moimoi's Serene World of Plants

There are a handful of ginkgo trees on the University of Alberta campus, and a few private trees around the city. I've been advocating trying some on our urban boulevards, just to try to get a tiny smidge of biodiversity going as an alternative to the green ash (about 60% of our street trees) and American elm (30%) we have. From my perspective, the ginkgo has the added bonus of having very few insect pests or diseases. Our Forestry department is skeptical because they grow slowly, and they haven't had much luck finding a commercial source with enough trees without paying huge amounts for untested trees.

A guy I knew in University was doing his Master's thesis on growth rates of sphagnum moss in calcareous fens. Turns out studying growth rates of moss is perhaps not the best topic for a Master's. He'd been gathering data for about eight years at that time, and still didn't have enough variation to demonstrate whatever it was he was trying to measure. For all I know, he's still working on that degree.

I have an affection for both Ginkgo and Sphagnum—we had a pair of ginkgo trees outside my elementary school and they were lovely.



I knew one of Europe’s foremost expert on Sphagnum in the Netherlands—here’s a picture of him with a clump of bog plants (though it’s the carnivorous sundews that stand out, not the Sphagnum). The development of peat as a fuel source was also an often-overlooked driver of the Dutch golden age, making the Netherlands one of the first countries to use fossil fuels to drive development and increase living standards (IIRC caloric intake and energy consumption in Gouden Eeuw Netherlands was roughly the same as the average in a lot of middle income countries today).

FYI - I shall be covering Drosera in my pre-Thanksgiving post on carnivorous plants :-)

attn: songstarliner

A foppish Jemaine Clement on a historical, botanical podcast adventure!

www.earwolf.com/episode/bonus-the-mysterious-secrets-of-uncle-berties-botanarium-episode-1/

No, it doesn't quite cluster like that. I found his baby picture but he hasn't bloomed recently so I don't know if this will be enough to help identify him. 

Forum Faves & Requests

Greetings, Forum! And happy Spring!

It’s a lovely day here in Chicago, so what better time to celebrate some of our favorite members of Kingdom Plantae? We start with some “blue flowers” as requested by ＤＬΘ, followed by the Genus Lobelia (since I couldn’t find much info on Queen Bitch’s Lobelia dunbarii, or L. dunbariae, aside from the fact that it’s a threatened native species of the Hawaiian island of Molaka'i, per Swedish Wikipedia) and Lupin’s Triffids. A full entry on songstarliner’s succulents is slated for 7/17, since succulents, cacti, and bromeliads are a fascinating subset of about 60 different plant families. Look for the rest of your faves in upcoming entries, and thanks again for reading my little thread!


Genus Gentiana (suggested by Lord Lucan)

Origin: A cosmopolitan genus, occurring in alpine habitats in temperate regions of Asia, Europe and the Americas. Some species also occur in northwestern Africa, eastern Australia, and New Zealand.

Features: Gentians have oppositely arranged leaves, sometimes in a basal rosette. The trumpet-shaped flowers are usually deep blue or azure, but can be white, cream, yellow, or red. Many species are polymorphic with respect to flower color, bearing flowers of different colors. Blue-flowered species predominate in the Northern Hemisphere, with red-flowered species dominant in the Andes, where bird pollination is probably more often favored by natural selection. White-flowered species are scattered throughout the range of the genus but dominate in New Zealand.

Fun Facts:

• The genus name is a tribute to Gentius, an Illyrian king who may have been the discoverer of tonic properties in gentians.
  
• Gentian root is a common beverage flavoring for bitters. The soft drink Moxie contains gentian root, along with an alpine distilled beverage called Gentian. The French liqueur Suze and the Italian Aperol are made with gentian root. Americano apéritifs contain gentian root for bitter flavoring as well, and it is the main flavor in the German after-dinner digestif called Underberg. Gentian root is the main ingredient in Angostura bitters.
  
