Archive for January, 2008
Description: A pleasantly aromatic, profusely branched subshrub, about 60 cm high, woody at the base. Leaves are sessile, linear, the young ones grey and downy, older ones greenish. Violet-blue tubular flowers are arranged in successive whorls at the top of the stem, appearing from June till August.
Origin, Distribution and Cultivation: Native to southern Europe where it still grows wild. Also grown as cultivated plant everywhere along the Mediterranean and elsewhere in Europe, also in Asia and the USA. Lavender requires light chalky soil and is cultivated from seed or by root division or cuttings. Lives for about six to seven years. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A perennial plant up to 1 m high, with large, pinnate, deeply lobed leaves covered with glandular hairs, on long petioles. It has a strong, pleasant smell. The flowers, in dense umbels, have five sepals, the rear sepal merging with the pedicel to form a narrow spur. The five-petalled corola is pink and symmetrical. From the ovary ripens the fruit resembling a straight bill. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A subtropical, deciduous shrub or small tree reaching approximately 5 m in height. The leaves are long and narrow, serrate, smelling of bitter almonds when rubbed. It has showy, white, pinkish or deep pink, sessile flowers which appear in early spring, before the leaves. The fruit is a globose, fleshy drupe, up to 14 cm in diameter, with a soft downy surface, orange-yellow with red or purplish tinges, and sweet, juicy flesh.
Origin and Distribution: Unknown in the wild, but widely cultivated as an orchard tree, originally only in China and later in warm regions throughout the temperate zone. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: Aperennial plant up to 80 cm high, with a cylindrical, profusely branched rootstock about one finger thick. The erect, somewhat branched stems may be rough or smooth, and bear opposite, ovoid-lanceolate, rough- edged leaves. The flowers, approximately 3 cm in diameter, have a purple- tinged calyx and five white to pinkish petals, and are borne in clusters from June till September. The fruit is an oblong capsule with numerous seeds. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A tropical evergreen shrub about 120 cm high. It has broad leaves on long petioles and white flowers. It rarely forms seeds, and so must be propagated by means of axial cuttings.
Origin and Distribution: Native to India, Burma, Malaysia and the Philipines. Now cultivated mainly in Sumatra, the Seychelles, Madagascar and azil. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A perennial plant about 30-70 cm high, sometimes living as long as 100 years. The fleshy yellow root is usually 20-25 cm long and about 2 cm in diameter, with two to six branches. The root shape sometimes resembles the human figure. From the root rises a simple stem bearing near the top a rosette of three to five palmately compound petiolate leaves. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A perennial plant up to 30 cm high, with a short, cylindrical rhizome and numerous rootlets. The leaves are ovoid, crenate, downy on the reverse, with prominent veins. The finely hairy stem bears a simple umbel of flowers on long pedicels, with a tubular, yellowish-green calyx and yellow, tubular petals, extended in their upper part. The plant flowers from April to May. The fruit is a capsule.
Distribution: Native to Europe and Asia, where it grows in sunny, damp meadows, forest clearings and deciduous woodland. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A perennial shrub up to 3 m high, with thorny brown branches. The leaves are unpaired pinnate, with ovoid, serrate leaflets. The pink flowers have a dense, full corolla diffusing a delicate, unobtrusive scent, and appear in summer. The fruit are tiny, hairy achenes enclosed in a fruit-like hip.
Origin and Distribution: Native to the Caucasian region and Iran; there are so many rose species and varieties, however, Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A perennial plant with thin underground rootstocks on which tubers are formed; the tubers, potatoes, are filled with starchy reserve tissue, and are a staple source of starch in many parts of the world. The profusely branching stems bear alternate, unpaired-pinnate leaves. The five-petalled star-shaped flowers are white, blue or violet, with prominent yellow anthers. The fruit is a globose berry.
