moimoi's Serene World of Plants

It pleases me that there is a scientific distinction between thorns and prickles.

With the mishigoss of debating I...forgot to post! Expect a double post next weekend, once my houseguest has left.

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Alright! Without further ado, here’s a brief detour into kingdom Fungi before we explore some all-time classic plant species.

Exhibit A: Kingdom Fungi, various phyla – As requested by Smacky the Frog

Origin: Abundant worldwide, most fungi are inconspicuous because of the small size of their structures, and their cryptic lifestyles in soil or on dead matter. Little is known of the true biodiversity of Kingdom Fungi, which has been estimated at 1.5 million to 5 million species, with about 5% of these having been formally classified. Before the introduction of molecular methods of analysis, taxonomists considered fungi to be members of the plant kingdom because of similarities in lifestyle: both fungi and plants are mainly immobile, and have similarities in general morphology and growth habitat. Like plants, fungi often grow in soil and, in the case of mushrooms, form conspicuous fruit bodies, which sometimes resemble plants, such as mosses. The fungi are now considered a separate kingdom, distinct from both plants and animals, from which they appear to have diverged around one billion years ago.

Features: A characteristic that places fungi in a different kingdom from plants, bacteria and some protists, is chitin in their cell walls. Similar to animals, fungi are heterotrophs; they acquire their food by absorbing dissolved molecules, typically by secreting digestive enzymes into their environment. Fungi do not photosynthesize. Many mushrooms grow towards light, following the sun just like plant, but scientists do not yet know how mushrooms use sunlight; only that they do. Growth is their means of mobility, except for spores (a few of which are flagellated), which may travel through the air or water. Fungi are the principal decomposers in ecological systems. A mushroom (or toadstool) is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. "Mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that have a stem, a cap, and gills on the underside of the cap. These gills produce microscopic spores that help the fungus spread across the ground or its occupant surface. Forms deviating from the standard morphology usually have more specific names, such as "bolete", "puffball", "stinkhorn", and "morel".

Fun Facts:

• Devil's Cigar (Chorioactis geaster) is an extremely rare mushroom found only in very select locations in central Texas and Japan. In Texas, the fruiting body grows on the roots of dead cedar elms, while in Japan it grows on dead oak trees. Scientists do not know why the fungus mysteriously lives only in Texas and Japan, locations of approximately the same latitude, but separated by 11,000 km (6,800 mi). The Devil's Cigar is a dark brown cigar-shaped capsule that transforms into a tan-coloured star when it splits open to release its spores. It is also one of only a few known fungi that produce a distinct whistle sound when releasing its spores.
  
• Known as the shaggy mane, the Coprinus comatus is an edible mushroom that’s quite common. But unlike most other mushroom species, this bizarre mushroom will dissolve itself within hours of depositing spores or being picked. Therefore, this mushroom must be consumed shortly after picking, before it turns black.
• Mycena chlorophos emerge during the rainy season in Japanese, Polynesian, and Brazilian forests, scattering the floor with glowing spores. They are bioluminescent, emitting a glowing green light known as foxfire. It is brightest when surrounding temperatures are about 81 °F, and for about a day after the cap forms and opens. After that, the glow dulls until it is undetectable by the naked eye.
• Some of the oldest living mushroom colonies are fairy rings growing around the famous Stonehenge ruins in England. The rings are so large that they can best be seen from airplanes. A “fairy ring” is a naturally occurring mushroom formation which causes the mushrooms to form an outline of a perfect circle. 
  
• The Death Cap Mushroom not only looks like safe, edible mushrooms, it also tastes perfectly nice, and it gives no symptoms of poisoning until after it has already ruined your liver and kidneys.
  
• The most expensive single food ingredient sold was a 3.3lb white truffle, a subterranean mushroom that sold for $330,000.
  
• The spores of mushrooms are made of chitin, the hardest naturally-made substance on Earth. Some scientists suspect that mushroom spores are capable of space travel; a few even believe that some fungi found on Earth originally came from outer space.
  
• Mushrooms are useful not only as food and medicine; some are also being used in bioremediation, to absorb and digest dangerous substances like oil, pesticides and industrial waste, in places where they threaten the environment.
  
• Before the invention of synthetic dyes, mushrooms were widely used for dyeing wool and other natural fibers. Mushroom dyes are organic compounds and produce strong, vivid colors. For example: Indigo Milkcap (Lactarius indigo) can be found in the coniferous and deciduous forests of eastern North America, East Asia, and Central America. When the mushroom is cut or broken open, the milk, or latex, that oozes out is a beautiful indigo blue that slowly turns green upon exposure to air. Though it looks quite poisonous, it is reportedly edible and is sold in rural markets in Mexico, Guatemala, and China.
  
• Laetiporus is a genus of edible mushrooms found throughout much of the world. Some species, especially Laetiporus sulphureus, are commonly known as sulphur shelf, chicken of the woods, the chicken mushroom, or the chicken fungus because many think they taste like chicken. L. sulphureus has potent ability to inhibit staph bacteria, as well as moderate ability to inhibit the growth of Bacillus subtilis. 
  
• Psilocybe tampanensis, a psychedelic mushroom species, was found once and never again in Tampa, Florida in 1977, and all of today’s widely circulating tampanensis mushrooms are the descendants of that original specimen.
  
• Portabello mushrooms, button mushrooms, and white mushrooms are all the same mushrooms at different levels of maturity.
  
• Fly Agaric mushrooms, which look like Super Mario Bros. mushrooms, contain a psychoactive chemical that can cause micropsia/macropsia, aka the illusion that objects around you are larger or smaller than they actually are.
  
• Lightning makes mushrooms more plentiful, according to ongoing research that offers a solid scientific basis for Japanese farming lore.
  