• Gentiana verna (Spring Gentian) is the county flower of Durham in the United Kingdom and appeared on the design of a Great Britain stamp, issued in 1964 to mark the 10th International Botanical Congress held in Edinburgh. A number of superstitions are associated with the Spring Gentian. For example, it is considered bad luck to bring the gentian into a house, as the individual would risk being struck by lightning. Also, folklore suggested that death would follow if the flower was ever picked.
  

Genus Meconopsis (Welsh and Himalayan Poppies)

Origin: A single species, Meconopsis cambrica (Welsh poppy), is indigenous to England, Wales, Ireland, and the fringes of Western Europe, although recent studies suggest that it does not belong in the genus. The other 40 or so (depending on classification) species are found in the Himalayas.

Features: The plants rise to about four feet. The soft leaves and stems are covered in golden hairs, topped with just three or four pendant blossoms.
Poppies are lactiferous, producing latex, which may be milky or watery, coloured or plain.

Fun Facts:

• Meconopsis grandis, known as the blue poppy, is the national flower of Bhutan. Blue poppies do not produce opium.
  
• In the late spring of 1922, a British Himalayan expedition, led by legendary mountaineer George Leigh Mallory, discovered the blue poppy on a failed attempt to reach the summit of the then-unconquered Mount Everest. The flowers were introduced to much excitement at the Royal Horticultural Society's spring show of 1926.
  
• Native to the cold but sunny Himalayas, blue poppies are nearly impossible to grow below 10,000 feet. Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa is one of very few places in the United States to see them, along with parts of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. The plant can neither be propagated nor made to re-flower the following year, even in the controlled environment of the greenhouse, which must be kept below 65 degrees F at all times.(On the other hand, the Welsh Poppy is sometimes considered a weed, albeit a handsome one, due to its vigorous self-seeding.)
  

Genus Lobelia

Origin: Lobelia have a subcosmopolitan distribution, primarily in tropical to warm temperate regions of the world, with a few species extending into cooler temperate regions.

Features: The genus Lobelia comprises a substantial number of large and small annual, perennial and shrubby species, hardy and tender, from a variety of habitats, in a range of colours. Many species appear totally dissimilar from each other. However, all have simple, alternate leaves and two-lipped tubular flowers, each with five lobes. The upper two lobes may be erect while the lower three lobes may be fanned out. Flowering is often abundant and the flower color intense, hence their popularity as ornamental garden subjects

Fun Facts:

• Hawaiian lobelioids such as the L. dunbarii are currently classified in several genera and are thought to originate from a single introduction to a now-submerged Hawaiian Island 13-15 million years ago, probably from a Lobelia-like species arriving from Asia. This is the largest plant radiation in the Hawaiian Islands, and indeed the largest on any island archipelago, with over 125 species. Many species have beautiful and spectacular flowers. Unfortunately, they are also highly vulnerable to feeding by ungulates such as feral pigs. The bark contains a milky (but apparently non-poisonous) latex often chewed by rats and pigs and seedlings are vulnerable to disturbance by digging.
  
• Native Americans used Lobelia to treat respiratory and muscle disorders, and as a purgative. In Appalachian folk medicine, Lobelia has been used as "asthmador", an over-the-counter remedy for asthma and Lobelia inflata (Indian tobacco) has similarities to nicotine that have caused some to try it as an aid to quit smoking. However, studies indicate that it has adverse effects and is not an effective remedy.
  Two species, L. siphilitica and L. cardinalis, were once considered a cure for syphilis.
  
• The eccentric New Englander Elias Smith, a preacher and alternative medicine advocate, identified Lobelia (a.k.a. pukeweed) as the 'plant of renown' referred to in Ezekiel 34:29. Believing that the United States held eschatological significance, Smith believed that this plant was provided by God to democratize medical treatment, just as Smith's preaching was a democratization of theology.
  
• One species, Lobelia chinensis (called bàn biān lián, 半边莲 in Chinese), is one of the fifty fundamental herbs in traditional Chinese medicine.
  
