Monday, January 2, 2012 1 comments

Snowball

Snowball, conjointly known as European cranberry bush or Guelder rose, may be a handsome shrub of the honeysuckle family. It produces massive, ball-shaped white flowers that grow in clusters. The plant is believed to be native to the Dutch province of Gelderland. Today, it's usually grown in parks and lawns within the us. it's a cultivated sort of high bush cranberry and grows from seven to twelve feet (2.1 to 3.7 meters) tall. The flowers of the cultivated species are sterile and don't manufacture fruit, however a wild selection bears juicy, red berries.

Scientific classification. The snowball is within the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae. it's Viburnum opulus. Snowdrop is that the name of a bunch of flowering plants native Europe, the center East, and western Asia. Some species, as well as the common snowdrop of Europe, are commonly grown in gardens. Snowdrops bear nodding, white, bell-shaped flowers. Snowdrops are one among the earliest spring flowers, and that they typically throughout heat spells in midwinter. Some snow-drops bloom within the fall. The common snowdrop is typically known as the truthful Maid of February. Snowdrops grow from atiny low bulb that produces 2 or 3 slender leaves and a flower stalk. The stalk of the common snowdrop typically grows from four to nine inches (10 to twenty three centimeters) tall. Snowdrops are straightforward to cultivate, and that they grow best in partial shade and moist soil. The bulbs are planted three to four Inches (7.5 to ten centimeters) deep within the fall. The plants multiply annually, and a couple of bulbs could eventually manufacture massive clumps of snowdrops.

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Jack In The Pulpit

JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT (jak in the pul’pit) is among the unusual wild flowers of eastern North America. Its striped hood, or spathe, which protects tiny flowers clustered on a club-shaped stem, or spadix, resembles an old-fashioned covered pulpit. The spadix, called “Jack” by custom, is imagined to be a preacher inside.

Moist woodlands from Nova Scotia to Florida and west to Minnesota and Illinois are the usual places to find jack-in-the-pulpit. The plant grows up a foot or higher, with leaves and spathe tightly rolled up at first. The striped spathe varies in color from maroon and green to white and green. In late summer the spathe drops off and exposes shiny green berries, which turn bright red as autumn nears.

The plant is also called Indian turnip because the Indians knew how to use the underground stem (corm) for food. Raw corms are peppery tasting and dangerous to eat. Jack-in-the-pulpit, called Arisaema triphyllum by botanists, blooms each spring. It is in the arum family (Araceae) along with the calla lily and skunk cabbage.
 
Sunday, January 1, 2012 0 comments

Lily of the Valley

LILY OF THE VALLEY belongs to the Lily family, and is natives of Europe, northern Asia, and also the mountain region from Virginia to South Carolina within the u.  s.. they're a favourite garden flower however typically grow along roadsides and in open woods Lilies of the valley are long-lived perennials. The blossoms are typically waxy white, some are pinkish, some double. The fruit may be a few-seeded red berry. The plants grow from fleshy bulblike crowns or pips on creeping, underground stems. every pip sends up 2 massive, dark green, long lasting leaves.

Pips are planted in autumn or early spring. they are doing best in made, leaf moldy soil, partly shaded. Well located plants unfold rapidly and bloom year when year. they'll be grown for indoor bloom in winter.

Lilies of the valley are engaging in bouquets and corsages. A heart drugs is formed from the roots. The leaves are toxic when eaten, and will cause the skin to become red or inflamed.
 
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Lady's-slipperr

LADY’S-SLIPPER , a wild flower of the orchid family. It grows in cool, deep woods and damp marshes. regarding 10 species are found in North America.

The Indians referred to as one in all the big pink lady’s-dippers the moccasin flower. Its Latin name, cypripedium, suggests that “slipper of Venus,” the goddess of gardens. These names got the plant as a result of the lower a part of} its Sower formed just like the front part of a slipper. This pouch like slipper is sometimes gaily coloured. In it's sweet nectar that pulls insects. on top of the slipper half are 2 petals and 3.

Some lady’s-slippers are solely six inches tall. the most important kind grows to a few feet. maybe the best-known species are the 2 pink lady’s-slippers that bloom in sandy woods or moist areas. they need rose-colored or pink-lined white pouches. the big yellow lady’s-slipper contains a yellow pouch marked with purple, whereas that of the little yellow lady’s-slipper is obvious pale yellow. of these flowers used to be common throughout the japanese and central us and Canada. However, they're turning into rare as a result of folks typically choose or destroy the flowers within the woods. several types are grown in greenhouses. These have greenish, brown, or striped flowers.
 
