Bizarre Plants :Dictamnus The burning bush Dictamnus albus is a member of the Rutaeceae. Many plants of dry locations are known to increase production of terpenes to cool leaf surfaces by terpene transpiration. Dictam, however, produces so much that it can undergo self-ignition (see burning bush stories in Bible & Koran) . It is thought that droplet formation in the leaf focuses sunlight to a temperature that ignites terpenes which burn like a gas grill using the stomates as valves. Stinking Plants Corps Flower Titan arum . with sharp points at the pollen surface. One plant produces a billion grains of pollen that can stay airborne for days spreading over an area of many miles. Affects 75 % of all allergy sufferers. Rafflesia arnoldii . Rafflesia was found in the Indonesian rain forest by an Indonesian guide working for Dr. Joseph Arnold in 1818, & named after Sir Thomas Raffles, leader of the expedition Stinking Iris Iris foetissima . It is known as "stinking" because some people find the smell of its leaves unpleasant when crushed or bruised, an odour that has been described as "beefy" Stinking Hellebore Helleborus foetidus , known variously as stinking hellebore , dungwort , and bear's foot , is in Ranunculaceae, native of the mountainous regions of Central and Southern Europe Skunk cabbage Symphocarpus foetidus is one of the many stinky plants in its family the Araeceae. The burping skunk tree is a member of the Burseraceae, related to frankincense ( Boswellia ) and myrrh (Commiphora ) but unlike them it stinks (skunk tree). The elephant tree Bursera microphylla is native to Northern Mexico, Southern California and Arizona, especially desert regions. It reaches 5 m in height. The foliage is made up of long, legume-like leaves which are composed of paired leaflets. It flowers in rounded yellow buds which open into small, star-shaped white or cream flowers When you tug on a leaf it burps and emits a fine spray over 50 cmm distance that is foul fetid smelling caused by amines Buddha’s Hand Citrus medica Buddha’s hand is a citrus fruit popular in China and Japan for its strong fragrance. It fails as a fruit since it’s pretty much all zest and no pulp, but it has other uses, Buddha's hand , Citrus medica var. sarcodactylis (also known as fingered citron ), is a fragrant citron variety in the Rutaeceae whose fruit is segmented into finger-like sections. The origin of Buddha's hand plant is traced back to Northeastern India. Chinese Fleece Flower Fallopia ssp. The Chinese Fleece flower is in the genus Fallopia in the family Polygoniaeceae, a relative of the infamous Japanese Knotweed Fallopia japonica. The Chinese use this plant in their traditional medicine for kidney health, strong bones and hair restoration, and as a mild laxative, and it’s.. Hey, wait a second… “ I tell you, … it is a sign, yeah, ah … it’s an omen!” The end of the world is close, oh Rose Okay, weird. It’s a root that looks like a little dude. But that’s a rare, onetime fluke, right? It’s not like that’s what this species typically looks like or anything?? Roots making a perfect couple made headlines in 2006 …. Doll’s Eyes Actaea pachypodia Actaea pachypoda (Doll's-eyes , White Baneberry ) is a herbaceous perennial plant in the family Ranunculaceae, native to eastern North America. The berries contain cardiogenic toxins which can have an immediate sedative effect on human cardiac muscle tissue, and are the most poisonous part of the plant. Ingestion of the berries can lead to cardiac arrest and death. The Doll’s eye plant, also known by the equally unsettling name “white baneberry.” Just in case you were actually thinking of eating this thing, those eyeballs are highly poisonous . Phototoxic Plants – Blister Bush Peucedanum galbanum , Blister Bush, is a plant in the family Apiaceae, Like other members of the family like Heracleum or cow parsnip or Angelica touching it can cause blistering if the irritant chemicals are exposed to sunlight Blister bush, with its greenish-yellow umbrella-shaped flowers, is perfectly harmless , until you touch it & a cocktail of psoralen, xanthotoxin, bergapten and other chemicals are brushed off the plant’s leaves onto your skin . Exposure of the chemicals to sunlight triggers from a mild irritation to severe blistering requiring weeks to heal . Three days later a red-purple rash and large burn-like welts appear on your skin. Blister bush isn’t the only plant that can cause phototoxic reactions. Check out Amy Stewart Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities , Unusual Poisons The slobber weed : Pilocarpus pennatifolius stimulates the salivary glands much more than the betel nut Areca catechu (the nut causing red saliva that stains the street of Asia). Here the secretion becomes so powerful that it interferes with speech (ideal for political opponents!). Unfortunately, the drooling (up to 2 pints) is followed by nausea & dizziness. Drooling is also caused by the pencil