Plant of the day is: Dichrostachys cinerea or sicklebush

Plant of the day is: Dicrostachys cinerea or sickle bush

Awww yeah.

There are actually a whole slew of common names for this, including:  Bell mimosa, Chinese lantern tree, and Kalahari Christmas tree.

Range:  Originally a native of South Africa, it has been flung far and wide through tropical climates around the world.  In the Caribbean it is a serious invasive problem and attempts are being made to transform it into a viable source of biofuel.  It occupies about 5 million acres of agricultural land.  I can't even wrap my head around that number.  It is huuuuge.

A lil taxonomy:  This is a member of the Fabaceae or legume family.  It fixes nitrogen, so at least it lends something to it's aggressiveness.  Many members of this family make some extremely successful and extremely invasive, gotta be vigilant.  But I digress, Dicrostachys is a monotypic genus which means it only has the one species.  It's really kind of a neat plant.  Dicrostachys means two colored inflorescence for all practical purposes.  You can see why.  I like it, I used to DJ as Dichromatic but nobody could pronounce it.  It's like: die-chrome-attic.  Or in this instance: die-crow-stack-eaze.

Description:  Like many legumes, this plant also features a bi-pinnate leaf.  It is a woody semi deciduous to deciduous tree that is adapted to a wide range of environments.  The best key for ID here is the fantastical flowers which you will note are two colors.  The top purple flowers are actually sterile, while the lower yellowish ones are the fertile flowers (yes the whole inflorescence is a collection of flowers).  The fruits that arise are green curly pods with about 4 seeds in them that eventually turn brown and fall to the ground.  Also has some fairly nasty spines at nodes.

Chinese lantern seems a stretch.

Not all so grim:  One additional upside to this tenacious plant is that it produces fruit/seeds that are rich in protein for livestock and the wood burns slowly and cleanly.  Probably could be "exploited" well in areas it is not native to good result.  Somewhat surprised it isn't.

Musings:  Really, I would have to say its adaptability is the reason it is such a pest really.  I find it interesting that human interests often align against the best workable models nature comes up with for plant design.  I always try to remember, when I'm detering all these invasives, not to be cranky at the plant, but for the moron that put it there.

 You can see why it is invasive.  Does well.

Plant of the day is: Euphorbia aeruginosa or Miniature Saguaro

Plant of the day is: Euphorbia aeruginosa or Miniature Saguaro

So let me start out by saying that the common name is just absolutely awful.  First, it looks nothing like a Saguaro.  Second, Euphorbia is the type genus for the Euphorbiaceae family.  A Saguaro is a member of the Cactus or Cactaceae family.

The Euphorbiaceae and Cactaceae family have very similar evolutionary strategies but originated in very different part of the world.  Cacti are generally found in the Americas and Euphorbias are found in Africa.

I've always been a little bit of a sucker for a good Euphorbia, they've come up with some bloody brilliant forms and strategies.  In terms of a plant that I will try to get in my home at some point, this little one is very high on my list.

Range:  This particular species is found in South Africa and Zimbabwe.  It likes dry places, very dry places.

Description:  The specific epithet aeruginosa means: deep blue green in reference to its lovely colored stems.  The spines of the plant are an almost maroon color, a very striking contrast against the stem.  Its flowers are yellow...kind of.  Technically the flowers are cyathia or "false flowers" check it out.

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

Culture:  Cactus/succulent mixes/lava rock/rocks etc. etc.  Treat as a cactus.

Fun fact:  Leaves lose a lot of water.  Solution:  Photosynthetic stems.  Yeah, that works too.

Enjoy.

 And the habit.

 I don't want one this large :).

Plant of the day is: Androsace helvetica or rock-jasmine

Plant of the day is: Androsace helvetica or rock-jasmine

If you're like me, maybe you wonder just how that's pronounced.  This is close enough.  You can listen here.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/androsace

Had to do this as a plant of the day when I looked up some pictures a little while ago.  They are absolutely stunning.  It's really easy to fall for a lot of these "cushion" plants as they're called.  I HIGHLY recommend a google image search for this one, some really good stuff there.  Basically it'll blow your mind that a plant, let alone such a beautiful plant, can inhabit such a hostile environment.

Let me Google that for you!

Description:  Clump forming alpine perennial.  White flowers, short stalked with yellow throats.  Leaves are elliptical, grey-green and slightly hairy.  All good features for a dry handlin' plant.

