginal groups. Ylang-ylang [ee lang ee lang] is a Tagalog (Luzon, Philippines) phrase meaning, "flower of flowers". [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: February 7, 2002 | by chelsie

The Acacia of the Americas and Africa have a number of similarities and distinct differences. The bull's-horn acacias and the whistling-thorn acacias both have close interrelationships with ants. The spines on both types provide domatia (communal nests) for the ants, both have extrafloral nectaries, and both depend to differing degrees upon ants for defense. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: January 31, 2002 | by chelsie

The dandelion (Taraxacum officinale Wiggers) is a common plant, but not ordinary. The dandelion is native to Europe and eastern Asia, probably evolving as an alpine plant. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: January 24, 2002 | by chelsie

The split-leaf or windowpane (Monstera deliciosa Liebmann) is a plant with great forbearance. Often given when a new office is dedicated, the plant is left to lurk in a dark (to a plant) corner or forgotten at the end of a hallway. Starved for sunlight, its color deepens as it produces more and more chlorophyll to capture the few useable photons. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: January 17, 2002 | by chelsie

The purified pigment from lichen (litmus) is used by gardeners to determine the pH (acidity or alkalinity) of soils. The litmus paper strip changes color according to the types of ions present. A predominance of hydrogen ions [H+] is acidic and results in red litmus; hydroxyl ions [OH-] are basic (alkaline) and result in blue. When plants fail to thrive, the reason is often the soil has the incorrect pH for the particular plant. But there is a common plant that behaves like the litmus test. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: January 10, 2002 | by chelsie

The birthwort (Aristolochia clematitis Linnaeus) is a vine with odd yellow flowers. The birthworts were named under the Doctrine of Signatures. It was once believed the outward appearance of a plant signaled that the plant possessed special properties to be used medicinally. Birthwort received the reputation of being good for women. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: January 3, 2002 | by chelsie

Duckweed (Lemnaceae) is common. Most people who have seen slow moving streams or ponds would recognize duckweed, but many mistake the plants for algae. The duckweeds are monocots, closely related to the philodendron family. They are the smallest of the flowering plants, only about a millimeter or two in size. [Click here to read more...]