• In the Victorian language of flowers, the Lobelia symbolizes malevolence. 

Triffidus celestus (Triffid)

Origin:  Originally thought to be extraterrestrial in origin, it has been speculated that triffids were the creation of Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko--first coming to the attention of the Western world when a man named Umberto Christoforo Palanguez presented the Arctic & European Fish Oil Company with a mysterious vegetable oil originating from Russia. Once the scientists of Arctic & European realized how potent the oil was, they accepted Palanguez' offer to smuggle some seeds of the plant out of Russia. Palanguez disappeared, but his plane carrying triffid seeds was shot down by the Red Air Force, allowing the seeds to be carried all over the globe by wind. The first triffid outbreaks occurred in Indochina, where they received little press attention until appearing in Sumatra, Borneo, Belgian Congo, Colombia, Brazil and other equatorial regions. Although they developed faster in tropical zones, triffids soon established themselves worldwide outside the polar and desert regions.

Features:  Triffid can be divided into three components: base, trunk, and head (which contains a venomous sting). Adult triffids are described as approximately 7-8 feet (2.1-2.4 m) in height in Europe, while those in tropical areas can reach 10 feet (3.0 m). A small number of North American triffids reportedly reach 60 feet (18 m) in height. The base of a triffid is a large muscle-like root mass, comprising three blunt appendages. When dormant, these appendages draw nutrients, as on a normal plant. When active, triffids use these appendages to propel themselves. Above the base are upturned leafless sticks which the triffid drums against its stem. The exact purpose of this is not fully explained, but my play a part in communication, mating, or echolocation. The upper part of a triffid consists of a stem ending in a funnel-like formation containing a sticky substance which traps insects, much like a pitcher plant. Also housed within the funnel is a stinger which, when fully extended, can measure 10 feet (3.0 m) in length. When attacking, a triffid will lash the sting at its target, primarily aiming for its prey's face or head, with considerable speed and force. Contact with bare skin can kill a person instantly. Once its prey has been stung and killed, a triffid will root itself beside the body and feed on it as it decomposes.

Fun Facts:

• Triffids were nearly exterminated for their predatory nature until identified as the source of a valuable oil that could help reduce worldwide dependence on fossil fuels.
  
• Docking their stingers renders them harmless, and docked triffids have become fashionable in public and private gardens. As it takes triffids two years to fully regrow their stings, captive triffids are safe if pruned annually. Triffid farms produce triffid oil, which is of greater quality when taken from undocked specimens.
  
• After a large part of the Earth's human population was rendered blind by a brightly coloured comet shower, triffids escaped confinement and killed large numbers of people. They soon overran mainland Europe and the British Isles, thus forcing the majority of survivors to escape to the Isle of Wight and other islands. In North America, members of the Algonquin tribe escaped attack due to their immunity to triffid venom.
  
• The triffid is the titular antagonist in John Wyndham's 1951 novel The Day of the Triffids and Simon Clark's 2001 sequel The Night of the Triffids. Triffids were also featured in the 1957 BBC radio dramatization of Wyndham's book, a considerably altered 1962 film adaptation, a more faithful 1981 television serial produced by the BBC, and in a 2009 two-part TV series also produced by the BBC. 
  
  
  
  
  

 

I had my gaming group infiltrate and raid a Fourth-Reich genetic engineering project in Brazil. I was sorely disappointed when they did not recognize the mobile plants with the blinding stingers. They were able to avoid complete GM disapproval by being appropriately appreciative of the piranhamoose.

Some of my favourite botanical kinetics come from exploding seed pods:



This reminded me that I have a Selaginella (which I believe was sold as a "Dinosaur Plant"). I bought it thinking it was probably one of the few plants I would not be able to kill. It must be in one of the boxes of stuff that I still haven't unpacked since my last move... about eight years ago. I wonder if it's still viable? This is why I am only allowed to have plastic plants now.

