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HORSERADISH
Armoracia rusticana
The Great White Root
Horseradish has enjoyed hearty cultivation and appreciation throughout the three millennia of its known history. Prized for its gastronomic and medicinal qualities, horseradish is useful as a treatment for rheumatism; as an aphrodisiac (perhaps its most beloved quality); as a flavorful additive for chicken, beef, and seafood; for making the fabulous horseradish sauce; and so on. Also known as Armoracia rusticana, horseradish is a perennial plant belonging to the family Brassicaceae, which also includes wasabi, broccoli, mustard, and cabbage. The herb has roots in southeastern Europe and western Asia, and today grows worldwide, cultivated primarily for its tapered white roots, which have a strong aroma. Horseradish grows up to 3½ feet tall, and its leaves are large and intensely green, growing directly from the roots, since the plant lacks a stem.
Horseradish is a perennial, but in colder zones it might live only for a year, since the plant fares poorly in long winters. Without a long growing season, it will go dormant, and it will not resprout on its own. The best time to harvest it is right after the first frost destroys the plant’s leaves; at this point, farmers dig up and divide the roots, collecting the main section as their crop and replanting the smaller offshoots the following year. Sometimes horseradish left undisturbed in gardens can spread underground shoots and become invasive.
Though known mostly by its English moniker, horseradish has various regional names in Central and Eastern Europe, where it originated. In Germany and Austria the plant is known as kren, in Ukraine as khrin, in Romania as hrean, in Slovakia as chren, in Bulgaria as khryan, in Croatia as hren, and in Macedonia as ren. The English name dates as far back as 1590, as a combination of the words horse (also meaning “large,” “strong,” and “coarse” in those times) and radish, derived from the Latin radix, meaning “root.” Ironically, despite the name, the horseradish plant is poisonous to horses.
Myths and Facts
Ancient Egyptians were aware of the plant as early as 1500 B.C., and the ancient Greeks used it for low back pain and as an aphrodisiac. Jews still use it during Passover seders as a bitter herb. Its most spectacular, though mythological, appearance is in the legend about the Delphic oracle’s words to Apollo: “The radish is worth its weight in lead, the beet its weight in silver, the horseradish its weight in gold.” During the Renaissance, horseradish consumption spread from southeastern and central Europe to Scandinavia and England. By the late 1600s, the plant had become a standard accompaniment for oysters and beef in England. It arrived in America in 1806, and commercial cultivation began there in the 1850s, when the first horseradish farms were planted in the Midwest. Today, U.S. farms produce nearly 6 million gallons of prepared horseradish every year.
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Horseradish’s biomedical properties offer a plethora of health benefits. The volatile oil, known also as mustard oil, has strong antibacterial properties, while 100 grams of fresh horseradish contain about 80 milligrams of vitamin C—a huge dose by natural standards. The horseradish’s peroxidate enzyme proves immensely useful in both biochemistry and molecular biology.
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HOT LIPS PLANT
Psychotria elata
Mother Nature’s Psychedelic Kiss
What a name, what a plant! When you see a picture of Psychotria elata for the first time, you might think Mick Jagger’s lips were Photoshopped onto some plant, while he sang, “I can’t get no satisfaction.” Though these spectacular red lips are usually called flowers, they are actually leaflike bracts, a part that is at the base of the flower. Some of the plant’s other nicknames are even more provocative, such as hooker’s lips or hooker’s kiss. Nevertheless, just as a heavy red lipstick might help human beings attract more suitors, so too do these luscious bracts lure pollinators, mostly hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies. For these suitors, the Hot Lips plant produces an abundance of oval berries, first in a passionate purple and then deep black when ripened.
Psychotria elata grows in South America, but only in the tropical regions of Panama, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Colombia, as well as in Africa and the Pacific area, particularly in rain forests. Psychotria is a genus with more than 1,900 species, from the family Rubiaceae. Plants from this genus are small, understory trees, meaning they grow below larger trees, preferring strictly tropical forests.
Don’t Be Tempted
Don’t hurry to kiss these sensual lips, as many species from this genus produce a kind of psychedelic chemical, named dimethyltryptamine, or DMT. While you might be familiar with the explosion of pleasurable hormones that come from kissing another person, these lips will send you on a trip of a different kind. But not all are dissuaded from taking this risk; shamans and recreationists consume the plant hoping to initiate an out-of-body experience. It is for this reason the plant gets another of its nicknames: A kiss from the Motherland, or A kiss of Mother Nature.
