Plant of the day is Algaonema spp. or Chinese evergreen

Plant of the day is Algaonema spp. or Chinese evergreen

Alright, so I'm ready for a few new plants in the house and I came across this one.  Fantastic looking foliage.  I'm actually planning on doing a combo planting of this with a neat variety of Hedera helix (English ivy).  Where I obtained it did not list a variety, which is annoying.  Somebody worked on that plant, show some props.

The plant I got ahold of has some great looking red in the foliage.  It is a hybrid OR from tissue culture.  I totally want to try to tissue culture this thing now.  The genus of Algaonema is relatively small with about 21 species.  There are several species listed as illegitimate, so taxonomists have been playing around a bit with the genus.  It's been in cultivation since at least 1885 when it was brought to Kew gardens in London.  (I'm totally going to that place!).

It is a member of the Araceae family (aroid or arum family) which means it's related to Amorphophallus titanum (it's worth a copy and paste look...I'm not going to spoil you).  I actually have 2 other members of this family in the house.  I must have an aroid thing.  The inflorescence is called a spadix (think peace lily) and has unisexual flowers on it with male flowers on the top and female flowers on the bottom.  That being said.  If you want to keep it around, don't let it flower.  Remove those.  Or don't ..it's up to you.

The inflorescence, the female flowers are at the very bottom and are yellowish

Care:
Its natural habitat is shady forests of Asian tropics.  It likes warm humid places BUT, being an understory plant doesn't need a lot of water.  I was pretty surprised to see how warm this plant liked to be.  Recommendations for care indicate a minimum temperature of 60-65 degrees.  Jeez.  It's very susceptible to cold damage, and manifests as brown/black greasy looking spots on the leaves.  It does like to be on the moist side, so try not to let it dry out too much.  This one will require a little bit more attention to watering as a trade of for its versatility with light requirements.  It can handle very low light but gets a little less bushy looking.  Avoid direct sunlight as the leaves will scorch.  A monthly fertilization is probably more than adequate as it can decline if fertilized too heavily.

Important to note!:  The less light you receive the more you're going to want to let it dry out, at the very least when the top of the soil is dry and maybe even a little lower down into the pot.

This link I found from aroid.org is amazing and comprehensive.  Check it out.

http://www.aroid.org/genera/aglaonema/aglaonema_success/aglaonema_success.pdf

Plant of the day is Selaginella martensii or Marten's spikemoss

Plant of the Day is: Selaginella martensii or Marten's spikemoss

This earns a spot into plant of the day because it is a great houseplant for lower light spots and just looks downright cool.  Almost reminds me of a Thuja (arborvitae) or something.  Also this is not a clubmoss, as that is something different (but related).

Also, it's old.  REALLY old.  In fact, the Lycopodiophyta division is the oldest living vascular plant division at around 410 million years old.  Whew!  Not to get too much into taxonomy but this genus is kind of the go to for both an order AND a family.  Selaginellaceae.  There, i just learned a new family too!

So, all of that being said, they aren't like your standard flowering plants.  Not quite ferns but in terms of care they are very similar.  They like to be well watered with high humidity and kept fairly warm.  Room temp should be fine.  To combat your bone dry house in the winter either put a dish with water and rocks under the pot...or they even make humidity trays that work well (Niki got one for her fern and BAM...much better).  

As you can see from the picture below, you can find them with yellow to white variegated tips that remind me of a Thuja/Chamaecyparis blend.  Almost like having a little evergreen in your house!

I've seen these around and not grabbed one but it's definitely on my radar now.  

I'm not going to go into a whole lot of detail here but they are spore producing and as an interesting distinction, lycopods only have one microphyll (leaf vein) per leaf compared to the many in ferns and many other plants.  Unlike almost all lycopods, Selaginella actually does have some trace branching off of the microphyll.  Obviously kicking it oldskool and far less evolved.  Obviously a pretty solid model, however, considering they are still around.

This particular species was listed in my houseplants book with a common name of resurrection plant.  In times of extreme drought they turn brown and curl up into a ball and can be uprooted.  When moisture returns they turn green and bounce back.  Pretty cool really.   

As a note, I gotta say.  I'm astounded by the amount of stuff I've yet to learn, so much terminology, so many plants in varying degrees of evolution.  I'm overwhelmed at times but I'll keep on a tryin.

Plant of the day is Schlumbergera spp. or Christmas cactus

Plant of the day is Schlumbergera spp. or Christmas cactus.

So basically, gotta get me one o these.

awwwww yeah

The wiki page on this is quite extensive so I really recommend checking it out.  It has a lot of information, the taxonomic classification of this is almost comical.  

So this is a true member of the Cactaceae family.  Yay.  Amazingly enough Linnaeus started the GENUS Cactus back in 1753.  Heh, they had a lot of cacti to find eh?  There are about 125-130 genera in the Cactus family now...for reference.  So anyways, it is a native of the coastal mountains of south east Brazil.  It is unique from a lot of cacti in that it does well in quite a bit of shade and actually handles some cooler temperatures well.  Making it a pretty solid choice for a houseplant.