Taxonomy:  So this is a member of the Androsace genus which is the second largest genus in the Primulaceae family second only to the type genus, Primula.  Has about 110 species in the genus and if phylogenetics gets its way there may be several more added in the future.  Theoretically it orginated as an annual. These are a member of the moss section of Androsaces.

Habitat:  The Alps, Dolomites and Pyrenees to keep it short.  It lives on very rocky outcroppings, very very rocky.

Culture:  See above, it likes plenty of light (face it south).  Most things I've read about planting them out in the garden recommend alkaline/limestone areas tucked between rocks.  Plenty of water in the summer helps as long as there is spectacular drainage.  Not the easiest of plants to grow but it can be done with a little attention to detail.  Avoiding water on the foliage as much as possible may help, but that can be tricky.

Side bar:  If growing from seed (cutting?!) we're talking an excessive amount of drainage is needed here.  A very gritty soil with a topdressing of grit/pea gravel/...sometime will help keep moisture off the crown of the plant.

See...grow it on ze rock!

Enjoy.

Dug between two rocks.  Just like it likes.

Plant of the day is: Posoqueria longiflora or Needle Flower Tree

Plant of the days is: Posoqueria longiflora or Needle Flower Tree

This plant is a tropical tree native to Mexico and Brazil.  It has some truly striking flowers that are reportedly visited by hawk moths.  The flowers are white and smell like gardenia's which are in the same family (Rubiaceae), they have very narrow tubes opening to 5 petals.  I'm not going to get into the craziness of how the flowers disperse pollen, but suffice it to say, they flowers use some cheeky maneuvers with their anthers to distribute pollen on their visiting pollinators.

So, it gets anywhere from 4' to 30'.  I've seen reports of it being a slow grower and a fast grower.  My initial observations lean towards slow to medium.  It prefers moist acidic soil with full sun to filtered light.  Hardy in zone 9, 10 and needs a minimum temp of around 50F.  I can vouch that it does not take to alkaline soils well and will begin to show some interveinal chlorosis.

You COULD grow this as a house plant likely.  You are going to need a pretty bright area though, especially for the winter.  I have a feeling it's well worth the effort with flowers that smell so great.

Other fun fact, the name is derived form the local Galibi people of French Guiana.  They call the plant Aymara-Posopheri.  The aymara is a fish that eats the fruit that falls into the water.  Fun times.

It has taken me a little longer to memorize than usual BUT hey, just look at it everyday for long enough and you'll get anything right?

Enjoy.

Plant of the day is Parthenium integrifolium or wild quinine/American feverfew

Plant of the day is Parthenium integrifolium or wild quinine/American feverfew

We're going back to a charming little MO native for this one.  You can find a really nice mass planting of this out at the Shaw Nature Reserve's Whitmire Wildflower Garden.  It looked great this year, very clean foliage to go with some interesting flowers.

Habit/ID:  Grows to a height of about 2 feet, it actually forms basal foliage first and then will send out a flower stalk with smaller alternate leaves on the stem with short petioles.  Leaves are variably serrate (to some degree), some look more crenate, some look more dentate.  Funny thing about that is that the species name integrifolium indicates that the leaf is entire, ahhh taxonomists and Latin.

Flowers:  The inflorescence is a flat(ish) headed cluster of small white flowers.  Kind of almost like cauliflower looking clusters really.  It does look like an aster flower.  The flowers smell nice, but not overpoweringly strong.  Has a significant taproot but will also spread a little via rhizomes.

Culture/Use:  Plant in full sun, dry to well drained loam soils'll do.  The plants at Whitmire actually get some shade but still do quite well.  Illinoiswildflowers.info (great site) mentions to plant after frost but before active growth later in the spring.  No mention is made of fall planting, which I'm curious about.  Plant this with the Liatris pycnostachya or another Liatris.  If you can find the right combo I'm sure the purple and white will look great.  Best thing is...fairly pest free, good form, and pretty tough once it's established.  Did I mention it's native?

Other uses:  It's been used by all kinds of people for all kinds of things, look it up, I'm more plant focused today :).

Depending on the performance of a few of my plants this year, I may put this in my own tiny garden soon.

