originally posted: June 27, 2002 | by chelsie

Prickly glasswort (Salsola kali Linnaeus) was a useful plant from the 1300s to the 1700s. It and/or related species were the source of sodium carbonate for the manufacture of glass and soap. (The botanical nomenclature and number of species or subspecies are not settled.) Prickly glasswort is more commonly known as Russian thistle or tumbleweed; now a major nuisance species in Australia and North America. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: June 20, 2002 | by chelsie

The opal is an unusual stone made of silica and water; chemically, hydrous silicon dioxide. Opals contain anywhere from three to thirty percent water trapped in the matrix of silica. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: June 13, 2002 | by chelsie

Annual glasswort (Salicornia bigelovii Torrey) is a succulent growing in the salt marshes and estuaries of North America. It is a halophyte, a plant that grows in the presence of salt. Annual glasswort is thought to tolerate as much as 200 parts per thousand salts or five times the concentration of sea water. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: June 6, 2002 | by chelsie

The pear (Pyrus communis Linnaeus) is a common fruit. Humans have grown pears for so long that the origins were lost. Pears were cultivated by the ancient Greeks; the Odyssey (Homer, 800 BCE, trans. Samuel Butler) tells of Ulysses returning from the Trojan War and seeing his father, Laertes, "so worn, so old and full of sorrow, he stood still under a tall pear tree and began to weep." [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: May 30, 2002 | by chelsie

In warm, shallow, and sheltered waters of the Caribbean is found a unique green algae, the mermaid's wineglass (Acetabularia crenulata). Although diminutive, only three to five centimeters tall (1.5 to 3 inches), the plant is siphonous or coenocytic, a single cell with multiple nuclei. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: May 23, 2002 | by chelsie

The soft rush (Juncus effusus Linnaeus) is a wetland species native over much of the temperate zones of the world: Eurasia, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and eastern and southern Africa. Soft rush forms clumps of cylindrical stems, the leaves are greatly reduced and seldom noticed. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: May 16, 2002 | by chelsie

When settlers from Europe came to America, they brought plants from their homeland. Among these was sweet flag (Acorus calamus Linnaeus). Remarkably, the native peoples already knew this plant and had been using it medicinally and ceremonially for centuries. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: May 9, 2002 | by chelsie

The cockleburr (Xanthium strumarium Linnaeus) [zan' the um strew mar' ee um] is a hitchhiker. The seed pod is a burr with hooked spines. It tangles the fur of animals unfortunate enough to brush against the dying plant. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: May 2, 2002 | by chelsie

In the Amazon basin, the castanheiros or Brazil nut trees (Bertholletia excelsa Humboldt and Bonpland) grow to tremendous heights reaching 50 meters (160 feet). The trees are thought to live 500 to 800 years. Brazil nut trees flower at the beginning of the rainy season. Each flower lasts only one day. It opens before dawn and drops from the tree in the late afternoon. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: April 25, 2002 | by chelsie

Chicory (Cichorium intybus Linnaeus) [sic kor' ee um in tib' us] is native to southern Eurasia, the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa. The plant is now cosmopolitan. Chicory's medicinal uses date back to ancient Egypt. It is thought to have been among the "bitter herbs" of the Old Testament. The leaves were served as a vegetable in Rome. Arabic physicians esteemed chicory; they maintained and increased herbal knowledge through the Dark Ages. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: April 18, 2002 | by chelsie

The current world production of pineapples (Ananas comosus (L.) Merrill) is around 4 billion kilograms per year. Almost all pineapples are canned or made into juice; the stems are used for the extraction of bromelain for the medical industry. Less than eight percent are consumed fresh. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: April 11, 2002 | by chelsie

The loofah (Luffa aegyptiaca Miller) [luf' fa a jip' tee a ka] belongs to a horticulturally important family, the cucurbits or 'gourds'. This family has a worldwide distribution; different members were domesticated wherever agriculture started. Unlike melons, squash, and cucumbers which are eaten, loofah was and is cultivated for the netted vascular system found in the fruit. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: April 4, 2002 | by chelsie

The paintbrushes are hemiparasites--plants capable of photosynthesizing on their own, but developing better when taking nutrients from another plant. A root of a paintbrush connects to a root of its host by a specialized structure called a haustorium. [Click here to read more...]