Where are the leaves you ask?  Well, in a broad sense there aren't any really.  The green segments are stems that are photosynthetic.  There are two different types of Schlumbergera, the Truncata group and the Buckleyi group.  The Truncata group plants have pointier segments and less symmetrical flowers (zygomorphic) while the Buckleyi group have rounded (crenate/dentate) teeth on the segments and more symmetrical flowers.  

A note on the flowers.  They've got a whole buncha tepals.  Inner parts of the flower form a tube that hummingbirds like.  Most species require cross pollination to fertilize.

The plant has been around and in cultivation/breeding since the first half of the 19th century.  It is a hugely popular houseplant and comes in a variety of sizes, colors, etc.  Widely hybridized (hence the spp.).  

So a quick note on care and what not.  In nature these are epiphytes (live on trees) or lithophytes (live on rocks).  So, slightly acidic very well drained soil would be great.  Yep.  Don't overwater, it IS a cactus.  They DO like humidity so maybe don't stick it near you heater.  Thar be other plants for that.  Flowering is directly tied to length of daylight/darkness, that's on you to look up :).

I don't have any Cacti members at home.  Only Crassulaceae, my Jade plants would love more light.  Oh, they also do the CAM photosynthesis thing if you ever get curious about it...its fascinating.  I promise.  Let me just store my CO2 as an acid till I need it....brilliant.

That's all folks!

Plant of the day is: Ledebouria socialis or silver squill

Plant of the day is: Ledebouria socialis or silver squill

This is a great plant my grandmother gave me last year.  It makes a wonderful houseplant and can even be used as an annual bedding plant.  Doesn't take a freeze, so don't put it in the freezer (or outside about now).  Its pretty easy to take care of and makes little baby bulbs that you can divide and spread the love with.  More on the care in a bit.

I had absolutely no idea what it was as my grandma just called it an "onion" plant.  It is in the Asparagaceae (that's right, asparagus) family which was pulled out of the Liliaceae family and there was another family made (whose name escapes me) that has more onion like plants in it.  Go figure.  Anyways.

So here you have it, lovely right?  Most Ledebouria you'll run into are from Africa, a few species in Madagascar and even India, etc, etc.  They are generally quite drought tolerant (which you can totally use to your advantage you lazy plant people).  They like well drained soils and a lot of light.  That being said, mine doesn't get a whole lot of strong light (because I have very few windows *sadface*) and it still does quite well.  

Don't over water!!  Before I knew what this plant was and based on where my grandmother had it placed I figured it liked a fairly shady and moist soil.  Derf.  I started noticing that it just did not look happy in the moist soil I had it in so I decided I needed to find out what it was.  A very wonderful and enthusiastic plant person who will remain nameless was kind enough to give me the answer and save me a lot more time.  

Put this in a very well drained soil and let it dry completely before watering and you got yo'self some happy bulbs.  Since the re potting and more light, its been quite vigorous.  I'm digging that it is doing well despite the somewhat shoddy light I have.

There are also a lot of other species of this, I'd love to get a hold of a few others.  One last picture showing a bit of flower action up close.

If you see this little plant somewhere...take it home!

Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. 22 Dec 2013 <http://www.tropicos.org/Image/100115238>

Plant of the Day is: Cocos nucifera or Coconut

Plant of the Day is: Cocos nucifera or Coconut

    What with it being the winter solstice today and all, perhaps we could all use a nice reminder that the days are going to be getting longer again :).  

Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. 21 Dec 2013 <http://www.tropicos.org/Image/16821>

    So my boss and some other co-workers alike love to ask extremely specific and interesting questions.  Just the other day it was "where is the embryo in a coconut?"  Of course we all had to look it up, and I was very impressed with the development of a coconut.  Here is the inside of a coconut.

Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. 21 Dec 2013 <http://www.tropicos.org/Image/16859>

To the right side of the image is the embryo.  In this picture, germination is occurring.  Now, what happens here is the cotyledon develops inside the area where the coconut water is and actually absorbs the water for energy.  As this is happening, the first shoot and root emerge from that hole in a coconut. 

Here is another illustration of the seed.

As you can see, the liquid and surrounding tissue are actually endosperm (think of it as starting charge for a seed).  So, there are the first baby steps of a coconut.  Now, on to the other stuffs.

So, some of you may know that Coconuts are a member of the palm family (Arecaceae).  That family is actually the only member of its order, which is kind of nifty.  The coconut tree is also not a tree, none of the palms are actually trees as they are monocots.  I won't get into a whole lot of detail, but they don't have what is called "secondary growth" and as such are not trees.  Do they have exceptionally lignified tissues, sure, but no cork cambium for sure (often they have syringyl lignins).  Palm trees actually increase their diameter by division and enlargement of parenchyma cells which is termed "diffuse secondary growth".  It's neat.  Really.  I promise. 

I'm not going to get into all the uses of coconut, you know a lot of them.  Drink it, eat it, make fiber out of it.  It's commonly used as a growth media for marijuana.  The vast usage of the plant is quite amazing.

As far as ID goes, it is a monocot, so it has straight veins in the leaves that usually fan out.  There ARE two different groups of palms, the ones that are more upright with a fan at the top and ones that tend to form a kind of shrub and branch out near the base of the plant.  The true flowers are 3 (a monocot trait) and these occur in a fairly large inflorescence which houses separate male and female flowers (monoecious).  It is believed to be cross pollinating but may self (I'm not going down that insane road right now).  The female flowers are a fair bit larger, so look for that.  

