Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with botany

BotanyFilter

range — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 14:16:25 -0800

What kind of vine is this? Found growing all over the place, though mostly in the shade, while hiking near Santa Monica, CA. I've never seen it before, which points to either (a) an invasive or (b) poor observational skills on my part for 20 years. Closeups:
Leaves, flowers

Put a spell on the John?

mds35 — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:00:27 -0800

Can anyone tell me what kind of plant this is? I found these in the men's room at work, in Boston. They don't look like a native species to me, and we don't have them in the atrium in my office building either.

Also, it looks as though they were placed purposefully. Note the arrangement in the last photo.

Any ideas? Is this some sort of spell?

I am asking two questions, I guess:

1. What plant are these branches from?

2. is this some sort of ceremonial/religious/magical arrangement?

What's that plant?

giraffe — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:22:37 -0800

What is this weird-looking flowering plant? This neat alien plant thing has been sprouting along the sidewalks in my neighborhood. Sometimes one long "stalk" will randomly pop up in one of the large flowerpots my neighbors favor, so I don't think they're intentionally planted. It seems like they come up around mid-to-late summer. I'm bad at estimating measurements, but I'd say that they grow to about a foot in height.

I live just outside Boston, MA. I've lived in the area nearly all my life, and I'd never seen these things until I moved to my current neighborhood!

More importantly, can we garnish a cocktail with it?

halogen — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:11:49 -0800

Found this mutant-cherry fruit on a tree near Laurelhurst Park in Portland, Oregon today. Can you identify it? Can we eat it?

Drugs are bad, mmmkay?

inoculatedcities — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:29:27 -0800

Recommend an excellent, comprehensive book on the history of antibiotics? After burning through Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson's Napoleon's Buttons and Michael Pollard's The Botany of Desire I've decided to seek out books with a similar, historical approach to other interesting molecules.

In particular, I'd love to read a comprehensive history of antibiotics (especially a technical one that's not aimed at lay audiences/bestseller lists like the admittedly still quite good books I mentioned above). I know Thomas Hager's The Demon Under the Microscope is a popular book that chronicles the discovery and history of sulfonamides, but I'm looking for something that covers the whole spectrum of modern antibiotics. Any recommendations would be most appreciated.

Don't bogart the pot(s)!

applemeat — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:29:45 -0800

Can anyone identify this plant? I keep a flower/vegetable container garden out on my condo porch here in Chicago, Illinois. This year, our garden's been plagued with this uninvited species. These very fast-growing invaders seem slightly plump and "fleshy"--(perhaps a succulent?)--but I don't know if they flower because I pick them out before they get much bigger than this. Their seeds may have fallen or blown into my soil from nearby gardens (or bird feeders). Can anyone identify this plant?

Intellectual histories of the natural sciences?

shivohum — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 12:18:03 -0800

Any recommendations for books giving a general history of any of the natural sciences, with a particular attention to how the great biologists, botanists, and zoologists, etc. approached problems of classification and conceptualization of their phenomena (e.g. like how Linnaeus came up with his taxonomy)? Not looking for great technical detail so much as how these scientists thought and responded to each others' thoughts.

What is this plant?

dfan — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:57:59 -0800

My parents recently noticed a few strange plants sprouting up in the middle of their lawn. This one has grown from nothing to around a foot high in three weeks. Can anyone ID it? They're in the Boston area, if knowing the region helps.

What kind of cactus is this?

zembla3 — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 07:50:42 -0800

What kind of cactus is this, and how do I care for it?

What is this flower?

anifinder — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 12:30:50 -0800

FlowerFilter: Can you identify this flower? These flowers bloom in the late winter and spring months in my father's yard (in southern Louisiana), and he is curious to know exactly what they are.

He thinks they are some kind of wildflower or weed, though neither one of us know very much about plant life.

Some internet searches suggest it could be False Garlic, but my eye is not really trained enough to make a definitive confirmation.

Thanks for your help!

Strange Tree. What is it?

kryptos — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 10:53:42 -0800

I was at the Bogor Daily Photo blog earlier today and saw a picture of a 'Strange Tree' that one of the site's contributors, Alaya, posted with the words " found the tree with strange fruit on the road near botanical garden. anyone know what kind of tree is it? ". I waited the whole day but no answer was forthcoming . I thought it looks like a fruit-bearing parasitic plant that i might have seen somewhere before.The photo piqued my curiosity so I thought I will ask the Mefites. I am sure Alaya will be ever so thankful too. :)

Anybody know what kind of plant this is?

Misciel — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:37:24 -0800

Anybody know what kind of houseplant this is? (I inherited it when I bought my house). Thx!

What plants could symbolize the names Evan and Nathaniel?

Shoeburyness — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:46:09 -0800

I want to do something (maybe embroidery, maybe a tattoo, maybe plant a garden) with plants that symbolize my three children. My youngest is named Rosemary, so that's quite easy, but I am having a harder time coming up with plants that would symbolize the names Evan and Nathaniel. I've googled and had no luck. I'm looking for something that contains the names, or something recognizably similar to them in the common or botanical name, or maybe a plant that is somehow associated with those names, or... anything you can think of. And the plants probably shouldn't look odd with a Rosemary plant next to it.

ID this little white flower?

MaudB — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:40:32 -0800

Flower Identification filter: What is this plant? I planted a bunch of seeds in early June, including a couple of packets of wildflower seeds (one was Zipcar promo swag, of all things) that weren't identified. This little white one started blooming last week and I have no idea what it is. I've searched all over the Internets to no avail. It looks a bit like white flax, but I've determined that it isn't.

