A Wandering Botanist: Have You Seen...? An Eclectic Botanical Quiz

This week's post is a gallery of very neat plants. I have snow on the ground, snow in the forecast; its a good time to look at colorful photos.

Here are the pictures. You can make it a quiz.

HAVE YOU:

1. Seen camellia plants heavy with flowers?

camellia

This photo is from Oregon. Camellias are native to Asia. In Japan, the samurai reportedly disliked camellias because the fallen flowers reminded them of decapitated heads.

2. Admired a really spiny cactus?

very spiny cactus

One isn't even tempted to touch.

3. Seen angel's trumpet in bloom?

angel's trumpet, Brugmansia. Also with white flowers.

Important medicinal and ceremonial plants in South America for millennia, angel's trumpets, Brugmansia, are extinct in the wild--but very common in gardens. Have you smelled the fragrance? It is excedingly lovely, but also so rich in the plant's halucinogenic chemistry that it can cause headaches and other effects.

4. Walked in a tallgrass prairie?

tallgrass prairie in late summer

Probably the most endangered ecosystem in North America, increasingly there are well-cared-for remnants and replanted prairies, where you can get a sense of what the prairie was like and what people experienced crossing the center of the U.S. in the 1800s.

5. Seen really big agaves in flower?

agaves flowering in San Francisco

Agaves (genus Agave) grow as a big rosette of leaves for decades until, having stored enough energy, they send up a massive flowering shoot, make seeds, and die. Celebrate their flowering, but also commiserate with them, dying. These are probably 40' high, an impressive flower stalk.

6. Viewed cherry trees in blossom--in Japan or Washington D.C., or anywhere they are celebrated?

This picture is from Tendo City, Japan, where all through the city the cherry trees were flowering. Cherry trees, or plums, the common names are confusing in English, which are planted in large numbers come into bloom at different times in different places, so if you miss them in Tokyo, as we did, you can find them at their peak elsewhere.

7. Seen jade vine, Strongylodon macrobotrys, flowers?

jade vine, Strongylodon macrobotrys

There are few plants with flowers that are so dramatically blue-green. This photo is from Hawaii.

The plant is native to the Philippines but is widely planted in botanic gardens or in the tropics.

8. Seen this thistle at high elevations in the Rocky Mountains?

It is native, and this January (2022) two new species were named in Colorado, growing on separate mountain ranges. That makes five species of high elevation thistles, in the genus Cirsium, found only in Colorado and adjacent mountain states. Flower color is one of the important characteristics, so since this one is in seed, I'll just say "alpine thistle."

9. Appreciated plants growing on a cliff face?

They make it look easy, but that's nearly a vertical surface.

10. Marveled at a topiary?

swan topiary

This one was at Ladew Topiary Gardens in Monkton, Maryland, but you can stumble over a topiary many places. They're tough to maintain; if it looks good, praise the gardeners!

11. Gotten down and looked a tiny plant?

This tiny grass was in flower. Many small plants have lovely miniature flowers.

12. Viewed art in public garden, for example a display of Chihuly glass?

Chihuly glass at Denver Botanic Garden

Lots of artists do temporary installations in botanic gardens and public parks. Some are absolutely terrific combinations of shapes, colors, and textures, from humans and from nature.

13. Seen crocuses--or daffodils or other spring bulbs--flowering in the snow?

Early spring flowers are generally tolerant of snow storms.

14. Picked up a really big pine cone

Cones this big and much bigger are grown by pines in western North America.

15. Observed 3" pitchers on a pitcher plant?

These carnivorous plants are native to southeast Asian rainforests, but you might see one in a botanic garden anywhere because they're so cool.

16. Seen the Victoria water lily?

Victoria water lily, Victoria regia

Native to northern South America, the Victoria water lily, Victoria regia, has leaves 5' across and flowers a foot in diameter. Big botanical gardens grow them, although that requires a really broad pool. If you see one, look closely; the leaves are covered in nasty spikes.

17. Seen a banana plant with fruit?

The big phallic thing on the left is the male flower, surrounded, like rings of fringe, by small female flowers developing into the fruit, two rings visible here. On the right, the banana fruits are almost ripe, growing "upside down" by grocery-shopper standards. While admiring the banana plant, note that it isn't a tree, because it lacks wood and bark, but rather is a really big herb.

18. Visited New England in autumn?

Autumn lake in New England

Many deciduous trees' leaves change color as they prepare to drop in the fall, but New England's display is special because of the number of trees that turn red, which, intermixed with yellows, oranges, golds and several shades of green from the conifers, is truly awesome.

19. Seen a pasqueflower flowering in the spring?

pasque flowers on a grassy hillside

Called the prairie crocus, pasqueflower, Anemone (or Pulsatilla) patens, is one of the first native North American grassland wildflowers to bloom. These, seen in Colorado, were nearly white, but its native range encompasses the vast grasslands of central North American and in places the flowers are bluish, lavender, pink or white.

20. Waited for an amaryllis, which sent up a flower stalk from its bulb, to open a flower?

...almost open...

The bulb sits in the pot, inert, then a green shoot pokes up, getting higher and higher. Buds become visible, green, and then with a tinge of color. It seems like forever before the big blossoms open.

Thanks for enjoying these plant wonders with me. Its a big world full of marvelous plants!

Comments and corrections welcome.

A Wandering Botanist

Sunday, February 13, 2022

Have You Seen...? An Eclectic Botanical Quiz

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