As a last note, Cocos nucifera is the only species for the genus Cocos.  Which makes it???....

Monotypic.  A monotypic genus.  

Have some coconut over the holidays and think of a warm beach :).

Plant of the day is: Ostrya virginiana or hop hornbeam

Plant of the day is: Ostrya virginiana or hop hornbeam

This lands a spot as a plant of the day because it is one of those plants that has just recently found me again.  On the family ranch this last weekend I was out hiking with my Dad (and Niki) and I finally looked up and saw these great fruit.  My dad had been wondering for some time what they were and pointed them out to me in the past (when they weren't fruiting).  He had mentioned something about ironwood but I hadn't put it together as I was really only familiar with the hop hornbeam common name, thus given because the fruit resembles hops.  I know you can see it.  Anyways, turns out we have a massive swath of these through some of our forest.  Yay.

Copyright Gerrit Davidse

“Tropicos, botanical information system at the Missouri Botanical Garden - www.tropicos.org” 

This plant of the day gonna be a little bit more informal, and that's just how its gonna be.  So, to start, the fruit above is of whats called an involucre or a bract (modified leaf) that in this usage relates to a very conspicuous bract at the base of an inflorescence.  Tis a silly word involucre.  If you get a chance to grab one of these, they come apart very nicely and there is a seed inside the papery enclosure.  What you are looking at above is the pistillate or female inflorescence.  This is a monoecious plant which means that it has both male and female organs on the same plant and in this instance, separate male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers.  Below is the pistillate flower, super cool.

“Tropicos, botanical information system at the Missouri Botanical Garden - www.tropicos.org” 

So above is the pistillate flower, with some cool looking styles.  I like its style, dude.  These open up during the spring around the time the leaves are emerging (as you can see by the young leaf above).  Now, below, are the male flowers or catkins (a term thrown around a lot in the elm or Betulaceae family).  So these form a little earlier and are present throughout the winter. 

Copyright Gerrit Davidse

“Tropicos, botanical information system at the Missouri Botanical Garden - www.tropicos.org” 

Anyways, onto some other stuff.  This is a fairly small tree.  30 to 50 feet tops, often you'll see it much smaller.  If you are looking for these fruity type things that are the best ID feature.  Look anytime after mid-summer as they begin to mature.  The fruit starts out fairly white looking, fades to a green, then turns brown.  The bark is fairly peely and vertically arranged, its ...got a character to it that I think you could probably get familiar with and use as an ID trait.

The genus is small (only about 10 species) and often called ironwood as the wood is very dense and hard and has been used for bows.  It apparently goes well with Euonymous atropurpureus or Eastern wahoo which is supposed to make good arrows.

It is a host for the Walnut Sphinx which is a pretty solid looking moth whose caterpillar produces a high pitched whistle when attacked.  Fun fact for the day.

Basically, this is a pretty solid tree that is often overlooked (even by me apparently).  Sadly, wasn't taught much about it in school other than an honorable mention.  It can handle some pretty rocky dry soils so, its roots like to breathe.  Probably don't plant in clay, but it is a tough tree.

Enjoy.  Good hunting, this is one worth seeing.

Plant of the day is: Russelia equisetiformis or coral plant (sometimes firecracker plant)

Plant of the day is: Russelia equisetiformis or coral plant (sometimes firecracker plant)

Photo Copyright David Stang under creative commons

“Tropicos, botanical information system at the Missouri Botanical Garden - www.tropicos.org”

It's been awhile, but I'm hoping to pick this back up a bit over Thanksgiving.

Culture:    So, this is a zone 9-11 plant with a spread and height of about 3-5 feet depending on its happinness.  It can't handle a temperature much below freezing, maybe down to about 25F if you're lucky.  It will handle just about any kind of soil providing its fairly well drained.  I should imagine it would perform decently in clayey soils provided they aren't overwatered for extended periods of time.  It can handle heat, and once established can handle a fair bit of drought.  It does best in full sun but can grow in part shade but you can be certain to expect fewer flowers.  If you are wanting to save some for next year you have two options.  You can keep in a bright well lit window (it has to be very bright though) and maybe even get it to bloom OR you can cut it back hard and store in a dark cool place that won't freeze.  This HAS escaped cultivation in areas where it is hardy so if you live in one of those areas make absolutely SURE that is not going to happen.  Be responsible plant peoples.

Use:  It can be grown in the ground as an annual, grown in a pot, a basket, or on a wall.  The stems start out fairly erect but then arch over into a nice mound form.  If you are feeling ambitious you can even train them up a trellis.  I like the idea of using them around walls.  I may use these in some pots next year.  It attracts hummingbirds and butterflies so you can use it for ...that.

Taxonomy:  Tropicos and Wiki both list the family as Plantaginaceae so thats good enough for me.  This genus is often listed in a few other families but I'm going to stick with Tropicos.  The plant genus was named by Baron Nikolaus von Jacquin to honor Swedish naturalist Alexander Russel.  Yep.  The species equisetiformis means basically that it resembles Equisetum or horse tail rush.  See below for a nice shot.  It's a neat plant for the family, a real character.  Kind of hard see how the flowers relate to Plantago really but I'm sure they share some commonality.