tree extract. Pilocarpine Pilocarpus : approx13 (an alkaloid used for glaucoma) is used to treat dry mouth & species in the Rutaceae, also to stimulate sweat glands. from the tropics of S Amer. The Suicide Tree: Cerbera odollam is a relative of Madagascan arrow poison tree Cerbera tanghin ( nuts that are used in trials by ordeal). The tree grows at the SW coast of India and has white jasmine-scented flowers. The nuts look like green mangos & the white meat inside is full of cardiac glycosides that stop the heart of a human within 4 hours. Widows & other religiously inclined people use these nuts (mashed nut meat with brown sugar) as their last meal. Also used to poison people since it has no bad taste & a delayed action. Bizarre Plants Monstrous + stinky (amines): Amorphophallus titanum , Rafflesia arnoldii , Aristolochia grandiflora (Humboldt), Welwitschia mirabilis , Victoria amazonica , Aztecs’ handflower tree Cheirostemon platanoides (related to Cocoa tree, Humboldt), Baobab (sausage) trees Adansonia , boogam trees Idria columnaris (desert in Baja California), elephant or skunk tree Bursera microphylla (Baja California; tug on leaf & it burps out a foul smelling, fetid spray over a distance of 50 cm), squirting cucumber Ecballium elaterum shoots fruit as a rocket over 3 m distance, slimy mucilage with seeds sticks to the one who touched the fruit WB Emboden(1974): Bizarre Plants; magical, monstrous, mythical. MacMillan P. NY Terpenes and air pollution It is generally accepted that the forests (called “lungs of the planet”) clean the air of pollution, add oxygen & remove CO 2 to restore an air that is pleasant to breath. The opposite would be the smoky & stinky air of industrial places and cities. However, there is an exception to this rule as observed from the forests of the “ Smoky Mountains”. Exception The production of volatile terpenes is highest in the early fall. The terpenes are exuded through the stomates & often polymerize under the influence of the UV of the sun, creating the blue haze the Smokies are famous for . Unknowns of Water: Water storage in Terminalia trees A wikipedia picture file from October 15 th 2007 shows this picture for Terminalia tomentosa. Do not try this at home or with other trees! Terminalia tomentosa has a remarkable attribute: some members of the species store water in the dry season. A survey conducted at Bandipur National Park, India showed that there is a girth dependent increase in the frequency and amount of water storage. Mechanism and ecophysiological significance of this water storage are not known Terminalia elliptica has remarkably large-pored vessels. The pictures on the right suggests a large diameter that is no longer able to hold water in by capillary action . Higher plants invented propagation units called seeds A seed is a small, but complete embryonic plant enclosed in a seed coat , usually with some stored food (exception the smallest orchid seeds). It is the product of the ripened female ovule and the fertilizing male pollen and hence a product of sexual propagation with its genes-mixing effect increasing the genetic diversity of the offspring. Lower plants have a propagation unit called spore. A spore i s a reproductive unit for dispersal and surviving unfavorable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many bacteria, algae, fungi and lower plants like mosses and ferns. The difference between spores and seeds is that spores have very little stored food Fern sporangia called sori are resources compared with seeds. packages containing many spores Bizarre Plants: the largest & weirdly shaped seed Maldives or Seychelle Islands : source of unusual seed coco-de-mer seeds first mistaken as eggs of griffins (Georg Eberhard Rumpf 1682 named it Cocus maldivicus): most important aphrodisiac & antidote like the benzoar (ideal goblet material). Rudolf II German Emperor (1650) payed 4000 florins = 5000 gold thalers (dollars) for a seed 1742 French landed from Mauritius, 1768 that the islands interior was explored & confirmed as the source of coco-de-mer, the Seychelles’ nut Lodoicea palms (daughter of Troy’s king Priam) difficult to germinate ; first Kew RoyalGarden plants were pre-germinated in Seychelles & then grown in 1854 , hurrah ==> a yellow horizontal shoot projects parallel to soil surface for 3 m before horizontal shoot develops & root grows. Horizontal shoot rots away & seedling cannot be traced back to seed . “Surely, Sir, it is Jelly-like endosperm of nuts is a delicacy for the rich. Priam’s daughter” Why are bean seeds so special? We know from the labs of Botany I that Phaseolus or the now so common garden beans have already a primary leaf showing in their dormant embryos inside the seed. This is truly unusual. Pythagoras – one of the first European vegetarians did not only abstain from meat, he didn’t eat beans either (the bean of his time’s Europe was not the American Phaseolus but Vicia faba – the broad bean).