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Carnivorous Plants

CARNIVOROUS PLANTS are plants that are able to capture insects and sure alternative little animals and consume them for food. These plants don't really chew and swallow their prey as animals do. Instead, most carnivorous plants secrete juices that act life the digestive costs of the abdomen. The victim is decomposed by these juices, and therefore the decomposed matter is absorbed into the plant.

The rounded, or spoon formed, leaves of sundews are lined with tentacles, every of that holds a drop of mucilage (a sticky liquid) at its tip. These drops glisten within the daylight like dewdrops, thereby giving the plant its name. When an insect crawls onto a leaf, the mucilage holds it quick because the insect struggles to induce free the plant secretes additional liquid till eventually the insect is smothered. during a short time the tentacles shut round the insect’s body, and therefore the plant secretes the juice that digests the victim. Digestion might take many days. When it's complete, the tentacles open, and therefore the plant awaits another victim.

Sundews perpetually grow in wet places. they're found in several elements of the planet. the best kind of species grows in Australia and southern Africa. The few species that grow in North America are widespread across the continent

Butterworts have oval, yellowish-green leaves that are greasy in look attributable to their mucilage coating. When an insect alights on one amongst these leaves, the mucilage holds it and therefore the leaf begins to curve inward. The plant secretes additional mucilage, and, when the insect is trapped, the digestive juices are secreted.

Butterworts are found throughout the North Temperate Zone. the foremost widespread species is Pinguicula vulgaris, additionally known as the bathroom violet as a result of its purplish blossoms resemble violets.

Venus’s – Flytraps and Bladderworts. maybe the foremost exceptional of the carnivorous plants are the cluster that have entice like mechanisms. The leaves of the well-known Venus’s-flytrap (Dionaea) look somewhat like open clamshells. every leaf consists of 2 semicircular halves, or lobes. The outer edges of the lobes are fringed with stiff bristles. On the inner aspect of every lobe are 3 extraordinarily sensitive bristles. Insects are interested in the leaves by nectar secreted close to the perimeters of the lobes. When an insect brushes the trigger hairs, the entice snaps shut and therefore the fringe of outer bristles interlock like fingers of clasped hands. during a few days the captured insect is digested, and therefore the entice reopens. The trap, however, is ready to feed solely 2 or thrice at the foremost before it turns black and shrivels up.

The Venus’s flytrap is found solely along the coasts of North and South Carolina. It grows nowhere else within the world. It thrives in moist areas, usually in company with pitcher plants and sundews.

Bladderworts (Utriculcrim) additionally capture their victims with entice like elements. These little aquatic plants is also free floating or anchored to very cheap of a pond or swamp pool. solely the flowering stalks rise higher than the surface. Among the submerged leaves are small baglike growths. At the mouth of every of those bladders may be a trapdoor. The trapping mechanisms vary among the many species, however the common bladderwort, Utricuhria vulgaris, has stiff bristles at the gap of the trapdoor. small insects or water animals, like crustaceans and larvae, brush against these trigger bristles, inflicting the trapdoor to open. The water rushes into the hollow bladder, sucking the creature inside; where it's digested. The trapdoor then resets itself. not like the Venus’s flytrap, the bladderwort is ready to continue trapping victims for a extended amount of your time.
 
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Canna Lilies

CANNA (kan’a). When the tropical plants from that trendy garden are developed was taken to the u.  s. in 1830, its giant dark-green and bronze leaves were the foremost engaging a part of it. an equivalent issue was true of its early descendants, that were principally valued as foliage plants. subsequently time, however, plant breeders created varieties with growing flowers of clear red, pink, yellow, or orange that's four times the dimensions of the old school canna’s dark red ones. New varieties are raised from seed however in standard gardening, cannas are grown from roots, that should be dug up within the fall and stored for winter in cool cellars, because the cannas are tender to frost.

The stately canna is usually grown in formal garden. The flowers are in clusters on stalks rising from the dark-green or bronze leaves.
 
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Caper, may be a pickled flower bud used as a seasoning in salads and in sauces, as well as tartar sauce. The buds return from an occasional, trailing shrub known as the caper bush that grows primarily within the Mediterranean countries. The caper bush blooms early in summer and has pinkish-white flowers with four petals. The unopened buds are pickled in salt and vinegar to create the seasoning.

Scientific classification: The caper bush belongs to the caper family, Capparidaceae. Its scientific name is Capparis spinosa.
 
 
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