Thats really about all for now, enjoy.  Maybe plant some of this, it looks fun.  

Plant of the day is: Clethra alnifolia or sweet pepperbush

Plant of the day is: Clethra alnifolia or sweet pepperbush

So I thought of this plant as I was working up a mental list of plants for my brother's house.  This is a wonderful plant I've spent a lot of time with throughout the seasons and I do enjoy the absolutely bonkers crowds of insects it attracts.

First a picture of the raceme...this one pink, most are white.

Notice that nice little bee.

Why you should look for it and plant it:  It's a great and versatile shrub.  It can be around 2 meters tall and just slightly smaller in spread.  There are some notable cultivars like 'Hummingbird' that are around a meter in height and a little wider more mounded looking.  What makes this such a nice shrub is that it has nice dark green foliage, great looking flowers, a big bee draw, and the ability to handle clay soils.

'Hummingbird' I believe.

Now, the informations on the interwebs will tell you (and yes I did that on purpose) that it prefers wet the moist soils and to avoid placing in dry places.  This is probably a good rule to follow but I have seen these situated on some very dry places but in nice shade and they still seem to do very well.  If you have a particularly low spot, this should be a great and easy plant.  It should handle wet clay well too, which can be a problem soil when looking for an ornamental shrub (Lindera can get a little crazy...).  This shrub is also later in the season to flower, they are just getting into that now in mid July.  A great sequence plant really if you are looking for some white colors well after a lot of your spring flowers have gone.

The one downside I can think of is that it does leaf out fairly late in the season, if you're me, you appreciate having another plant to watch leaf out :).

It is called sweet pepperbush for two reasons.  It has a kind of cloying sweet smell, that I love and am looking forward to smelling VERY soon.  Pepperbush because it has a little bit of winter interest with the seed pods that look a little bit like peppercorns.

So to sum up for the practical application of this plant, it can be planted in pretty shady places, but can also do well with full sun if provided a little moisture.  That being said, planting it on the south or west side of your place is probably silly.

-------------------------------
For the taxonomy/nerdier crowd:

A member of the Clethraceae family, this would then be the ... yes, type genus for the family.  At one point Clethra was considered the only member of the family.  The family now includes the genus Purdiaea, which is found throughout the Caribbean, Central America, and northern South America.

This particular Clethra is native to much of the eastern United States.

There has been a push to reduce the number of species designations (having seen some peoples idea of what qualifies as a unique species I have to agree...) so China has gone from 35 recognized species to 7 for Clethra...crazy right.  According to Wiki the USDA recognizes just 2 here...though I wouldn't trust the USDA in plant ID...just saying.  After looking through Tropicos.org ...well, who knows, maybe we've gone a little slap happy with the different species and varieties here eh?

Well that's all.  If you haven't checked out Tropicos.org I HIGHLY recommend it.  I get lost in there sometimes...an amazing look into botany, taxonomy, and its development.

Plant of the day is: Fouquieria splendens or ocotillo

Plant of the day is: Fouquieria splendens or ocotillo

    The absurdity of this name may actually help it stick in my head.  So the two L's in the common name are pronounced as a Y, just so that is on the record.

    So, as a bit of foreshadowing, I was really lucky when in the timing of my trip to Tuscon last spring.  It had rained a little bit right about the time I arrived and things in the desert do go a bit nutty after a good rain.  More on that and this plant soon.

First, how bout a look at one of the reasons this plant is so awesome.

A photo I took - note the lack of leaves on the stem.

    So at first glance, this almost seems like a cactus or maybe a Euphorbiaceae member.  In fact, it is a member of the Fouquieriaceae family, which is remarkably easier to say than it looks after a few tries.  Fouquieria is the type genus for the family, basically what gives the family its ....awesome name.  In fact, it's the only thing that gives it the family name.  Yessir, there is just one lonely genus in the whole family.  You guessed it ...it's Fouquieria.  There are 11 species in this family by the way, all occurring in the southwest/northern Mexico. 

    So yeah, up close it kind of looks like a thin cactus.  On further inspection, it has interesting spikes that form from the underside of the petiole of the leaves and then remain after the leaves disappear.  What leaves you ask?!  These leaves.

Yep, they are greener here right?

    So, being the clever and rather original plant it is (the genus bears little resemblance to any other sort of plant in terms of classification...pretty cool), after a bit of rain it switches into leaf production mode and gets the most out of some growth and photosynthetic energy while the gettin is good.  As the soil dries out, the leaves senesce (mature) and fall off.

   They are indigenous only to the Sonoran desert in the utmost southwest parts of Arizona and California.  I feel pretty lucky that I got to see a lot of them flowering in their native habitat. 

Pollinated by...

And Carpenter bees too

Actually named after french physician Pierre Fouquier.  There is one other particular species in this genera that is also quite fascinating and I'll revisit sometime in the future. 

For now, I hope you've found this information Fouq'ing useful.  

