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whats in a name, plant names, history, botany, botony, botanical, botanical names, taxonomy, plant taxonomy, herb, herbs, herbal, herbal folklore, killerplants, killerplant, kp, plant, plants, cool plants, newsletter, newsletters, ezine, e-zine, email newsletter, email newsletters
Throughout history, we have given plants names. Not just scientific names but names with meanings and stories that are intrinsic to our human makeup, our human condition. As generations pass, we are not as close to the earth as we were. Our memories darken. Plants come into favor and pass out again. Here is where we may participate in the exciting rediscovery of lost knowledge and also discover lost connections to common objects that owe their very existence to plants. Enjoy!
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When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with all other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty. - John Muir, 1838 - 1914
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National Geographic 8th Edition Atlas of the World Reserve your copy today! National Geographic presents the newest edition of the world's finest atlas.
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posted: October 13, 2006
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The punk tree (Melaleuca quinquenervia (Cavanilles) S.T. Blake) is so called for its spongy bark which is reminiscent of punk—wood partially decayed by fungus (Polyporus spp.). Wood becomes spongy as fungus digests the lignin. Known in Middle English as tachewood (touchwood), punk smolders and was used to catch the spark from a hand drill or flint. [Click here to read more...]
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posted: September 1, 2006
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In 1938, David Fairchild wrote, "Possibly a million people have grown pots of it on their window-sills, but it is doubtful if a dozen or more have ever wondered about the man who introduced it into cultivation and after whom it was named." Easy to cultivate, tolerant of sun and neglect, with graceful arching stems, how many millions more have grown it since then? It softens the edges of window boxes and dramatically fills hanging baskets. Eduard August von Regel named it, Asparagus Sprengeri in 1890. [Click here to read more...]
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posted: July 28, 2006
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St. John's bread (Ceratonia siliqua Linnaeus) [sair a toh' nee a sil' i qwa] is an evergreen tree native to the eastern Mediterranean. The wood is hard, close-grained, and prized for woodworking. Typical of its family, the Fabaceae, St. John's bread produces a pod with hard, brown, bean-like seeds. [Click here to read more...]
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posted: January 13, 2006
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In 1758, Linnaeus named a flightless and, astonishingly, head-armored bird from Australia and New Guinea, Casuarius casuarius, the southern or double-wattled cassowary. The name was Latinized from the bird's Malay name, kasuari. [Click here to read more...]
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posted: December 23, 2005
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Spruce (Picea species) shrouded in snow and birch (Betula species) stark in a winter's landscape are but two of the images often depicted on holiday cards. Though these trees are very different, each shares a symbiotic relationship with a fungus in the Basidomycetes—Amanita muscaria (Linnaeus per Fries) Hooker—the fly agaric. [Click here to read more...]
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posted: July 29, 2005
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In 1748, the Swedish Academy of Science commissioned a student of Linnaeus, Pehr Kalm, to travel to North America and search for economic plants—dye plants, new foods, fodder for animals, and the like. In the three years he explored the colonies (northeast U.S. and parts of Canada), Kalm collected about 380 new species, made observations about plants and animals, and noted the customs and survival techniques of early settlers and natives in the New World. [Click here to read more...]
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posted: July 15, 2005
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The genus, Silene, [si lee' ne] is a member of the Caryophyllaceae, the carnation or pink family, and composed of about five hundred species of annual, biennial, and perennial plants. The plants are mostly native to the Northern Hemisphere and their greatest abundance is found around the Mediterranean. Wild or cultivated, the various species are called "pinks", "campions", and, those with glandular trichomes (sticky hairs), "catchflies". [Click here to read more...]
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posted: May 6, 2005
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The medieval bestiaries were books of animals both fabulous and real. Usually compiled by monks, these tomes had stilted illustrations and provided brief descriptions taken from actual or believed observations. Each animal was presented as a real, yet allegorical character—a moral lesson for the masses. [Click here to read more...]
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posted: March 11, 2005
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At one time, shrubs and trees were planted to separate fields or fields from roads. These hedgerows divided land in a gracious, idyllic way. They were a mix of useful plants neighbors could share—willows for basketry, berries and nuts. A modicum of maintenance kept the hedgerow, a hedgerow. Wildflowers grew there; birds and small animals had refuge in the midst of cultivated lands. The hedgerow stayed the same and yet it changed with the seasons and the passing of the years. [Click here to read more...]
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posted: February 4, 2005
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High in the Andes, the Runa (Quechua) raise fields of kiwicha. With mountains and brilliant skies as a backdrop, the fields of red, purple, and yellow pendant spikes are said the most beautiful crop in the world. The kiwicha (Amaranthus caudatus Linnaeus) is a grain amaranth developed in the mountains of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and northern Argentina. The 'grains' are tiny, poppyseed-sized, but each plant can produce 100,000 seeds. [Click here to read more...]