They have sunflowers in Minecraft. I am rather disappointed that they don't turn to face the sun, but rather always face east. Which is at least a nod to heliotropism, but kind of exactly the opposite of what the real flowers do.

Whimsical Plants

We’ve established that plants move, but how about talking? According to the eminent scholar L. Carroll, tiger lilies talk when there’s anybody worth talking to, “and a great deal louder.” Trees are protectors of a garden, with their bark and shouts of “bough-wough”. And if the flowers in your garden aren’t talking, it’s because you’ve made the beds too soft and put them to sleep. No worries, though, as the renowned Dr. Suess observed, “be grateful you are not in the forest in France where the average person just hasn’t a chance to escape from the perilous pants-eating plants.” But your pants are safe; you’re a fortunate guy. You ought to be shouting ‘how lucky am I’ as you read about these whimsical plant species:

Exhibit A: Genus Passiflora (Passionflower)

Origin: South America, Southern United States

Features: Passion flowers have a unique structure, which in most cases require a large bee to effectively pollinate. The leaves are food for the larva of a number of butterflies. To prevent butterflies from laying too many eggs on any single plant, some passion flowers bear small, colored nubs which resemble the butterflies' eggs and seem to fool them into believing that more eggs have already been deposited on a plant than actually is the case. Also, many Passiflora species produce a sweet nutrient-rich liquid from glands on their leaf stems. These fluids attract ants which kill and eat any pests that they find feeding on the passion flowers.

Fun Facts: 

• Spanish Christian missionaries used passionflowers to teach the story of Jesus’s crucifixion in a rather inventive way. The climbing tendrils were used to describe the whips used in flagellation, the flower’s ten petals and sepals were said to be the apostles, minus Judas and St. Peter the denier, the ring of 100 filaments was said to represent the crown of thorns, and the three stigma and five anthers were used to represent the three nails and five wounds.
  
• In India, blue passionflowers are called Krishnakamala and colloquially called 'Paanch Paandav'. The flower's structure lends itself to the interpretation along the lines of five Pandavas, the Divine Krishna at center, and the opposing hundred at the edges. The color blue is moreover associated with Krishna as color of his aura.
  
• Outside the Christian world, the regularly shaped flowers have reminded people of the face of a clock. In Israel they are known as "clock-flower" (שעונית) and in Greece as "clock plant" (ρολογιά); in Japan too, they are known as tokeisō (時計草, "clock plant"). In Turkey, the shape of the flowers reminds people of the Rota Fortunae and it is called Çarkıfelek.
  
• Historically, the plant been used as an herbal or homeopathic medicine to treat nervous anxiety and insomnia. The dried, ground herb is frequently used in Europe by drinking a teaspoon of it in tea. Passionflower is officially included in the national pharmacopoeias of France, Germany, and Switzerland. In other parts of the world such as India and the Middle East, it has been used to treat morphine dependence. It is also a common folk remedy in Africa and may be used to produce organic sunscreens.
  

 



Exhibit B: Adansonia digitata (Baobab Tree, Monkey Bread Tree, Upside Down Tree)

Origin: Sub-Saharan Africa

Features: The trees usually grow as solitary individuals and are large and distinctive elements of savanna or scrubland vegetation. All baobab trees are deciduous, losing their leaves in the dry season, and remains leafless for nine months of the year. The baobab's compound leaves with normally five (but up to seven) leaflets are akin to a hand. They can grow to between 5–25 m (16–82 ft) in height. The trunk tends to be bottle-shaped and can reach a diameter of 10–14 m (33–46 ft). The span of the roots actually exceed the tree's height, a factor that enables it to survive in a dry climate. During the early summer (October to December in southern hemisphere) the tree bears very large, heavy, white flowers that open during the late afternoon and stay open for 24 hours to be pollinated by fruit bats. The fruit are large, egg-shaped capsules filled with pulp that dries, hardens, and falls to pieces which look like chunks of powdery, dry bread.