Plant of the day is: Artocarpus altilis or breadfruit tree

Artocarpus altilis or breadfruit tree

    This is another great plant that I got to see a lot of in Jamaica.  They had these planted in opportune spots very near our room so I got to enjoy the crazy ole leaves every day.  I think I commented on more than one occasion that the midribs (and petioles too really) were as thick as pencils.  Check it out.

    It's hard to get a good perspective but I assure you, the leaves are quite large and I've seen some pretty crazy fruit photos...they get big, twice as big as yo head.  

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to eat the fruit.  Was told that the ripe fruit is baked and according to Wiki and the locals, it tastes a little bit like bread.

Polynesians liked the plant so much they abandoned their endeavors with rice and focused on this instead.  I think they probably made the right call on that one.  Imagine the first people that decided they'd try to eat that...humans are crazy.

So I'm just going to mention really quickly that it is in the Moraceae family or mulberry family.  The fruit gets far too complicated to explain in a sentence or two but if you want a pretty neat fruit structure, feel free to look it up.  It is a monoecious plant and has separate male and female flowers on the same plant.  The males come out first, get the pollen going, and then the females emerge with a LOT of flowers...a lot...I tell you ...its just a lot.

ON TO THE FUN STORY TIME

One of my favorite things about plants is all the crazy stories and histories that surround so many of them.  In this case, during the late 18th century there was a large demand for cheap food to feed slaves on plantations in the Caribbean.  Some lame dude in Captain James Cooks party put up a bounty to anyone that could bring the breadfruit to the area.  Ole William Bligh and his HMS Bounty decided to shore up the task.  They painstakingly got over 1000 pots planted and set sail and ...mutiny.  Somehow the dude made it back from being set out on a long boat.  Well he of course wanted the skrilla so he set out again (with two ships this time) and brought the plants from Tahiti to St. Helena, St. Vincent, and Jamaica. 

Joke was on them, the slaves refused to eat it.  BOOSH!

Moral of that story?  Plants are cool, people are dumb.

Plant of the day is: Pimenta dioica or allspice/pimento

The transformers nerd in my always thinks about the allspark...

But no, this is the allspice or in Jamaica it was often referred to as the pimento.  The name allspice was actually coined by the English about 1612 who thought it combined the flavor of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.  Indeed when I had some of the sauces that had allspice in it, I thought it had a very complex spicy flavor.  I was a fan, Niki was not so inclined.

The western worlds exposure to the plant came on Columbus's second journey to the Americas.  You know, when he "discovered" them.  His physician Diego Alvarez Chanca actually named the plant and was one of the first Europeans to describe the flora and fauna of the Americas.  European and Mediterranean cuisine adopted the flavor and Jamaica held sway in the exportation of it.

While the leaves of the plant can be used, they do not hold flavor well when dried.  Allspice then, is the dried unripened fruit of the plant.  If Wiki can be believe, it actually stores better whole and un-ground.

Now, for true Jamaican jerk, we were informed by a tour guide that meat must be laid on allspice wood and cooked for uhhh bunch a hours.

SO!

ID:  I have a picture of my own I'll add later when I can dig it up.  It is an evergreen bush/tree growing from 10 to 18m in height.  The bark is kind of light in color and stringy/peeling to look at.  I saw several of them on the drive to the resort and thought the bark looked like the delicious Jabuticaba tree.  For me the bark is a great ID at distance but if there be any question...grab a leaf.  Crush it in your hands and sniff.  It smells awesome, you can imagine my delight sniffing one of these in Jamaica.  Still makes me smile :).

Our guide also correctly informed us that the seeds do not germinate well at all unless they pass through the innards of a bird.  The acidity and/or temperature of the bird guts stratify the seed so that it can germinate.  The eastern red ceder Juniperus virginiana also has berries that benefit from the ole bird belly treatment.

Taxonomy/Morphology:  Also a member of the Myrtle or Myrtaceae family.  The species designation indicates that it is a dioecious plant (damn the spell checkers for making me constantly check ...).  This means that there are separate male and female plants.  The flowers are white but very small and easy to ignore.  

Fun Fact:  The Arawak referred to wooden frames for roasting meat as buccan, so when Europeans showed up and started curing meats this way (often with wood from this plant) they became known as boucaniers ...which later became buccaneers.  Arg matey! A bit of random pirate in this plant there be!

Plant of the day is: Syzygium malaccense or _____ apple

I had the pleasure of running into this plant recently in Jamaica.  My sisters wedding doubled as a great opportunity to learn some tropical plants.

Why the ____ you ask?  Well, it turns out that this plant has been flung far and wide throughout the tropical world.  A native of Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam, this plant is edible and I'd say fairly tasty.  In Hawaii it is called the mountain apple and was brought over by Polynesians on canoes.  If I'm packing a canoe for a trip across the pacific, it better be the essentials.

Taxonomy:  According to Wiki, it has one of the prettiest flowers of the Myrtaceae or Myrtle family.  I've got to admit, it IS a very striking flower.  It really reminds me of those ever increasing weedy trees we have here in STL the "Mimosa" tree (more accurately a Persian silk tree) or Albizia julibrissin.  The grouping of these flowers is much denser however.  For any plant nerds out there, the Myrtaceae family is very unique in that the phloem (sugar carrying pipes if ya will) of these plants exist both on the inside and outside of the xylem (water carrying pipes), which is a very nifty thing folks.  The stamens of the family are usually very colorful and showy...see below...all that pink is the male stuff.  See, men can wear pink too...  Another notable plant of this family that is VERY important to Jamaica will be featured soon.

