This robust perennial, African in origin, ranges widely in the tropical and subtropical zones. It is invasive to such an extent that it has colonized…
A scientist and a writer
Category: Plants
Botany, which I did study awhile in my youth, holds a continued interest.
Plants are remarkable organisms.
In writing about them, in these small vignettes I try to combine the scientific and the cultural, the bucolic and the utilitarian, and to convey some of my sense of wonder – in brief to try and emulate some of the eighteenth-century natural historians, with the information now available to us.
This is one of the oldest plants cultivated by mankind, for its edible fruit. For example, Hibiscus esculentus bears a fruit which has been used…
Artemisia dracunculus is the scientific name for tarragon, an herb favored by both chefs and cooks. The name stems from its origins, a grass on…
This reed, from the family of Cyperaceae, a group of herbaceous plants numbering more than 5000 species, has served mankind’s needs for communication a bit…
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The Pacific ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) ranges in the Western United States from latitude 52° N. to latitude 33° N. It is found from sea…
The avocado plant, Persea americana, of the Lauraceae family, originated in Mexico. Linnaeus identified it as a relative of the laurel and thus named it…
Many specimens have branches that look like well-oiled mahogany, which adds to their strong visual appeal. This shrub thus enriches the bottom of chaparral habitat…
This plant, or rather tree, is one of the wonders of natural history. Small, perhaps better called a shrub, it boasts attractive narrow needle-like dark…
Cypresses (Cupressus sempervirens) are evergreen, as expressed by the Latin name for the species, sempervirens. Two features, their long life expectancy numbered in centuries, and…