Endangered:  There is a fair bit of it here, but it's near extirpation in Minnesota, where agriculture all but wiped it out.  The only remaining populations to the south escaped because they were located near rail lines that could be plowed.  Now that railroads routinely spray herbicides around tracks, populations have further dwindled.  It has been listed as an endangered species in Minnesota since 1984.

Think of biodiversity like a shrinking bubble, I do :/.

 Photo from http://www.thehighline.org

Because look how you can use it!

Getting ready to flower

Plant of the day is: Rosenbergiodendron longiflorum or angel of the night

Plant of the day is: Rosenbergiodendron longiflorum or angel of the night

Credit to Rafael Moricete Jr.: New York Botanical Garden

This is a tropical plant, because lets face it, I can't do an alpine every day.

A note:  This seems to be the more widely accepted name BUT you can find much more information on it's synonymous name Randia ruiziana, so hunt there if you pursue further.

It is a fan of lower sited areas around rivers/streams and the like and is situated roughly around the country of Bolivia.  It reportedly makes for a good houseplant if you can keep it happy.  It has white flowers with 5 petals that are a bit pointed and reflexed.  If you are keeping it indoors, it flowers on "old wood" which means that the flower buds are formed before winter sets in so DON'T prune until after the plant has flowered.  Flowers in the winter, just when you need a pick me up!

They are supposed to have extremely fragrant flowers, so much so that you can dry flowers on a piece of paper and the smell will stick around for days.  Neat!  It will grow to about 2-3 feet (I can confirm that) in a container and needs a minimum temp of 60 degrees.  Pretend it lives in a jungle for culture tips.  Do NOT over water however, as the roots will rot.  Make sure the first couple of inches of soil are dry before watering.  It does prefer acidic soil so if you see interveinal chlorosis keep that in mind.  Fe.

Best part:  Fruit is reportedly edible, do not quote me, triple check that yourself if you ever eat one.  Other members of the genus...megacarpa for example are supposed to have pretty sizeable fruit comparable to a fig.

Tropical Wednesday's doesn't have any kind of alliteration going for it.  I'll have to work on things like that.  Another plant with VERY few pictures available online, get to it folks!  Enjoy.

Lifted from discoverlife.org

Plant of the day is Rhodothamnus chamaecistus or dwarf alpenrose

Plant of the day is: Rhodothamnus chamaecistus or dwarf alpenrose

Another one that took me a few minutes just to find a common name for.  I had to snag it off of a German wiki page (thanks translator!).  This is another wonderful alpine plant in the Ericaceae or heath family, it is a dwarf shrub but you could easily mistake it for an herbaceous perennial.  Exists in the eastern alps from elevations of around 1000 to 2000 meters.

One site says that it is often found on limestone screes but another I found said that when container grown it should be grown in an acidic soil.  I'm going to go with the natural habitat conditions on this one and I imagine it can handle neutral to alkaline soils just fine.  It is reportedly quite difficult to germinate from seed.  Fluctuations between freezing and higher temps may help break dormancy.  Cuttings can be rooted from them but they are also difficult.  One reference I found was to etiolate the plant by putting another pot on top of it (which will prompt it to produce more shoots), these younger shoots may root better.  Hormone applications to the stem might not do much (from the reports I read).

It prefers a sunny location and provided good drainage, can take a variety of water conditions.  Blooms from June to July in it's eastern Alp habitat.

This is a short one, as information isn't copious.  It's kind of one of those niche die hard alpine lovers plants.  Rhodothamnus is a small genus with only 2 widely accepted species.  There is another species that reportedly can be found in the northeastern part of Turkey.

If this looks similar to yesterdays plant of the day, well, it is.  Fairly closely related.

Enjoy.

Plant of the day is: Phyllodoce caerulea or blue heath/purple mountain heather

Plant of the day is Phyllodoce caerulea or blue heath/purple mountain heather

This plant has a fairly wide distribution across the circumboreal region.  This teaches me something interesting and new.  Josias Braun-Blanquet and Armen Takhtajan these geobotanists (thats a thing??) divided up this region based on plant compositions.  I'm really gonna have to dig into this, it's fascinating.  As it were, the circumboreal region is the largest floristic region in the world.  

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

FUN FACT OF THE DAY:  In phytogeography (yes, also a thing), a phytochorion is a geographic area with a fairly uniform distribution of plant species.  