What an amazing carpet right??

Range:  It can't freeze, likes about 60 inches of annual rain and can go from sea level to very high elevations.  It's wide presence throughout the world is proof of its adaptability.

Habit/ID:  Fast growing to 12-18m, pyramidal to cylindrical crown.  Leaves are evergreen and opposite on short petioles.  Leaves a bit leathery, dark green, and glossy on top.

Edible:  Yep, edible, I thought it was quite tasty ...allllmost like an apple but not quite as sweet.  Niki did not care much for them.  My mom was a big fan and destroyed one.  I had the pleasure of getting some right of the tree that weren't quite as ripe and then also eating some at the resort which were much sweeter and just different tasting in general.  A real treat to experience how they ripen up.  There is a large seed in the middle...I did not try to eat that.

Whats the fruit look like?  Here ya go.  The fruit, Niki, and my hand winding up for the kill...

Plant of the day is: Alstroemeria spp. or Peruvian lily

Alstroemeria spp. or Peruvian lily

Well I think the picture says it all really why this should warrant a plant of the day spot.  The flower above is most likely a result of interspecific crosses and lots of dedication and hard work.  A shout out to the breeders!  As noted below in Taxonomy I initially was abhorred by the length of the family name and then remembered that I've been seeing Alstroemeria in catalogs for a couple years now and it's not THAT hard to roll off the tongue.  

Taxonomy:  This is the type genus of the family Alstroemeriaceae or the Peruvian lily family.  It is a relatively small family with only 4 genera but those 4 genera do give us about 200 species.  Another really neat genus of this family is Bomarea which is a vine that produces some (often) very pretty showy flowers.  The species Bomarea edulis has been used since pre-Columbian times as a food source (the tubers are edible).

ID:  Well, you should be able to guess right off the bat that this puppy is a monocot, see those flower parts in 3?  Not 6...3 :P.  Well, the "roots" consist of a slender rhizome that forms larger "sausage like" structures that look a bit like thicker tubers.  According to Wiki it looks a bit like a Dahlia.  Comparing the pictures they are a bit different though, the "tuber" like structures on the Alstroemeria are not as tightly grouped as Dahlia.

 Dahlia roots

Alstroemeria roots

                                  

I spoil you guys...  anyways though so the rhizome on Alstroemeria is apparently a little dainty until ya consider its sausages.  Felco shout out!  If you bothered to make it this far this plant, and the family have an awesome and interesting characteristic.  Resupinate leaves!  Thanks to Wiki for have a link to resupinate.  Fancy word for the leaves actually flipping upside down.  Basically they twist at the base of the leaf so that what you see as the upper leaf surface is actually the bottom.  If it weren't so damned late and I had more time I'd like to dig into why oh why it would do this, there is always a reason...

Culture:  Most of the hybrids you'll run into originate from South American species.  The only species note on MoBot's page for Alstroemeria aurea mentions that it is zone 7 hardy.  Last winter, they would have lived in the ground most likely.  They do like medium moisture well drained soils (like everything in the garden seemingly) and in our brutal summers I imagine they would appreciate afternoon shade or a part sun/dappled sunlight spot (this according to MoBot but I should think that sounds spot on...feel free to chime in Jason).  They can be overwintered inside in containers or dug from the soil but again MoBot says the rhizomes are very brittle and hard to dig.  Make sure not to water them.

There is much more I could share abou the ID and the culture and on and on...I recommend any avid gardener give this plant a look for the garden or perhaps to try as an indoor plant.  What a lovely looking flower and there is a lot of information/stories about this plant to be found.  It's a beaut.  Did I mention they are really popular for cut flower arrangements?  See...it never ends....ahhhhh!

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/plant-finder/plant-details/kc/a436/alstroemeria-aurea.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstroemeria

Plant of the day is: Alseuosmia macrophylla or toropapa

Plant of the day is Alseuosmia macrophylla or toropapa/karapapa 

Well, we'll just see if Jade Lee reads these things.  As she is fan of its habitat range...and maybe she saw some of them?

Range:  This little guy is endemic to the north part of the north island of New Zealand.  It is present throughout the island but on the volcanic plateau it is replaced by another species A. turneri.  It can also be found on the south island but only on the north and west parts of it.  

Taxonomy:  This is the type genus for the small family Alseuosmiaceae ...yet ..NOT one that rolls off the tongue well.  This one is going to be a challange to get to stick I'm afraid.  Depending on where you look there are up to 3 genera included in the family but most often just Alseuosmia and Crispiloba (crispy lobes?? heh).  

ID:  The info on this stuff is pretty limited from what I'm finding just as a warning.  I believe the leaves are alternate but from looking at pictures look like they are almost subopposite sometimes. The flowers are kind of pinkish red.  This is an evergreen and the leaves are serrated/dentate.  Stem also looks very green.  Can grow to about 1.5m high and 1 wide so essentially a shrub.  Apparently semi woody.  The flowers are very fragant and for a mini etymology lesson, Alseuosmia means "fragrant grove."  Macrophylla obviously means "big leaf."

