originally posted: June 26, 2003 | by chelsie

Brazilian waterweed (Egeria densa Planchon) is a common plant known to aquaria hobbyists. Native to South America, it was first found growing in Long Island in the late 1800s. In the early 1900s, the plant entered commerce--sold in pet shops under the names 'elodea' and 'anacharis'. In days before air pumps, the plant served to keep aquarium water oxygenated for the fish. The plant has become a nuisance where it has been introduced in lakes and waterways. In the U.S., it is now found in thirty-three states. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: June 19, 2003 | by chelsie

Nettles (Urtica species) are wimps when compared to their relatives the 'stinging trees' (Dendrocnide species) of Australia. There are six species in Australia and an estimated 30 species scattered around the Oceanic and South Pacific Islands. Of the Australian species, two are trees growing to 40 meters (130 feet) and four are shrubs. The shrub-sized gympie-gympie (Dendrocnide moroides (Weddell) Chew) is possibly the worst offender of the stinging trees. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: June 12, 2003 | by chelsie

To anthropomorphize: nettles are antisocial plants, vindictive in the extreme. Nettles (genus Urtica) comprise about fifty species distributed over the world. The plants are monoecious (pistillate and staminate flowers borne on the same plant) or dioecious (pistillate and staminate flowers borne on separate plants). [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: June 5, 2003 | by chelsie

Jicama [he' cah ma] is a name derived from Nahuatl xicama or xicamatl, a name the Aztecs gave to several edible roots. Commercially, jicama usually refers to the root of the yam-bean (Pachyrhizus erosus (L.) Urban). There are two main varieties: jicama de leche which contains a milky juice and jicama de agua which has a clear juice. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: May 29, 2003 | by chelsie

The obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana (Linnaeus) Bentham) is in the Lamiaceae, the mint family, and has square stems and opposite leaves typical of mints. Obedient plants are generally found in moist to wet habitats and are native to eastern North America from New Brunswick to Minnesota and south to Missouri and South Carolina. It has escaped from cultivation and naturalized in Florida and other southern states. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: May 22, 2003 | by chelsie

The cruel plant or mosquito-trap (Cynanchum ascyrifolium (Franchet & Savatier) Matsumura) is native to Japan and northeastern Asia. There are 100 species of Cynanchum found in temperate and tropical regions of the world. Cynanchum are in the Apocynaceae, the dogbane family; some taxonomists place them in the Asclepiadaceae, the milkweed family. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: May 15, 2003 | by chelsie

The tiger lily (Lilium lancifolium Thunberg) is native to eastern Asia--China, Korea, and Japan. Tiger lilies have been cultivated for centuries in the Orient, but only for a little over 200 years in Europe and the Americas. The lily was a puzzle when first introduced to western gardeners; the stalks produced large beautiful orange flowers, but no seeds. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: May 8, 2003 | by chelsie

Wild sunflowers (Helianthus annuus Linnaeus) are native to North America. The plants are rangy with many branches each ending with a small capitulum, the inflorescence. The capitulum mimics a flower, the outer ray flowers are sterile and appear as petals, the inner disk flowers are fertile and each produces a single achene which contains a seed. Sunflower seeds are high in proteins and oils, a rich source of food for wild birds and mammals. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: May 1, 2003 | by chelsie

In French, the plant is called tournesol, in Spanish, girasol, both names refer to the heliotropism or sun tracking of the sunflower (Helianthus annuus Linnaeus). The inflorescence turns with the movement of the sun, its 'face' held obliquely to the sun's rays. Domesticated sunflowers seldom face the sun directly except in the early morning and late afternoon. Once the seeds are set, the inflorescence droops and no longer receives sunlight. Often the direction of droop is toward the east. (personal observation) [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: April 24, 2003 | by chelsie

Listed as annuals or perennials, herbs or subshrubs, about two hundred species of 'flax' (genus Linum) are spread around the world. Only one, the pale flax, Linum usitatissimum [lin' um use' i ta tis' si mum] was taken from the wild and cultivated down through the ages for its fine soft fibers. Cultivated flax is so different from its wild progenitor that now each is classified as a separate subspecies. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: April 17, 2003 | by chelsie

Fungi have unique life cycles, especially those called the "rusts". Cedar-apple rust, caused by Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae Schwein [gym nos poor an' gee um ju nip' er i vir gin' i an ay], must alternate its hosts, apples and junipers, in order to survive. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: April 10, 2003 | by chelsie

John Gerard wrote, "Garden Woad hath long leaves of a blewish greene colour. The stalk groweth two cubits high....There is a wilde kinde of Woad, very like unto the former...the stalke is tenderer, smaller and browner, and the leaves...narrower; otherwise there is no difference betwixt them." (The Herbal or General Historie of Plants, 1633 edition) [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: April 3, 2003 | by chelsie

Apples (genus: Malus Miller) belong to the Rosaceae, the rose family. The trees are native to the north temperate zones of the Old and New World. Pomologists generally agree there are twenty-five species (most are small-fruit 'crabapple' types) and that cultivation of large-fruited apples was well-established about four thousand years ago. Apples can be grown in a wider range of climates than any other temperate zone fruit. [Click here to read more...]