• Reindeers love to eat psychedelic mushrooms, may get high off of them, and that this could be the origin of the flying reindeer myth. According to a piece in Pharmaceutical Journal by scientist Andrew Haynes, they (along with other animals) sometimes deliberately eat hallucinogenic fungi in order to amuse themselves during long winters. Not only do the reindeer of the Chuckchee people of Siberia ingest hallucinogenic mushrooms, they also get high on the urine patches containing the drug, and will fight over access to hallucinogenic yellow snow.
  

 






 




Exhibit B: Genus Crocus (Crocus, Saffron)

Origin: Crocuses are native to woodland, scrub, and meadows from sea level to alpine tundra in central and southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, on the islands of the Aegean, and across Central Asia to Xinjiang Province in western China.

Features: The cup-shaped, solitary flower tapers off into a narrow tube. Their colors vary enormously, although lilac, mauve, yellow, and white are predominant. The grass-like leaf shows generally a white central stripe along the leaf axis. The spice saffron is obtained from the stigmas of Crocus sativus, an autumn-blooming species.

Fun Facts:

• Cultivation and harvesting of Crocus sativus for saffron was first documented in the Mediterranean, notably on the island of Crete. Frescos showing them are found at the Knossos site on Crete, as well as from the comparably aged Akrotiri site on Santorini. Crocus or Krokus (Greek: Κρόκος) was a mortal youth who, because he was unhappy with his love affair with Smilax, was turned by the gods into a plant bearing his name.
  
• The financial community sometimes refers to companies or economic sectors that rise early after an economic downturn as "crocuses" in reference to the flower's ability to thrive in the late winter or early spring.
  
• Saffron is a key seasoning, fragrance, dye, and medicine in use for over three millennia. One of the world's most expensive spices by weight, the dried "threads" are distinguished by their bitter taste, hay-like fragrance, and slight metallic notes. To glean 1 lb (450 g) of dry saffron requires the harvest of 50,000–75,000 flowers; a kilogram requires 110,000–170,000 flowers. Forty hours of labor are needed to pick 150,000 flowers. Saffron prices at wholesale and retail rates range from US$500 to US$5,000 per pound, or US$1,100–11,000/kg.
  
• Saffron is widely used in Persian, Indian, European, Arab, and Turkish cuisines. Confectioneries and liquors also often include saffron. It is used for religious purposes in India, and is widely used in cooking in many cuisines, ranging from the Milanese risotto of Italy, the paella of Spain, the bouillabaisse of France, to the biryani with various meat accompaniments in South Asia. 
  
• Saffron's folkloric uses as an herbal medicine are legendary and legion. It was used for its carminative (suppressing cramps and flatulence) and emmenagogic (enhancing pelvic blood flow) properties. Medieval Europeans used it to treat respiratory disorders, blood disorders, insomnia, paralysis, heart diseases, stomach upsets, gout, and other ailments. For the ancient Persians and Egyptians saffron was an aphrodisiac, a general-use antidote against poisoning, a digestive stimulant, and a tonic for dysentery and measles.
  
• In Europe, saffron threads were a key component of an aromatic oil known as crocinum, which comprised such motley ingredients as alkanet, dragon's blood (for color), and wine (again for color). Crocinum was applied as a perfume to hair. Another preparation involved mixing saffron with wine to produce a viscous yellow spray; it was copiously applied in sunny Roman amphitheatres—as an air freshener.
• For even more, check out Wikipedia’s THREE pages on Saffron
  

 






Exhibit C: Genus Ficus (Ficus, Fig Tree, Strangler Fig, Banyan Tree, Bodhi Tree, Peepal)

Origin: Figs are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The common fig (F. carica) is a temperate species native to southwest Asia and the Mediterranean region (from Afghanistan to Portugal), which has been widely cultivated from ancient times for its fruit. Current molecular clock estimates indicate that Ficus is a relatively ancient genus being 60-80 million years old.

Features: Ficus is a pan-tropical genus of trees, shrubs and vines occupying a wide variety of ecological niches; most are evergreen, but some deciduous species are endemic to areas outside of the tropics and to higher elevations. Fig species are characterized by their unique inflorescence and distinctive pollination system, involving tiny, highly specific fig wasps that enter these sub-closed inflorescences to both pollinate and lay their own eggs, has been a constant source of inspiration and wonder to biologists. Many have aerial roots and a distinctive shape or habit, and their fruits distinguish them from other plants. All figs possess a white to yellowish latex, some in copious quantities, that is a skin and eye irritant. A banyan is a fig that starts its life as an epiphyte (a plant growing on another plant) when its seeds germinate in the cracks and crevices on a host tree or on buildings and bridges. In a banyan that envelops a support tree, the mesh of roots growing around the support tree eventually applies very considerable pressure and commonly kills the tree. Such an enveloped, dead tree eventually rots away, so the banyan becomes a "columnar tree" with a hollow central core. In jungles, such hollows are particularly desirable shelters to many animals. The giant banyan trees of India are the largest trees in the world by canopy coverage. One individual specimen, Thimmamma Marrimanu, in Andhra Pradesh, covers 19,107 m2 (205,670 sq ft) and is the largest single tree by two-dimensional canopy coverage area. This tree is also the world's largest known tree by perimeter length with a perimeter of 846 m (2,776 ft).

Fun Facts:

• The fig may also be the first plant cultivated by humans - fossils in the Jordan Rift Valley indicate figs may have been cultivated up to a thousand years before wheat and rye. There is evidence that figs, specifically the Common Fig (F. carica) and Sycomore Fig (F. sycomorus), were among the first – if not the very first – plant species that were deliberately bred for agriculture in the Middle East, starting more than 11,000 years ago. The common fig tree is cited in the Bible, where in Genesis 3:7, Adam and Eve cover their nakedness with fig leaves. The fig fruit is also included in the list of food found in the Promised Land, according to the Torah (Deut. 8). Jesus cursed a fig tree for bearing no fruit (Mark 11:12–14). The common fig is one of two significant trees in Islam, and there is a sura in Quran named "The Fig" or At-Tin (سوره تین).
  