Culture:  Likes moist, shady, well drained spots.  Link refers to loving a rotting log in the woods.

Overall this is a very attractive and nifty plant.  It can be rooted with varying degrees of success from cuttings, layers well, and seed can be hard to germinate.  Possums apparently like it?  

This plant is sold for garden use in NZ, I'm kind of surprised there isn't more readily available info but hey...I don't have that much time tonight to do more of a hunt.

That's it folks, short and sweet.  Alseuosmiaceae ...what a pain.

http://www.vibrantearth.co.nz/catalogue/plantsdetail.php?pid=62&name=Alseuosmia%20macrophylla.

http://nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=1488

Sagittaria secundifolia

Plant of the day is: Sagittaria secundifolia or Little River arrowhead

Why?:  There are over 80 species I could have chosen, so why this one?  Well, this is actually a plant native to a very small area in northeastern Alabama...the Little River if you could guess?  This plant is critically imperiled and its last known population exists in a small area of the Little River system.  It is endangered because it is very sensitive to water quality, a very sensitive indicator if you will.  The usual human causes for water/soil degradation are at fault for this species problems:  building shopping malls, surface mining, agriculture, building roads, Walmart, w/e ...*sigh*.  Other species nearby are also endangered but you can check the Wiki.  We need to treat our soil and water better though.  /end rant.

Taxonomy:  Yep, moving along with the A families.  This is a member of Alismataceae or the water-plantain family.  Alismataceae is a fairly small family with only 11 genera and between 85-95, these are generally water loving plants and mostly perennials.  They have a cosmopolitan (fancy word for wide distribution across the world) distribution and are more often found in the northern hemisphere.  See species ID notes for further morphological characteristics

Habit/Range:  Well like I said earlier, northeastern Alabama along the Little River.  For a more detailed view here is a link, and the lack of a conservation plan from the .gov site it came from.  yay.  US Forestry site does have a recovery plan though. This site lists it as occuring in 7 counties.  Finding a map of the Little River was more annoying than I was willing to get into so I'm going to contact some map nerds I know to look into this for me. 

http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfile/profile/speciesProfile.action?spcode=Q2VT

ID:  O.k.  the good stuff (for me).  This is a monocot and as such, they tend to have flowers in parts of 3.  This plant has 3 petals and 3 sepals.  The petals themselves are usually very short lived but are white.  Let me elaborate, the male flowers on top have white petals and the female flowers on the bottom do not have petals.  I find myself questioning now pollination methods and just not having the will to spend another 10-15 minutes figuring it out...later.  You can find these out in the wild growing right out of the bedrock at rivers edge.  When the water levels drop a bit they send out their little flower stalk and flower.  When the water levels are just right, reportedly they can float right on the water.  Super cool, what an experience that would be.  They flower from May to August so, if you in that area of the world and hiking along the river, keep an eye out!!  Seeing these flowering and growing where they grow is going to be helpful.  Unlike most other members of this genus/family it kind of lacks that characteristic arrowhead leaf formation.  In the photo below if you look you can see the flower structure coming out of the water.  Enjoy.

That's all for now, hope I get to see this plant before we destroy it.

Also for my own purposes researching, the end of these will become a kind of link dump to eliminate the need to look stuff up again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittaria_secundifolia

http://warnell.forestry.uga.edu/service/library/index.php3?docID=72&docHistory

Plant of the Day is: Akania bidwillii or turnipwood tree

Plant of the day is: Akania bidwillii or turnipwood tree

Why this plant you ask?  You guessed it.  It is the next A families on the list and it doesn't seem to be as bad of a tongue twister.  This is a tree, btw.  A tree.  It is called turnipwood because when it is cut down it gives off a bit of a foul odor similar to turnips...hey I don't make the calls.

Taxonomy:  Well this is the type genus for the family Akaniaceae.  Thankfully another small family containing Akania (which is a monotypic genus) and Bretshniedera which according to your local taxonomist could deserve its own family.  There is not a lot of easily obtainable info about family characteristics on this one.  I'll just have to give you this species traits and call it good at that for now...perhaps revist the also monotypic Bretshniedera some time (it's flowers are cooler actually).  Bretshniedera is endangered, so that, ...is a bummer

ID:  A "mid-size" tree growing up to 12 meters.  Well as you can tell the leaves are pinnately compound.  The leaves themselves are alternate and the leaflets of the leaves are arranged opposite (as you can see in the picture above).  The leaflets themselves are kind of neat and are very lanceolate and toothed.  A pretty rough looking leaflet really.  The upper side of the leaf is dark green and glossy.  The petioles of the leaves are reportedly a bit swollen.  The flowers are for the sake of sanity and to get away from morphological jaron we'll say they have 5 petals and the flowers are on panicles.  The corolla is hairy, mayhaps?  The fruit is supposed to be a dull red football looking capsule that then dries down and releases 1-2 seeds.  From the absurd bits of info I can find it can be elusive to find flowering and find fruit for.  