But I digress,

Blue heath is the UK common name, where it occurs in northern parts of Scotland.  Personally I prefer the name a bit better despite the fact that the flowers are MOST decidedly not blue but purple.  Points for accuracy there America. 

Quick morphological notes:  5 fused petals, 5 sepals, 8-10 stamens, superior ovary, which produces nectar at the base.  Base nectar.

So, what IS it though, let me tell ya.  It's a low growing plant (as pretty much all alpines are) and it is considered a dwarf shrub.  A member of the Ericaceae family or the heath family, so there you are.  It makes some fascinating nodding flowers in small clusters.  The word adorable comes to mind.  The leaves and stem almost remind of a prostrate Taxus (yew) or something.  Flowers emerge in June-August but I would imagine this is VERY variable depending on climate.  A note on hardiness here.  Hardy to USDA zone 2.  2!!  That's -40 to -50F.  That's chilly.

The plant self pollinates readily and produces tiny little seeds that travel with the wind.  Said seed can be sowed at about 20C and should germinate in 3 months.  Have some patience.  

USDA lists the plant as occurring in the states only in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.  Maine is beautiful, you should visit.

Fun part:  The pictures

 As the flowers mature they get pinker, the start purple though

Plant of the day is Arum megobrebi

Plant of the day is Arum megobrebi or ???

Why ???.  Because it is pretty new in the relative sense of plant discoveries.  Apparently it was discovered in 1990 (maybe a few years earlier even) but only fairly recently described in detail.  This is a pretty unique thing in the plant world these days, really.  And it is a fascinating looking plant.  It comes from the mountainous region dividing Georgia (the country) and Turkey.  The name is megobrebi derives from the Georgian word for friend, a nod to the friendship between the botanical gardens of Tblissi, Munich, and Bonn.

For a more detailed description than I could ever muster up, and for a fine example of how "plant language" works, check this link out.  You'll understand a few things, plenty of words in there I don't know yet as well.  But it gives you an idea.

http://araceae.e-monocot.org/taxonomy/term/5773

So, it is a member of the Araceae family or the Arum family...making it?  Yes, a type genus.  You can actually find a neat example of an arum with Arum italicum (which you can find in the trade round these parts).  This Arum is a little bit different though.

The thing to remember with these is that they flower in a really interesting way with a spathe (sheath the covers the spadix) and the spadix (the inflorescence or group of flowers).  You've seen it before, think of a peace lily.  This particular plant has a red tinged edge to the spathe and a white spathe.  There are actually separate male and female flowers that occur along the spadix, which I always find fascinating.  The flowers are supposedly foul smelling, yay.  As the flowers are pollinated and seed is set, the spathe will die back as the seed fully forms.  It looks interesting.

This particular arum grows from a rhizome (underground stem) and only sends up two leaves.  In terms of culture, it is safe to assume that it like rich woodland soil like many of its cousins.  Arum seeds can be VERY fickle to get to germinate and can take up to 2 years.  Sowing seed for Arum outside in the fall to expose it to fluctuations in temperature throughout the winter seems a common enough practice.

And now, dang near the only picture I could find for this.  It is still a rather new and undeveloped plant, enjoy.

Plant of the day is: Gentiana andrewsii or closed gentian

Plant of the day is: Gentiana andrewsii or closed gentian

So this plant is a native of Missouri which the USDA map shows as being kind of scattered across the counties in a pretty random fashion.  It is supposedly one of the more common Gentians and grows easily in moist woods and prefers full/part sun.

It is the type genus for the family Gentianaceae.  The family is named after King Gentius of ancient Illyria who allegedly discovered the medicinal value of the plant.

They have very striking dark purple/blue flowers clustered at the tips of stems.  The flowers themselves are very tightly closed, leading to the closed (bottle) gentian common name.  If what I read is to believed, only very strong bees can squeeze inside the corolla.

The leaves tend to be opposite farther down the stem but can be more whorled near the flowers.  The plant also has a very stout taproot so plant in a deep container if growing from seed.  The appreciate plenty of moisture and do not like their roots disturbed.  They can develop very slowing, taking between 2 to 7 years to reach flowering size (ouch).

Lastly, I'll mention that it is a late bloomer.  Blooms late summer into early fall so it can really add a nice shot of an unlikely color for the season in your garden.  My thoughts tend towards situating it with some goldenrod so you get the yellow/purple combo.

Looks like I'm not the only one with that thought.

Habit.