• The Charybdis Fig Tree of Homer's Odyssey is presumably a F. carica. The F. Ruminalis is thought to be a wild fig tree that had religious and mythological significance in ancient Rome, most notably in the legend of Romulus and Remus. 
  
• In Asia, figs are important in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. The Buddha is traditionally held to have found enlightenment while meditating under a sacred fig (F. religiosa). The same species was Ashvattha, the "world tree" of Hinduism.
  
• In Hinduism, the leaf of the banyan tree is said to be the resting place for the god Krishna. The god Shiva as Dakshinamurthy is nearly always depicted sitting in silence under the banyan with rishis at his feet. It is thought of as perfectly symbolizing eternal life due to its seemingly unending expansion. Sadhus (Hindu ascetics) still meditate beneath sacred fig trees, and Hindus do pradakshina (circumambulation, or meditative pacing) around the sacred fig tree as a mark of worship. In the Atharva Veda, the F. racemosa is given prominence as a means for acquiring prosperity and vanquishing foes. Both the tree and the flower are referred to as the udumbara.  
• In Buddhism's Pali canon, the banyan is referenced numerous times. Typical metaphors allude to the banyan's epiphytic nature, likening the banyan's supplanting of a host tree as comparable to the way sensual desire (kāma) overcomes humans. Ta Prohm in the Angkor Wat temple complex of Cambodia is well known for the giant banyans that grow up, around, and through its walls. 
• Gautama Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment while meditating underneath a Ficus religiosa. The site is in present-day Bodh Gaya in Bihar, India. The original tree was destroyed, and has been replaced several times. A branch of the original tree was rooted in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka in 288 BCE and is known as Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi; it is the oldest flowering plant in the world.The spot was used as a shrine even in the lifetime of the Buddha. King Ashoka was most diligent in paying homage to the Bodhi tree, and held a festival every year in its honor in the month of Kattika. His queen, Tissarakkhā was jealous of the Tree, and three years after she became queen (i.e., in the nineteenth year of Asoka's reign), she caused the tree to be killed by means of mandu thorns. The tree, however, grew again, and a great monastery was attached called the Bodhimanda Vihara. The tree was again cut down by King Pushyamitra Shunga in the 2nd century BC, and by King Shashanka in 600 AD. Every time the tree was destroyed, a new tree was planted at the same place. Not all Ficus religiosa can be called a Bodhi Tree. A Bodhi Tree must be able to trace its parent to another Bodhi Tree and the line goes on until the first Bodhi Tree under which Gautama is said to have gained enlightenment. 
• The leaves of F. religiousa move continuously even when the air around is still and no perceptible wind is blowing. This phenomenon can be explained due to the long leaf stalk and the broad leaf structure. However, religious minded people in Hindu/Buddhist religion attribute this movement of the leaves to the fact that "devas" or "gods" reside on these leaves and make it move continuously.  
• In Jainism, the consumption of any fruit belonging to this genus is prohibited. 
• In the Gujarati language, banya means "grocer or merchant", not "tree". The Portuguese picked up the word to refer specifically to Hindu merchants, and passed it along to the English as early as 1599 with the same meaning. By 1634, English writers began to tell of the banyan tree, a tree under which Hindu merchants conducted their business. The tree provided a shaded place for a village meeting or for merchants to sell their goods. Eventually, "banyan" became the name of the tree itself. 
• In Chinese the fig is called wú huā guǒ (simplified Chinese: 无花果; traditional Chinese: 無花果), "fruit without flower". In Bengali, where the common fig is called dumur, it is referenced in a proverb: tumi jeno dumurer phool hoe gele ("You have become [invisible like] the dumur flower").  
• Due to the complex structure of the roots and extensive branching, the banyan is extensively used for creating bonsai. Taiwan's oldest living bonsai is a 240-year-old banyan housed in Tainan. 
• In many stories of Philippine mythology, the banyan (locally known as balete or balite) is said to be home to a variety of spirits and demon-like creatures (among the Visayans, specifically, the dili ingon nato, meaning "those not like us"). Maligno (evil spirits, from Spanish for 'malign') associated with it include the kapre (a giant), duwende (dwarves), and the tikbalang (a creature whose top half is a horse and whose bottom half is human). Children at a young age are taught never to point at a fully mature banyan tree for fear of offending the spirits that dwell within them, most especially when they are new to the place. Filipinos always utter a respectful word or two to the spirits in the banyan tree when they are near one, walking near or around it to avoid any harm. Nearly every Filipino believes that provoking the spirits in a banyan tree can cause one great harm, illness, misfortune, untold suffering, and death.
• In Kikuyu mythology, the sycomore is the sacred tree from where the Kikuyu people originated. All sacrifices to Ngai, the supreme creator, were performed under the tree. 
• Several banyans can be found near downtown Hilo, Hawaii. Some of them were planted by celebrities throughout the 20th century and form Banyan Drive.
• The first banyan tree in the continental U.S. was planted by Thomas Alva Edison in Fort Myers, Florida, in an attempt with Henry Ford to find a more cost-effective way to produce rubber for car tires. The tree, originally only 4 feet (1.2 m) tall, now covers an acre of land on the estate. 
• The banyan is part of the coat of arms of Indonesia. It is meant to symbolize the unity of Indonesia - one country with many far-flung roots. As a giant tree, it also symbolizes power. Suharto used it as a logo for his party, the Golongan Karya (Golkar), taking advantage of the deeply rooted belief of his fellow-countrymen and women in the sacred nature of the banyan. 
• The Economist magazine features an opinion column covering topics pertaining to Asia named "Banyan" 
• A slogan commonly invoked at the counter protests for the Westboro Baptist Church is "God hates figs".Parodying the WBC all-capitals "God hates fags" signs, the counter-protest signs often invoke a passage in the Biblical book of Matthew to justify the claim about God and his feelings about figs. The signs have been noted at counter-protests at the University of Chicago; in Spartanburg, South Carolina; and in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, as well as at the non-WBC-themed Rally to Restore Sanity.  