G'day mate!:  This species is endemic to Australia, and is a widespread but uncommon tree of New South Wales and Queensland down under.  The photo above is courtesy of Melbourne Royal Botanical Gardens actually, where you can allegedly find some of these.  I'll be looking on my next visit :).  Also I love watching this spell check light up when I use botanical terms lulz.

This was a tough one to find stuff on for having a family named after it I thought.  Gar.

Finally found an herbarium sheet!! (check them Wiki references folks...and also donate!)

http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Akania~bidwillii

Mesembryanthemum crystallinum or ice plant

Plant of the day is: Mesembryanthemum crystallinum or ice plant

Fun stuff:  This plant contains so much water that it is often planted around houses in California to protect against wildfires.  Apparently it is almost impossible to burn..  Also, notice the little bladders on the stem above, pretty neat right?

Sad stuff:  It is considered an invasive weed in California...smooth move.  Also widespread in Australia.

Taxonomy:  The next 'A' list species on my quest brings me to Aizoaceae often described as the fig-marigold family or ice plant family.  This is a family of mostly arid climate plants, about 96% of them are endemic to arid or semi arid parts of Africa.  They are generally pretty famous for having flowers that persist for quite some time.  The flowers are usually perfect (male and female organs) and lack true petals.  The sepals are often fused in a bit of a cone.  There is quite a bit of variability in the flower structure really and some look almost like daisies.  The flowers of this family are often quite spectacular and as I've been looking through these I've thoroughly enjoyed the colors...Doreanthus is another great genus here to check out!  Good PotD for my next trip around.

Edible:  Yep, leaves are edible, high water content.  Probably a great find out in a dry place if you need it.  One definitely worth knowing for those in southwestern California and parts of Arizona.  You'll actually be removing a weed while doing it.  Win.  (P.S.  don't eat anything you haven't 100% identified ...don't be a moron clause).

Crystals:  If you don't look at the pictures here on Wiki you are a chump, they are fantastic and give you a little insight into why the species is crystallinum.

Flowers and entymology:  So this particular species closes its flowers up at night to protect its gametes/organs/naughty bits/what-have-you  and opens in the day time.  Because of this, when the species was first named back in 1684 by Jacob Breyne, the greek roots of Mesembrianthemum (the genus) meant "noon flower."  Later on it was discovered that there were indeed night flowering species and the name was changed to Mesembryanthemum or "middle fruit"  ...middle/noon kinda the same thing as you can see.  Silly that one vowel changes the meaning that much but whatever.

The nerd find:  I try to find at least a few things off the beaten Wiki path for anyone that actually makes it this far.  This one is a sweet find.  Depending on the moisture availability, this plant will switch from a C3 to CAM photosynthetic pathway.  This is pretty damned amazing from an evolutionary standpoint...that kind of energetic elegance is truly amazing...crazy stuff.  Also, the plant tends to accumulate salt, when the plant dies that salt is leached out into the soil...creating an environment suitable for itself, while decreasing competition from other plants that cannot germinate in more saline soils.  Because of the tough nature of this plant, it has spread considerably from its home in Southern Africa.  It is now a fairly troublesome plant in many areas of the world, notably in Australia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesembryanthemum

Plant of the day is: Aextoxicon puncatum

Habitat/Range:  A species endemic to the Valdivian temperate rain forests of Chile and Argentina.  These are a fairly common and native tree of these absolutely beautiful forests that I would like to visit some day.  The are usually found on the southern side of Chile's Pacific coast.  In those environments, they receive moisture most days with the longest spells without water usually only a month.  Populations of this plant (and I DUG for this tidbit :)...) are so disjunctive due to tectonic shifts in the late Tertiary period that split them up.  Kinda neat.

Taxonomy:  This is the next 'A' family to go and boy is it absurd.  Aextoxicaceae.  Really rolls of the tongue right?  The good news is that once I know this species I'm done with the family.  Aextoxicon puncatum is the sole member of family.  Pretty neato.  Just like a Ginkgo.  Bad rhyme, cool plant.

Culture:  This tree makes up the canopy of the aforementioned forests and can receive a lot of direct light OR a fair bit of shade as it is growing up to takes its place in that roll.  To handle the broad range of light it has a pretty waxy leaf, which you can see in pictures.  This both protects from the sun and limits moisture loss.  It prefers moist, well drained soils...like ...in a rain forest.  It IS actually hardy to zone 8 temperatures I think I saw down to -10C.  It can also handle short periods being covered in snow.  I'm not sure I've seen this growing anywhere in the states (could be one right here in STL and I might not know)...if anyone sees on or knows of one PLEASE let me know.

Morphology:  Well, it is a dioecious plant and as such has male and female flowers on different plants.  The flowers are ...interesting and difficult to describe.  They produce a fruit that is a drupe (think...cherry) that is kind of bluish black and doesn't look at all edible.  The leaves are slightly hairy and a bit glossy (or pubescent).  The main vector for pollination is believed to be wind.  Leaves are alternate to sub-opposite and do have a little bit of a petiole.

Bottom line:  Seems a neat tree, it is one that has been studied with great interest and ultimately I'll definitely have to come back and read up on some of the finer details of its ecological relationships.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aextoxicon