notes from botany greenhouse tour

[jinian]

"Windowed boats" plant from SCCC plant sale is a Haworthia of some kind (Liliaceae). It didn't seem to match any species in the greenhouse exactly. Whoa. No wonder.

The Crassulaceae of CAM metabolism fame are the jade plant family!

Saw a GIANT LIME on Citrus limon "Ponderosa".

Apparently the tiny floating ferns of the genus Azola are very important in rice culture in China. They keep nitrogen-fixing bacteria, so they grow on the water without needing any special treatment and keep algae down by shading it out. Then when the paddy is drained for rice planting Azola acts as green manure for it.

The Place of Amorphophallus was an enclosure of potting soil about eight feet across, with nothing in evidence on a first look. Closer inspection revealed a tiny pair of burgundy leaves just beginning to poke out of the ground like a tulip in spring. It was somewhat at odds with the description on the guide-tape.

Orchid seeds are TINY. I saw a jar of minuscule white seeds smaller than this hyphen - .

Noteworthy for beauty:
Dietes vegeta
Erythrina crista-galli
Brassavola nodosa
Dendrochilum longifolium, which looks in person exactly like it's decorated with two-foot-long strings of paper cranes, like Sadako -- my favorite of the day

(It's been such a relief to be home tonight. Trying to go out Wednesday turned out awful, and I've been super-busy with my art project and quiz prep. Tomorrow promises to be at least somewhat annoying, so I really needed this.)

Comments

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

We have an iris here that looks quite a bit like the Dietes, but not as pretty. It's quite hardy, so it's commonly grown in public areas, as a soil stabiliser. I've never seen the crybaby tree, it's very cute.