 


Exhibit D: Genus Nelumbo (Lotus flower)

Origin: Nelumbonaceae, sometimes called the sacred lotus family, is a family of flowering plants, including the single genus Nelumbo with two species, N. lutea (North America) and N. nucifera. In the past, these species were included in the waterlily family, Nymphaeaceae, but it is now widely accepted, following molecular studies, that the Nelumbonaceae are actually an example of convergent evolution. At least four other genera, Nelumbites, Exnelumbites, Paleonelumbo, and Nelumbago, are known from fossils.

Features: The roots of lotus are planted in the soil of the pond or river bottom, while the leaves float on top of the water surface or are held well above it. The flowers are usually found on thick stems rising several centimeters above the leaves. The plant normally grows up to a height of about 150 cm and a horizontal spread of up to 3 meters, but some unverified reports place the height as high as over 5 meters. The leaves may be as large as 60 cm in diameter, while the showy flowers can be up to 20 cm in diameter. Researchers report that the lotus has the remarkable ability to regulate the temperature of its flowers to within a narrow range just as humans and other warmblooded animals do. An individual lotus can live for over a thousand years and has the rare ability to revive into activity after stasis. Under favorable circumstances its seeds may remain viable for many years, with the oldest recorded lotus germination being from that of seeds 1,300 years old recovered from a dry lakebed in northeastern China.

Fun Facts:

• N. nucifera is the floral emblem of both India and Vietnam, sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists.
  
• The lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) is an ancient and polyvalent symbol in Asian culture. Hindus revere it with the gods Vishnu,Brahma and to a lesser degree Kubera, and the goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati . Used as an example of divine beauty and purity, Vishnu is often described as the "Lotus-Eyed One". The lotus springs from the navel of Vishnu while he is in Yoga Nidra. Its unfolding petals suggest the expansion of the soul. The growth of its pure beauty from the mud of its origin holds a benign spiritual promise. Particularly Brahma and Lakshmi, the divinities of potency and wealth, have the lotus symbol associated with them. In Hindu iconography, other deities, like Ganga and Ganesha are often depicted with lotus flowers as their seats. The lotus plant is cited extensively within Puranic and Vedic literature.
  
• In Buddhist symbolism, the lotus represents purity of the body, speech, and mind as if floating above the muddy waters of attachment and desire. The Lotus Sūtra (Sanskrit: Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra, literally Sutra on the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma) is one of the most popular and influential Buddhist sutras, and the basis on which the Tiantai, Tendai, Cheontae, and Nichiren schools of Buddhism were established. 
  
• In Christianity, the St. Thomas Cross features a lotus underneath a cross.
  
• Drawing in turn on these beliefs, the international Bahá'í community adopted this symbolism in the design of the Lotus Temple in New Delhi, India.
  
• The flowers, seeds, young leaves, and "roots" (rhizomes) are all edible. In Asia, the petals are sometimes used for garnish, while the large leaves are used as a wrap for food, not frequently eaten (for example, as a wrapper for zongzi). In Korea and Vietnam, the leaves and petals are used as a tisane. Lotus rootlets are often pickled with rice vinegar, sugar, chili and/or garlic. It has a crunchy texture with sweet-tangy flavors. Lotus root is used as a vegetable in soups, salads, deep-fried, stir-fried, and braised dishes; the roots are also used in traditional Asian herbal medicine. Combined with sugar, lotus seed paste becomes one of the most common ingredients used in pastries such as mooncakes, daifuku, and rice flour pudding.
  
• The North American L. lutea has a large tuber that is used as a food source by Native Americans. The seed is also edible and is known as "alligator corn".
  

Exhibit E: Family Nymphaeaceae (water lily, lotus)

Origin: temperate and tropical climates around the world; Horticulturally, water lilies have been hybridized for temperate gardens since the 19th century, and the hybrids are divided into three groups: hardy, night-blooming tropical, and day-blooming tropical water lilies. Hardy water lilies are hybrids of Nymphaea species from the subgenus Castalia; night-blooming tropical water lilies are developed from the subgenus Lotos; and the day-blooming tropical plants arise from hybridization of plants of the subgenus Brachyceras.

Features: Water lilies are rhizomatous aquatic herbs rooted in soil, with leaves and flowers floating on or emergent from the surface of bodies of water. The leaves are round, with a radial notch in the genuses Nymphaea and Nuphar, but fully circular in Victoria and Euryale.

Fun Facts:

• Nymphaea caerulea, known primarily as blue lotus, but also blue water lily and sacred blue lily (or sacred narcotic lily of the Nile), contains the psychoactive alkaloid apomorphine. It was known to the Mayan and Ancient Egyptian civilizations. The plant and flower are very frequently depicted in Egyptian art, including the walls of the famous temple of Karnak, and are frequently depicted in connection with party scenes, dancing, or in significant spiritual or magical rites such as the rite of passage into the afterlife. N. caerulea was considered extremely significant in Egyptian mythology, regarded as a symbol of the sun, since the flowers are closed at night and open again in the morning. At Heliopolis, the origin of the world was taught to have been when the sun god Ra emerged from a lotus flower growing in "primordial waters". Due to its color, it was identified, in some beliefs, as having been the original container--in a similar manner to an egg--of Atum, another solar deity.
  
• The Egyptian white lotus is the national flower of Egypt. It is also an element of the Coptic flag. In Egyptian mythology, Horus was occasionally shown in art as a naked boy with a finger in his mouth sitting on a lotus with his mother. Women often wore amulets during childbirth, which depicted Heqet as a frog, sitting in a lotus. The number 1,000 in ancient Egyptian numerals is represented by the symbol of the white lotus.
  