Fun Facts:

• Their maximum age, which is subject to much conjecture, seems to be around 1,500 years. Explorers of old were inclined to carve their names on baobabs, and many are defaced by modern graffiti. Around Gweta, Botswana, Chapman's Baobab, also known as Seven Sisters or Xaugam, is named for the explorer James Chapman, but is also taken to be a camping site of Livingstone and Selous. It had a circumference of 25m before its constituent trunks collapsed outward in 2016. It is not confirmed dead, however. The tree was historically used as a navigation beacon and as a post office by passing explorers, traders and travelers, many of whom left inscriptions on its trunk. At Saakpuli in northern Ghana, the site of a 19th century slave transit camp is marked by a stand of large baobabs, to which slaves were chained. The chains were wrapped around the baobab trunks or around the roots.
  
• The African baobab's fruit contains 50% more calcium than spinach, is high in antioxidants, and has three times the vitamin C of an orange. The dry pulp is either eaten fresh or dissolved in milk or water to make a drink. The leaves can be eaten as relish.
  
• African bushman legend states that Thora, the god, took a dislike to the Baobab growing in his garden, so he threw it over the wall of Paradise onto the Earth below. The tree landed upside down and continued to grow. In Zambia, one baobab is said to be haunted by a ghostly python. A long time ago, the python lived in the hollow trunk and was worshipped by the natives. A white hunter shot him down, and led to bad consequences. In Kafue National Park, one of the largest Baobabs is known as "Kondanamwali” or the “tree that eats maidens.” As the story goes, the tree fell in love with four beautiful maidens. When they reached puberty, they made the tree jealous by finding husbands. So, one night, during a thunderstorm, the tree opened its trunk and took the maidens inside. Interestingly enough, a rest house has been built in the branches of the tree. On stormy nights, it is said that the crying of the imprisoned maidens can still be heard. Along the Zambezi, the tribes believe that baobabs were upright and too proud. The gods became angry and uprooted them and threw them back into the ground upside-down. Evil spirits now cause bad luck to anyone that picks up the sweet white flowers. More specifically, a lion will kill them. In contrast some believe that if one drinks from water in which Baobab seeds have soaked, you will be safe from crocodile attacks. Along the (great gray greasy) Limpopo River, it is thought that when a young boy is bathed in the water used to soak baobab bark, he will grow up into a big man.
  

 


Exhibit C: Genus Plumeria (Frangipani)

Origin: native to Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America as far south as Brazil but can be grown in tropical and sub-tropical regions

Features: Each of the separate species of Plumeria bears differently shaped alternate leaves with distinct form and growth habits. For example, the leaves of P. alba are quite narrow and corrugated, whereas leaves of P. pudica have an elongated shape and glossy, dark-green color. P. pudica is one of the everblooming types with non-deciduous, evergreen leaves. Plumeria flowers are most fragrant at night in order to lure moths to pollinate them. The flowers have no nectar, however, and simply dupe their pollinators.

Fun Facts:

• The common name 'frangipani' comes from an Italian noble family, a sixteenth-century marquess of which invented a plumeria-scented perfume. In India, it is called 'champa' and makes up the scent 'nag champa' along with sandalwood. In Cantonese, it is known as 'gaai daan fa' or the 'egg yolk flower' tree. In Indonesia, where the flower has been commonly associated with Balinese culture, it is known as 'kamboja' and the Hawaiian name is 'melia'
  
• In Mesoamerica, Plumerias have carried complex symbolic significance for over 2000 years, with striking examples from the Mayan and Aztec periods. They are associated with temples in both Hindu and Buddhist cultures. The scent of the Plumeria has been associated with a vampire in Malay folklore called the pontianak and throughout Southeast Asia, frangipani trees are often planted in cemeteries.
  