A prickly question . . .

flug — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:58:07 -0800

Can you identify this type of thistle? I believe this is what it looks like when green/growing. I've seen stands of these along roads, fencelines, and ditches in the western U.S. If I remember they grow about 3-4-5 feet tall, each spiky flower on an individual stem, which was either leafless or had only very sparse leaves.

I'm pretty sure it's not a field thistle, tall thistle, canada thistle, musk thistle, scotch thistle, bull thistle, milk thistle, sow thistle, globe thistle, syrian thistle, cotton thistle, golden thistle, blessed thistle, star thistle, carline thistle, creeping thistle, cabbage thistle, marsh thistle, fountain thistle, arizona thistle, new mexico thistle, or any of the about a bazillion other photos/descriptions of thistles I've looked at. (It's certainly possible it is some variety of one of those, and I'm just not enough of a botanist to figure it out--but pretty much all of those don't even look close at all.)

Not a dandelion, then what?

fearfulsymmetry — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 03:49:37 -0800

What's this plant...? Thought as first it was a dandelion, now I'm sure it isn't. Was photographed in the UK a couple of weeks ago. Saw it beside a path near farmland among other weeds and grasses. Seed head about the size of a large dandelion's. I've tried tracking it down online but my google-fu is weak.

Not a portabello...

progosk — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 11:31:26 -0800

Is this a mushroom? Just found this here in Italy, and haven't been able to find a match on mushroom sites.

Any experts with an idea? If it's not a mushroom, what is it?

P.S.: my son Jonas (who found it) says: if nobody knows it, then I'll name it after myself!

Brazil Flower I.D.

iamck — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 08:36:16 -0800

Can anyone botanical experts identify this Brazilian flower? (From Maranhao, Brazil) I spotted this on the coastal swamp area of Maranhao, outside of Sao Luis. The seeds have a pearlish shine to them. I never found the name for them, even from the locals (I didn't know the word of pearl).

Identify this rattling plant.

Brian James — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 23:29:50 -0800

Identify this strange plant found in the middle east. See photo here.

The curly things are rigid and hollow, so the plant would make a weird rustling sound when the wind struck it. It was found by the side of the road and is probably a weed-type plant of some kind. Can anyone provide a genus/species?

Better yet, is there a good field guide to plants on the web?

I am looking for gardening experiments

pracowity — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 10:10:40 -0800

I am looking for gardening experiments I like to watch plants (and any birds and insects that show up) outside in my garden as they go about their business uninterrupted, but sometimes I have the urge to prod Nature in the ribs just to see how she reacts. Can you suggest simple things to try? I don't think I want to replicate Mendel's pea experiments (I don't think I have the room, for one thing), but that's on the right track for what I'm after: basic hands-on botanical play. Are there interesting things to try in a small space of ground (zone 5 or so) filled with runner beans, sweet peas, sunflowers, clover, zinnias, marigolds, ivy, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, wild strawberries, basil, garlic, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, thyme, orb spiders, peacock butterflies, ladybirds, chickadees, magpies, and me?

Pronounce Sapindales

gimonca — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 08:35:31 -0800

Pronounce 'Sapindales'. It's an order of flowering plants that includes maples, citrus fruits, and lots of other wonderful things. Now, if you were in a botany class, being taught in English, would you say it Latin style to rhyme with Spanish federales, or would you rhyme it with 'Chippendales'?

Grapevine killer?

maggieb — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:18:28 -0800

Did I kill a hundred-year-old grapevine? Can I fix it? I was clearing out a fence line and inadvertently chopped off two new shoots from the main trunk of an old white grapevine. The ends began dropping sap at 3-4 drops per second. I tried glueing and cauterizing with no effect.

What should I have done to stay the flow?

Botanical MeFites: please ID this plant

limeyboy — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 04:23:59 -0800

BotanicalFilter: What kind of plant is this? Posted a photo of an unknown (because I'm ignorant of such things) plant found in Southern Spain to Flickr. Now other Flickr-ites and botanists are arguing over the correct identification: Carob or Tamarind seem favourite. Do Mefites know better? Photo and comments so far at http://www.flickr.com/photos/andresv/290458848/. Comments on this forum or flickr welcome. Thanks.

The Brown Thumb Kills All!

backseatpilot — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 19:48:17 -0800

PlantFilter: What is "pinching off" and how do I do it? I bought a basil plant at the beginning of the summer hoping to grow my own herbs. The plastic tag on the plant said (to the best of my knowledge) to "pinch off new growth". Some googling told me that I should remove new leaf growth by pinching them between my fingers, which would promote new offshoots.

Fast forward to today. The plant's mostly dead (my fault, really). However, the plant never grew anywhere but straight up. It's about 2 feet tall right now, with no stem growth off the main stalk. I did remove some of the new growth at the beginning of the season, but it didn't seem to do anything. So, I stopped "pinching" so I'd have at least a few leaves for my tomato sauce.

So... what did I do wrong?

The many faces of poison ivy

The Confessor — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 14:39:45 -0800

Being in the midst of my first bout of urishiol-induced contact dermatitis, I'm using some of my downtime to read up on the culprit: Poison Ivy. Along the way, however, I've come across some confusing information... According to the Wikipedia article and several other sources, the plant itself can grow in several modes: as a free-standing shrub, as ground cover, and as a climbing vine.

Being a rural boy myself, I'd been familiar with different modes of growth in Blackberries, but always attributed these different modes (free-standing shrub & ground cover vine) to genetic variation - variation in the appearance and quality of their respective product seemed to support this theory.

The absence of listed poison ivy subspecies suggests that this theory is not applicable to that plant, and indeed may have been an incorrect assumption on my part with blackberries.

Can any amateur or professional botanists out there advise as to whether (and how) genetically identical plants can "choose" different modes of growth to conform to their present environment?