• In Greek mythology the Lotus-eaters were a race of people living on an island dominated by lotus plants. The lotus fruits and flowers were the primary food of the island and were narcotic, causing the people to sleep in peaceful apathy. Because the Greek word lôtos can refer to several different plants, there is some ambiguity as to which "lotus" appears in the Odyssey. Recent studies have shown that the blue water-lily of the Nile, Nymphaea caerulea, also known as the blue lotus (already known under this name to the Greeks), is a candidate. It can be processed to be used as a soporific and, in some formulations, has psychotropic properties. It is common in Egyptian iconography which suggests its use in a religious context. Currently, a member of the genus Ziziphus, is traditionally taken to be the plant meant in the Odyssey.
  
• In Ancient Greece, water lilies were a symbol of innocence and modesty. A Roman belief existed that drinking a liquid of crushed Nymphaea in vinegar for 10 consecutive days turned a boy into a eunuch.
  
• The white water lily N. Nouchali is the national flower of Bangladesh and state flower for Andhra Pradesh, India. The water lily has a special place in Sangam literature and Tamil poetics, where it is considered symbolic of the grief of separation; it is considered to evoke imagery of the sunset, the seashore, and the shark. White lotus is also depicted on many of the seals of the different Provinces in Thailand.  
• The blue waterlily is the national flower of Sri Lanka. Buddhist lore in Sri Lanka claims that this flower was one of the 108 auspicious signs found on Prince Siddhartha's footprint. It is said that when Buddha died, lotus flowers blossomed everywhere he had walked in his lifetime.  
• Lily pads, also known as Seeblätter, are a charge in Northern European heraldry, often colored red (gules), and appear on the flag of Friesland and the coat of arms of Denmark (in the latter case often replaced by red hearts). 
• Water lilies have several edible parts. The young leaves and unopened flower buds can be boiled and served as a vegetable. The seeds, high in starch, protein, and oil, may be popped, parched, or ground into flour. Potato-like tubers can be collected from the species N. tuberosa. 
• The French Impressionist painter Claude Monet is known for his many paintings of water lilies in the pond in his garden at Giverny. 
• The species Victoria amazonica was known as Victoria regia in the Victorian era, when it was the subject of rivalry between gardeners in England. Always on the lookout for a spectacular new species with which to impress their peers, Victorian "Gardeners" such as the Duke of Devonshire, and the Duke of Northumberland started a well-mannered competition to become the first to cultivate and bring to flower this enormous lily. In the end, the two aforementioned Dukes achieved this in November 1849 by replicating the lily's warm swampy habitat (not easy in an English winter with only coal-fired boilers for heating). The species captured the imagination of the public and was the subject of several dedicated monographs. The Duke of Devonshire presented Queen Victoria with one of the first of these flowers, and named it in her honor. The lily, with ribbed undersurface and leaves veining "like transverse girders and supports", was Sir Joseph Paxton’s inspiration for The Crystal Palace, a building four times the size of St. Peter's in Rome. 

Scary plants


In honor of the season, I present the scariest plants I could dig up. No fun facts here, only horrors of horticulture (and foul wordplay).


Exhibit A: Kingdom Protista, Phylum Dinoflagellata (Red Tide Algae)

Origin: Found primarily in marine environments, such as ocean coastlines or bays, Red tides may be a natural phenomenon, although they may result from activity close to coastlines or in estuaries such as chemical dumping and runoff, low water levels, and climate change.

Features:
 Most red tide algae are dinoflagellates. They are visible in water at a concentration of 1,000 algae cells per milliliter, while in dense blooms they can measure over 200,000 per milliliter. This is also known as harmful algal bloom (HAB), which is the rapid and uncontrolled growth of algae in either freshwater or marine environments. Because some algae produce toxins, they can be harmful to humans, mammals, birds and fish when the toxins are ingested. As blooms grow, they deplete the oxygen in the water and block sunlight from reaching fish and plants. Blooms can last from a few days to many months. After the bloom dies, the microbes which decompose the dead algae use up even more of the oxygen, which can create fish die-offs. When these zones of depleted oxygen cover a large area for an extended period of time, they are referred to as dead zones, where neither fish nor plants are able to survive. Among the causes of HABs are high-nutrient conditions in water, mostly of nitrates and phosphorus which are emitted by agriculture and other industries. Higher water temperature and less circulation are also factors. Not all algal blooms are harmful, however, with some only discoloring water, producing a smelly odor, or adding a bad taste to the water.

Freaky Facts:

• The first recorded case was in 1530 off the Florida Gulf Coast. The first recorded fatalities were in Borneo in 1976. Over 200 people were poisoned by shellfish and seven died. 
• The Canadian red tide of 2005 threatened the fishing industries of Maine, Massachusetts, and Long Island, NY. 
• In 2014, the Florida coast suffered a massive red tide that was 90 miles long and 60 miles wide. Last year, red tides were reported in the Philippines, the Netherlands, and the Gulf of Mexico.  

Exhibit B: Genus Aconitum (Wolfsbane, Monkshood, Devil’s Helmet, Queen of all Poisons)

Origin: chiefly native to the mountainous parts of the northern hemisphere, growing in the moisture-retentive but well-draining soils of mountain meadows

Features: These flowering perennials have dark green leaves with jagged edges and blue, purple, white, yellow or pink. They are distinguishable by having one of the five sepals, called the galea, in the form of a cylindrical helmet. Most species are extremely poisonous and must be dealt with carefully.

Freaky Facts:

• Several species of Aconitum have been used as arrow poisons. The Minaro in Ladakh use A. napellus on their arrows to hunt ibex, while the Ainu in Japan used a species of Aconitum to hunt bear. The Chinese also used Aconitum poisons both for hunting and for warfare. Aconitum poisons were used by the Aleuts of Alaska's Aleutian Islands for hunting whales. Usually, one man in a kayak armed with a poison-tipped lance would hunt the whale, paralyzing it with the poison and causing it to drown. 
  