Origin and Distribution: The potato came originally from South America, where cultivated varieties were bred from wild species such as Solanum andigenum. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A biennial plant, sometimes living three to four years under favourable conditions. Stem up to 1.5-2 m high. Leaves are finely divided into many threadlike segments, on long, membranous sheaths. Large, flat, compound umbels of yellow flowers appear from July to October. Fruit is an oblong, 5-ribbed diachene, about 8 mm long and 3 mm wide, green, greenish-yellow or brownish. They have a strong scent and a pleasant, spicy, somewhat sweetish taste. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A perennial plant about 60 cm high, with hollow, quadrangular stems. The petiolate, ovoid-lanceolate leaves have prominent venation and diffuse a strong, characteristic menthol smell. Pale purple flowers in dense spikes appear from July to September. Propagation is vegetative — the plants form an underground network of woody shoots or runners. Various mint species hybridize naturally and peppermint is thought to be a hybrid of water mint (Mentha aquatica) and spearmint (Mentha spicata). Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A large, wide-branched tree up to 45 m high, with brownish- grey cracked bark. The leaves are deciduous, unpaired pinnate, releasing a pleasant smell when rubbed between the fingers. Male and female flowers appear on the same tree, the male flowers in dense, pendulous catkins, formed at the ends of the previous year’s branches, the female flowers in sparse terminal spikes. The fruits are plum-shaped and yellowish-green on the surface, containing a ‘nut’ with a thick, rugged ’shell’ protecting the edible seed. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A coniferous tree up to 30 m high, with a smooth red bark. The outer bark of the trunk is cracked at the base. The young branches are greyish-yellow, and bear pairs of stiff, twisted, bluish or greyish-green needle-shaped leaves. Clusters of male flowers in spikes form on the base of new offshoots; the solitary female flowers rise under the apical bud of the leading shoot, and form cones; after pollination winged seeds develop.
Distribution: The species is common in Europe and Asia. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: An evergreen subtropical or tropical tree 6-20 m high, with a crown varying in shape from narrow and pyramidal to broadly branched. It has thick branches, the young ones olive green, fragile, becoming grey- brown. The smooth glossy leaves are ovoid with a distinct point, 5-30 cm long. Tiny yellow-green flowers are arranged in compact clusters of 200-300 flowers in the leaf axils. The fruit is a large, fleshy berry, usually pear-shaped, 7-20 cm long, with either a yellowish-green, dark green, brownish or dark purple skin. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A bushy evergreen shrub about 3 m high, with small, narrow, glossy leaves smelling pleasantly when rubbed. Small, fragrant, white or pinkish flowers appear from June to August. The fruit is a small, hoary berry, green turning to purple-black.
Origin and Distribution: Myrtle comes from the Mediterranean region and was cultivated in the gardens of the ancient Greeks and Romans. It was consecrated to Aphrodite (Venus), the goddess of Love, and myrtle twigs were used to symbolize youth and beauty. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A prostrate, trailing, perennial waterside plant, reaching 60 c in height at most. The opposite, rounded leaves are about 25 mm in diameter and grow on short petioles. The solitary flowers rising from the leaf axils yellow with dark dots, appearing from June to August. The fruit is a capsule with tiny seeds.
Origin and Distribution: Probably native to Europe from where it spread to the New World. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A perennial plant with a solid, pulpy, bulbous tuber. A tuft of grasslike leaves grows at ground level; from it rises a robust stem (sometimes two or three stems) about 50 cm high, with alternate, linear leaves. The stems terminate in a spike of waxy flowers, white or creamy to pinkish, with six open petals growing from a funnel-shaped tube. The flowers diffuse a characteristic penetrating fragrance. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: An annual to biennial plant with a tuberous taproot of varied shape and colour. The leaves are mostly broadly lyrate, and the flowers are white or pale lilac with violet veins, appearing from June to August. The swollen, ovoid-oblong fruit contains light brown seeds which are either almost spherical or of irregular shape.
Origin and Distribution: The species has two basic varieties: var. major (white radish) and var. radicula (garden radish). Both are old cultivated plants, probably of Asian origin, now widely grown in all countries of the temperate zone Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A low perennial plant about 15 cm high with a short, thick rootstock and thin, trailing, rooting runners up to 20 cm long. The leaves, on long petioles, are circular-ovoid, with fine hairs and crenate margins. The violet, pedunculate flowers, appearing in March and April, are usually sterile, but in May inconspicuous, almost colourless, fertile flowers appear on the stolons near the ground. The fruits are globose, densely hairy capsulescontaining weeds. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A perennial plant rapidly spreading by means of its creeping rootstock. From some rhizome buds flower-bearing stems arise, from others leaves. The downy, white, scaly flower stems are 10-15 cm long. The heart-shaped, toothed leaves appear after flowering, and form a rosette. The large yellow flowers, appearing in March and April, have marginal ray florets and tubular disc florets. The fruit is a hairy achene.
Distribution: Found almost throughout the whole of Europe, Read the rest of this entry »