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posted: November 8, 2004
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In Rome, a fascis was a bundle of elm or birch rods. The bundle bound around a staff with an axe facing outward became the fascis of a magistrate and his lictor. The lictor carried the fascis before the magistrate as a symbol of office representing law and the authority to punish crimes—rods for a mere beating, the axe head for death. [Click here to read more...]
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posted: October 1, 2004
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Apollo's bay or laurel (Laurus nobilis Linnaeus) is the source of the culinary spice, bay leaf; a seasoning added whole to cooking food, then removed and tossed away before serving. Bay leaf is common in kitchens coming down through the ages from its home along the northern Mediterranean and Asia Minor. [Click here to read more...]
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posted: July 30, 2004
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Tantalus was a wealthy king. Some legends say he ruled from Mount Sipylus in Lydia, some say he was king of Corinth or maybe Argos. Zeus favored Tantalus and invited him to a feast to share the nectar and ambrosia of the gods. While dining, Zeus spoke of secrets and gave divine counsel to Tantalus. These were things not for other mortal's ears. But Tantalus did not keep these counsels secret. [Click here to read more...]
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posted: May 21, 2004
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In 1270, the forces of Sultan Bihars (Baybars) laid the city to waste. The port was filled with debris, the city was uninhabitable. Crusaders, now under the command of Louis IX (St. Louis), would never seize the city again. After more than 3000 years, Ascalon passed into obscurity. On the southeastern edge of the Mediterranean, the port had been a prosperous trade center eight hundred years before Athens was founded and twelve hundred years before Rome grew from the Palatine Hill. [Click here to read more...]
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posted: April 16, 2004
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Little is known of the ancient goddess, Ceres. She was an Etruscan goddess, one of the Penates [pe nah' tes], guardians of the home and hearth. She was perhaps a goddess of agrarian families. By Roman times, the Penates numbered two and did not include Ceres. She was resurrected as the goddess of agriculture, adopted from the Greek goddess, Demeter, the mother or giver of barley and other grains. [Click here to read more...]
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posted: March 12, 2004
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The modern day pansy (Viola x wittrockiana Gams) is far from its wild heritage finding a home among gardeners around the world. According to the American Horticultural Society, the numerous pansy cultivars are complex hybrids of the Johnny-jump-up (Viola tricolor), the yellow violet (V. lutea), the horned violet (V. cornuta), and Viola altaica. (A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, AHS, Brickell and Zuk, Dorling Kindersley, 1996) [Click here to read more...]
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posted: March 5, 2004
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The trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans (L.) Seemann ex Bureau) is a vigorous, deciduous shrub/vine native to the southeastern U.S. The vine grows well on many soil types; its only preference--sunny, dry locations. It bears large showy panicles of orange-red funnelform (trumpet-shaped) flowers through the summer. Trumpet creeper was once a popular gardener-to-gardener hand me down vine. [Click here to read more...]
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posted: February 20, 2004
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The castor bean plant (Ricinus communis Linnaeus) is a highly variable species native to Africa. The plant has been cultivated for its valuable oil for at least 4,000 years. In ancient times, the plant was known as kik or kikaijon. [Click here to read more...]
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posted: January 30, 2004
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When John Gerard wrote The Herbal in 1597, the watermelon was called Citrullus officinarum, the Citrull Cucumber. He states that "later Herbarists do call it Anguria..." a name probably taken from the ancient Greek angourion for the watermelon. [Click here to read more...]
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posted: January 23, 2004
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Apparently, most of Europe was not familiar with the artichoke (Cynara scolymus Linnaeus) until the sixteenth century. John Gerard, ever up on the latest plants, grew artichokes "of a greenish red colour" which he called "Cinara maxima Anglica" or the great English artichoke. In Gerard's day (1597, pre-Linnaeus), the genus was spelled with an 'i' and the "Latine name" was generally believed a reference to cinis or ashes since "The plant must be set and dunged with good store of ashes...." (wood ashes worked into the soil). [Click here to read more...]
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posted: January 9, 2004
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In John Gerard's day, the chickweeds were known under the generic name, Alsine, a name he credits to the Greeks and remarked that "...in Latine it retaineth the same name....." Chickweeds are now classified in the genera Stellaria, Cerastium, Callitriche, and Paronychia; worldwide there are hundreds of species. The common chickweed (Stellaria media (L.) Villars) is native to Europe and was known to Gerard as the lesser chickweed. [Click here to read more...]
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posted: January 2, 2004
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For centuries, inhabitants of tropical areas have tapped palms for their sap. The sweet liquid provided energy as well as fluids in the hot climate. Three species of palms were regularly tapped in tropical Asia and the associated islands of the Indonesian archipelago--the sugar or wine date palm (Phoenix sylvestris Roxburgh), the palmyra (Borassus flabellifer Linnaeus), and the coconut (Cocos nucifera Linnaeus). [Click here to read more...]
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