• The name aconitum comes from the Greek ἀκόνιτον, which may derive from the Greek akon for dart or javelin, the tips of which were poisoned with the substance, or from akonae, because of the rocky ground on which the plant was thought to grow. The Greek name lycotonum, which translates literally to wolf's bane, is thought to indicate the use of its juice to poison arrows or baits used to kill wolves.
  
• Aconite has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda. Aconite was also described in Greek and Roman medicine by Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and Pliny the Elder, who most likely prescribed the Alpine species Aconitum lycoctonum.
  
• In Greek mythology, Medea attempted to poison Theseus with a cup of wine poisoned with wolfsbane. The kyōgen (traditional Japanese comedy) play Busu which is well-known and frequently taught in Japan, is centered around dried aconite root used for traditional Chinese medicine. The story describes servants who decide that the dried aconite root is really sugar, and suffer unpleasant though non-lethal symptoms after eating it. Shakespeare, in Henry IV Part II Act 4 Scene 4 refers to aconite, alongside rash gunpowder, working as strongly as the "venom of suggestion" to break up close relationships.
  
• Aconite also lends itself to use as a fictional poison in modern settings. An overdose of aconite was the method in which Rudolph Bloom, father of Leopold Bloom in James Joyce's Ulysses, committed suicide. In the television series Midsomer Murders, season 4, episode 1 ("Garden of Death"), aconite is used as a murder weapon, mixed into fettucine with pesto to mask the taste. In the Australian detective series Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, series 1, episode 5 ("Raisins and Almonds"), the ground root of wolfsbane is used as a murder weapon. In Rizzoli and Isles Season 1 Episode 3 "Sympathy For The Devil" Maura Isles discovered a teenage boy named Matisse killed by monkshood mixed into a water bottle. In the 2014 season of NCIS:LA, assistant director, Owen Granger, and members of his staff are poisoned with "monkshood" by a mole within the agency. In the TV series Dexter (Season 7), the character Hannah McKay uses aconite to poison some of her victims. In Episode 9 of the TV Series American Horror Story: Coven, the resurrected Myrtle Snow poisons former fellow Witches council members with monkshood laced melonballs. This was portrayed as paralyzing them while she gouges out their eyes (one from each) with a melon baller.
  
• In Metamorphoses, Ovid tells how the herb comes from the slavering mouth of Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guarded the gates of Hell. As the veterinary historian John Blaisdell has noted, symptoms of aconite poisoning in humans bear some passing similarity to those of rabies: frothy saliva, impaired vision, vertigo, and finally a coma. Thus, it is possible that some ancient Greeks would have believed that this poison, mythically born of Cerberus's lips, was literally the same as that to be found inside the mouth of a rabid dog.
  
• In the 1931 classic horror film, Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula and Helen Chandler as Mina Seward, reference is made in regards to wolfsbane (aconitum). Towards the end of the film, "Van Helsing holds up a sprig of wolfsbane". Van Helsing educates the nurse protecting Mina from Count Dracula to place sprigs of wolfbane around Mina's neck for protection. Furthermore, he instructs that wolfsbane is a plant that grows in central Europe. There the natives use it to protect themselves against vampires. As long as the wolfsbane is present in Mina's bedroom, she will be safe from Count Dracula. During the night, Count Dracula desires to visit Mina. He appears outside her window in the form of a flying bat. He causes the nurse to become drowsy and when she awakes from his spell, she removes the sprigs of wolfsbane placing it in a hallway chest of drawers. With the removal of the wolfsbane from Mina's room, Count Dracula mysteriously appears and transports Mina to the dungeon of the castle.
  
• Wolfsbane in the Harry Potter series of fantasy novels is a plant that can be used as an ingredient in the Wolfsbane potion, a potion werewolves use to maintain their rationality and conscience when transformed into a wolf. Additionally Severus Snape lectures Harry Potter when they first meet in the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone that "As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite."
  
• In The Vampire Diaries, wolfsbane is the counterpart of vervain, which affects vampires, to debilitate werewolves and hybrids. In the MTV series Teen Wolf, wolfsbane plays a prominent, reoccurring role, although portrayed a lot less poisonous to humans. In the NBC series Grimm, wolfsbane is rubbed on the person's skin to prevent a Blutbad (a wolf-like Wesen, or creature that a Grimm can differentiate from normal human beings) from detecting their scent.
• Wolf's bane is used as an analogy for the power of divine communion in Liber 65 1:13-16, one of Aleister Crowley's Holy Books of Thelema. Wolfsbane is also mentioned in one verse of Lady Gwen Thompson's 1974 poem "Rede of the Wiccae", a long version of the Wiccan Rede: "Widdershins go when Moon doth wane, An the werewolves howl by the dread wolfsbane."
  

  


Exhibit C: Genus Antirrhinum (Snapdragons)

Origin: It is native to the Mediterranean region, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern France, and east to Turkey and Syria.

Features: Though perennial, the species is often cultivated as a biennial or annual plant, particularly in colder areas where it may not survive the winter. Numerous cultivars are available, including plants with lavender, orange, pink, yellow, or white flowers. It often escapes from cultivation, and naturalized populations occur widely in Europe north of the native range, and elsewhere in temperate regions of the world.

Freaky Facts:

• The common name "snapdragon", originates from the flowers' reaction to having their throats squeezed, which causes the "mouth" of the flower to snap open like a dragon's mouth.
  
• It’s believed that the snapdragon was originally a wildflower in Spain and Italy, and it has several legends associated with it. One of them is that if a person conceals the flower on their person or in a room, they will appear fascinating to other people. Another legend has it that any house with snapdragons growing in its flower bed will be free of curses and witchcraft. Any woman who eats Antirrhinum majus will have lifelong beauty and usefulness, say the legends. This, however, is dangerous since every part of the snapdragon is poisonous. 
• To Victorians, snapdragons represented deception, which could originate from how the gorgeous flower contrasts with its macabre seed pod.
  
