Plant Story--The Beautiful Roselle, Hibiscus sabdariffa

The roselle is a small hibiscus, Hibiscus sabdariffa, (cotton family, Malvaceae) that is grown as food, but pretty enough to be grown as an ornamental. Also known as Jamaican sorrel, roselle is a tropical perennial which can be grown outside the tropics as an annual. The stems are red, the leaves green, the veins in the leaf red. The flowers are white or yellow with dark centers. Around each flower are a series of fleshy red sepals and another circle of red bracts that look very similar. The sepals are gathered and eaten, sometimes under the name "hibiscus flowers."

roselle, Hibiscus sabdariffa

Plant Story--Meadowsweet, Queen-of-the-Meadow, Filipendula ulmaria

Meadowsweet, Filipendula ulmaria, in the rose family, Rosaceae, is a lovely and conspicuous European wildflower, now naturalized in the eastern United States (known there as "queen-of-the-meadow"). 

meadowsweet, Filipendula ulmaria

Western Nebraskan Plants Easily Seen At Cedar Point Biological Station

Recently at the University of Nebraska's Biological Station, Cedar Point, at the Station's 50th anniversary, I failed to take very many photos of buildings and people. Here are a few of the photos of plants I took, instead.

buffalo burr, Solanum rostratum

For example, buffalo burr (Solanum rostratum, tomato family Solanaceae). Native to North America, it gets its name from its presence in areas denuded of other plants by bison, and since then, by cattle.This big-flowered plant has impressive spines (look next to uppermost flower in the photo above). The burs will stick to animal hair, dispersing it.  It is also rich in alkaloids that deter insects. It is one of the American plants that has gone around the world as a weed. Okay, it is hated around the world, but it is nevertheless a plant success story. Look and don't touch.