• Notable literary references include:
  1819 - P. B. Shelley "The champak odours fail / Like sweet thoughts in a dream," line from "Indian Serenade".
  1890 - In Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Lord Henry's wife's perfume leaves the scent of frangipani to linger in the room, likely referencing the work of Huysmans.
  1913 - Rabindranath Tagore story entitled "The Champa Flower" from the collection Crescent Moon.
  1957 - Doris Lessing's short story Flight, from her collection "The Habit of Loving" includes several references to the frangipani tree - "Her hair fell down her back in a wave of sunlight, and her long bare legs repeated the angles of the frangipani stems; bare, shining-brown stems among patterns of pale blossoms."
  1985 - In the novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind, the character Baldini wears it.
  1999- Tori Amos mentions frangipani in her song "Datura" released on her album To Venus and Back.

Exhibit D: Ziziphus jujube (Jujube, Indian Date, Chinese Date, Korean Date)

Origin: South Asia, China

Features: It is a small deciduous tree or shrub reaching a height of 5–12m (16–39 ft), usually with thorny branches.The fruit is an edible oval drupe 1.5–3 cm deep; when immature it is smooth-green, with the consistency and taste of an apple, maturing brown to purplish-black and eventually wrinkled, looking like a small date. There is a single hard stone similar to an olive stone.

Fun Facts:

• The freshly harvested as well as the candied dried fruit are often eaten as a snack, or with coffee. On his visit to Medina the nineteenth century English explorer, Sir Richard Burton, observed that the local variety of jubube fruit was widely eaten. He describes its taste as "like a bad plum, an unrepentant cherry and an insipid apple." The plant has no relation to the candy confection by the same name, though it may have served as inspiration for the Laotian drag performer known as Jujube.
  
• Ziziphin, a compound in the leaves of the jujube, suppresses the ability to perceive sweet taste. The fruit, being mucilaginous, is very soothing to the throat and decoctions of jujube have often been used in pharmacy to treat sore throats. The fruit and its seeds are used in Chinese and Korean traditional medicine, where they are believed to alleviate stress, and traditionally for anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-ulcer, anti-inflammatory purposes. A controlled clinical trial found the fruit helpful for chronic constipation.
  
• In Japan, it is known as natsume and has given its name to a style of similarly-shaped tea caddy used in the Japanese tea ceremony. It is also the namesake for nightlights (ナツメ球), again due to the similarity between the shape of the bulb and the fruit. In Korea, the wood is used to make the body of the taepyeongso, a double-reed wind instrument. The wood is also used to make Go bowls, beads, and violin parts.
  
• In Arabic-speaking regions, it is thought that the jujube is related to the lote-trees (sing. sidrah, pl. sidr) which are mentioned in the Qur'an. In Palestine, a related species, the Ziziphus spina-christi is called sidr and believed to be the origin of Christ’s crown of thorns.
  

See also: Genus Allium (inspiration for Suess’s Truffula Tree), Genus Dahlia, Genus Scadoxus, Genus Hoya, Checkered Lily, Toad Lily, Flame Lily

I need to post a picture of this goddamn bush in my backyard. It's blooming and I swear it's like mace to me.

Thanks PatBat! I'm down to cover famine crops - if not in one of the 'edibles' posts coming up, then with the succulents that songstarliner requested on 7/17. 

I've smelled durian before, and felt absolutely no desire to try to eat one. Finding out it has a high sulfur content makes even less likely to try it. I can't eat any sort of Brassicate (cabbage, mustard, broccoli, etc) because they all taste like pure sulfur to me. Bleech.

I mentioned earlier (in regards to the Triffids) that I ran a role-playing game where the players infiltrated a Fourth Reich genetic engineering facility. That installation was known as the Akee Facility, and extracts from the brain-like aril of the Ackee fruit were used to grant intelligence to other genetically manipulated plant species.

I've tried that, but in a little lozenge form. It was really interesting! 

post delayed on account of out-of-town guests...watch this space...