• In the laboratory it is a model organism, for example containing the gene DEFICIENS which provides the letter "D" in the acronym MADS-box for a family of genes which are important in plant development. 

Bonus Scary plant gallery:

Monotropa uniflora (Ghost Plant)



Tacca chantrieri (Chinese black bat flower)



Clathrus Archeri (Devil's Claw stinkhorn mushroom)



Hydnellum peckii (Bleeding Tooth fungus)



Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae (Cedar Apple Rust fungus)

*pushes up nerd glasses*

Oh man, this is a tough one. There's actually an executive order from Bill Clinton's presidency that deals with invasive species (If you're having trouble sleeping). I teach that there's a difference between "exotic" species and "invasive species" and just avoid the term "weed" entirely. Exotics are anything "nonnative to the ecosystem under consideration" and invasives are "non-native to the ecosystem under consideration and causing some kind of loss of biodiversity in that ecosystem.

So for me, stuff like garlic mustard, buckthorn, amur honeysuckle, and tree of heaven are all in the "invasive" category because there's evidence to actually show "when these move in, they outcompete whatever was already living there, and they only move in because of people." While stuff like Pokeweed and Mulberry are  "exotic" because even though they're from other continents and got introduced by humans, they don't really do much damage to existing biodiversity. Mulberries are kind of a semi-uncommon, benign understory or edge species and pokeweed are mostly in heavily disturbed areas. All of our crop plants fall in the exotic category too because we introduced them from other continents but there aren't invasive potato plants taking over the understory of our forests (that I know of).

Why certain things make that leap from exotic to invasive and others don't is a huge field of research with a lot of competing hypotheses.  I mostly do work in the "control and eradication" realm of things though.

Carnivorous plants

I know this post is tardy, but lately I’ve been rather down about the election of President Dickhead and the fact that I might be going back to work for him…Anyhoo, as we Americans prepare to sit down and feast, I present a selection of plants that could make a meal of us.

Exhibit A: Dionaea muscipula (Venus Flytrap)

Origin: Native to subtropical wetlands on the East Coast of the United States in North Carolina and South Carolina, specifically within a 60-mile radius of Wilmington, North Carolina. The Venus flytrap is found in nitrogen- and phosphorus-poor environments, such as bogs and wet savannahs. Small in stature and slow-growing, the Venus flytrap tolerates fire well, and depends on periodic burning to suppress its competition. Fire suppression threatens its future in the wild. The nutritional poverty of the soil is the reason that the plant relies on such elaborate traps: insect prey provide the nitrogen for protein formation that the soil cannot. The Venus flytrap is not a tropical plant and can tolerate mild winters. In fact, Venus flytraps that do not go through a period of winter dormancy will weaken and die after a period of time.

Features: The Venus flytrap is a small plant whose structure can be described as a rosette of four to seven leaves, which arise from a short subterranean stem that is actually a bulb-like object. Each stem reaches a maximum size of about 3 to 10 cm, depending on the time of year; longer leaves with robust traps are usually formed after flowering. Flytraps that have more than seven leaves are colonies formed by rosettes that have divided beneath the ground.
The leaf blade is divided into two regions: a flat, heart-shaped photosynthesis-capable petiole, and a pair of terminal lobes hinged at the midrib, forming the trap which is the true leaf. The upper surface of these lobes contains red pigments and its edges secrete mucilage. The trapping mechanism is tripped when prey contacts one of the three hair-like trichomes that are found on the upper surface of each of the lobes. The mechanism is so highly specialized that it can distinguish between living prey and non-prey stimuli, such as falling raindrops; two trigger hairs must be touched in succession within 20 seconds of each other or one hair touched twice in rapid succession, whereupon the lobes of the trap will snap shut, typically in about one-tenth of a second. The edges of the lobes are fringed by stiff hair-like protrusions or cilia, which mesh together and prevent large prey from escaping. If the prey is too small and escapes, the trap will usually reopen within 12 hours. If the prey moves around in the trap, it tightens and digestion begins more quickly.

Fun Facts:

• The plant's common name refers to Venus, the Roman goddess of love. The genus name, Dionaea ("daughter of Dione"), refers to the Greek goddess Aphrodite, while the species name, muscipula, is Latin for "mousetrap". Historically, the plant was also known by the slang term "tipitiwitchet" or "tippity twitchet", possibly an oblique reference to the plant's resemblance to human female genitalia.
  
• Most carnivorous plants selectively feed on specific prey. This is due to the available prey and the type of trap used by the organism. With the Venus flytrap, prey is limited to beetles, spiders and other crawling arthropods. In fact, the Dionaea diet is 33% ants, 30% spiders, 10% beetles, and 10% grasshoppers, with fewer than 5% flying insects. Given that Dionaea evolved from an ancestral form of Drosera (carnivorous plants that use a sticky trap instead of a snap trap) the reason for this evolutionary branching becomes clear. Whilst Drosera consume smaller, aerial insects, Dionaea are able to extract more nutrients from larger terrestrial bugs. This gives Dionaea an evolutionary advantage over their ancestral sticky trap form.
  
• Venus flytrap extract is available on the market as an herbal remedy, sometimes as the prime ingredient of a patent medicine named "Carnivora". According to the American Cancer Society, these products are promoted in alternative medicine as a treatment for a variety of human ailments including HIV, Crohn's disease and skin cancer, but "available scientific evidence does not support the health claims made for Venus flytrap extract".
  

  


Exhibit B: Genus Nepenthes (Pitcher Plant, Monkey Cup)

Origin: The Old World tropics, ranging from South China, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines; westward to Madagascar (two species) and the Seychelles (one); southward to Australia (three) and New Caledonia (one); and northward to India (one) and Sri Lanka (one). The greatest diversity occurs on Borneo, Sumatra, and the Philippines, with many endemic species.

Features: Nepenthes species usually consist of a shallow root system and a prostrate or climbing stem, often several meters long and up to 15 m (49 ft) or more, usually 1 cm (0.4 in) or less in diameter. From the stems arise alternate, sword-shaped leaves. The pitcher starts as a small bud and gradually expands to form a globe- or tube-shaped trap. The trap contains a fluid of the plant's own production, which may be watery or syrupy, and is used to drown the prey. The lower part of the trap contains glands which absorb nutrients from captured prey. Along the upper inside part of the trap is a slick, waxy coating which makes the escape of its prey nearly impossible. Surrounding the entrance to the trap is a structure called the peristome (the "lip") which is slippery and often quite colorful, attracting prey, but offering an unsure footing. Above the peristome is a lid; in many species, this keeps rain from diluting the fluid within the pitcher, the underside of which may contain nectar glands which attract prey. Nepenthes species usually produce two types of pitchers, known as leaf dimorphism. Appearing near the base of the plant are the large lower traps, which typically sit on the ground. The upper or aerial pitchers are usually smaller, colored differently, and possess different features from the lower pitchers. These upper pitchers usually form as the plant reaches maturity and the plant grows taller. To keep the plant steady, the upper pitchers often form a loop in the tendril, allowing it to wrap around nearby support. In some species (e.g. N. rafflesiana), different prey may be attracted by the two types of pitchers

Fun Facts:

• The name "monkey cups" refers to the fact that monkeys have been observed drinking rainwater from these plants. In the May 1964 issue of National Geographic, Paul A. Zahl wrote: “The carriers called them 'monkey cups,' a name I had heard elsewhere in reference to Nepenthes, but the implication that monkeys drink the pitcher fluid seemed far-fetched. I later proved it true. In Sarawak I found an orangutan that had been raised as a pet and later freed. As I approached it gingerly in the forest, I offered it a half-full pitcher. To my surprise, the ape accepted it and, with the finesse of a lady at tea, executed a delicate bottoms-up.”
  
• Nepenthes bicalcarata provides space in the hollow tendrils of its upper pitchers for the carpenter ant Camponotus schmitzi to build nests. The ants take larger prey from the pitchers, which may benefit N. bicalcarata by reducing the amount of putrefaction of collected organic matter that could harm the natural community of infaunal species that aid the plant's digestion. Nepenthes lowii has also formed a dependent relationship, but with vertebrates instead of insects. The pitchers of N. lowii provide a sugary reward on the reflexed pitcher lid and a perch for tree shrew species, which have been found defecating into the pitcher. A 2009 study, which coined the term "tree shrew lavatories", determined between 57 and 100% of the plant's foliar nitrogen uptake comes from the feces of tree shrews. Another study showed the shape and size of the pitcher orifice of N. lowii exactly match the dimensions of a typical tree shrew (Tupaia montana).
  
• Nepenthes ampullaria is thought to be the basis for Audrey 2, the man-eating monster antagonist in the film and theater adaptations of Little Shop of Horrors. 
  
• The pitchers of N. mirabilis are used as toy koteka in New Guinea.
• Nepenthes khasiana is the only Nepenthes species native to India. It is thought to attract prey by means of blue fluorescence.
• Nepenthes is a series of four sculptures by artist Dan Corson, installed in 2013 along Northwest Davis Street in the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, in the United States. The sculptures are 17 feet (5.2 m) tall and glow in the dark due to photovoltaics.

 
 

Exhibit C: Genus Drosera (Sundews)

Origin: Drosera, commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. Various species, which vary greatly in size and form, are native to every continent except Antarctica.

Features: Sundews are characterised by the glandular tentacles, topped with sticky secretions, that cover their leaf surfaces. The trapping and digestion mechanism usually employs two types of glands: stalked glands that secrete sweet mucilage to attract and ensnare insects and enzymes to digest them, and sessile glands that absorb the resulting nutrient soup.The genus is so specialized for nutrient uptake through its carnivorous behavior, the pygmy sundew is missing the enzymes (nitrate reductase, in particular) that plants normally use for the uptake of earth-bound nitrates. All species of sundew are able to move their tentacles in response to contact with edible prey. The tentacles are extremely sensitive and will bend toward the center of the leaf to bring the insect into contact with as many stalked glands as possible.

Fun Facts:

• Sundews were used as medicinal herbs as early as the 12th century, when an Italian doctor from the School of Salerno, Matthaeus Platearius, described the plant as an herbal remedy for coughs under the name herba sole. Sundew tea was especially recommended by herbalists in Europe for dry coughs, bronchitis, whooping cough, asthma and "bronchial cramps". A modern study has shown that Drosera exhibits antitussive properties.
  
• The mucilage produced by Drosera has remarkable elastic properties and has made this genus a very attractive subject in biomaterials research. The mucilage can stretch to nearly a million times its original size. In one recent study, the adhesive mucilages of three species (D. binata, D. capensis, and D. spatulata) were analyzed for nanofiber and nanoparticle content. More important for biomaterials research is the fact that, when dried, the mucin provides a suitable substrate for the attachment of living cells. This has important implications for tissue engineering. Essentially, a coating of Drosera mucilage on a surgical implant, such as a replacement hip or an organ transplant, could drastically improve the rate of recovery and decrease the potential for rejection, because living tissue can effectively attach and grow on it.
  
• Sundew corms were used by Aborigines to dye textiles, while another purple or yellow dye was traditionally prepared in the Scottish Highlands using D. rotundifolia. A sundew liqueur is also still produced using a recipe from the 14th century. It is made using fresh leaves from mainly D. capensis, D. spatulata, and D. rotundifolia.

   

One of my late relatives ended up becoming the curator of carnivorous plants for the Field Museum, and one of her old pamphlets (featuring her own scientific illustrations) can be found on the Internet Archive.

A dollar for every collard leaf you eat on New Year's, a penny for every black-eyed pea.

Also, lets just say it: mistletoe is associated with fertility because when you squeeze the berries it looks like semen.

I love this too and now I desperately want it on vinyl. Unfortunately Discogs says that's going to set me back $150