Even more interesting is the limited duration of these most seductive colors; the Hot Lips plant will show its red petals or lips for only a very short period of time, attracting a flock of hummingbirds and a horde of bees. Within hours, however, the red yields its real flowers of white, which appear between the lips of its leaflike bracts. Among plants, it is one of the pure exotics. Unfortunately, we may soon have to kiss these lips good-bye forever, as deforestation of tropical regions threatens to drive it into extinction.
HYDNORA AFRICANA
Plant of the Living Dead
Hydnora africana is a bizarre-looking plant that smells like feces and lives in southern Africa. It is has a fleshy flower, which, some note, resembles female genitalia. It takes one year for its bud to develop into a mature flower and form into this shape. The africana species is parasitic and grows entirely underground, apart from its bloom. The plant looks like a fungus in its closed condition; its stem is shaped like a worm, it has numerous seeds and edible fleshy pulp, its pulp is rich in starch, and its fruit appears as a half-rounded berry with thick skin. None of this plant’s leaves are visible, which gives it the appearance of something actually growing that looks dead. As the plant ages, it turns rom gray to black.
What’s with the Shape?
Hydnora africana’s flowers are bright red in color, hollow inside, fleshy, tall, and strong like wood. The flowers are borne on the surface of roots, since it has no stems. Succulent in texture, its underground structure consists of tubular roots with three openings, called perianth segments. It actually resembles an elongated truffle. Not only is it edible by birds and mammals, it is also nontoxic to humans. Its pollen and its flowers are also edible. Its wide-open and inviting shape makes it a welcoming meal for birds and animals. Many foragers seem to relish the plant’s berries, and when they defecate they spread the seeds far from the parent plant. Although Hydnora is derived from the Greek word for “fungus,” it is also known as jakkalskos and bobbejaankos, since it’s a favorite food of jackals and baboons.
The roots are completely white, and so they are very easily differentiated from the plant. Its flower is a kind of intricate trap, which has a cavity with white ovules at the bottom. These ovules will mature into seeds. When the flower opens, it resembles a white, threadlike structure with gaps between the sepals. The openings are large enough for a beetle to enter, though it will then face difficulty in leaving the flower; the shape creates a maze, ensuring the wandering insect will pollinate the bloom. The flower also emits unpleasant, dunglike odors, to which mostly dung beetles are attracted. The flower’s perianth segments are bright orange with downwardly pointing hairs. These hairs effectively direct the beetles to go down into the lower portions of flowers, ensuring that they will spend more time there than they intended, thus collecting pollen before they finally escape. Whatever we might think of Hydnora africana’s evocative shape, anatomy, in nature, is rarely incidental.
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Its fruit is a traditional food of the Khoi people of southwestern Africa and re
portedly very delicious, with a sweetish taste. It is extremely astringent and is also used by natives of the regions for tanning hides and preserving fishing nets. In local homeopathic medicine, it is used to treat diarrhea, dysentery, and bladder and kidney complaints. When made into a liquid, its infusion is used as a face wash, which helps in acne treatment.
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HYDRILLA
Hydrilla verticillata
Vitamin Bovine
Hydrilla verticillata, or hydrilla, as it is commonly known, is an aquatic plant with a long stem and pointed leaves. The stems grow to an amazing 25 feet, while its leaves are only ½ inch long. It is a fast-growing plant, adding 1 inch to its mass per day. A perennial plant, hydrilla can grow in any body of freshwater. During unfavorable conditions, the plant dies, but the roots, buried below the lake, stream, or pond bottom, remain alive, and once the climatic conditions become suitable, it regenerates, no matter how long it has had to wait. There are two types of hydrilla: one with both male and female flowers, and the other with separate, single-sex varieties. The former type is monoecious, and the latter is dioecious.
The Good with the Bad
A species of Asian hydrilla was introduced as an exotic decorative plant for aquariums in North America in 1960. It soon became a problem when it started growing as a wild plant, covering entire waterways with thick, densely proliferating leaves, making it difficult for humans to swim, and also disturbing recreational boating. The roots of the plants prefer to be anchored at the bottom, but even if uprooted, the plant can survive by letting its roots float on the surface, forming a thick mat. This adaptation, good as it is for hydrilla, can prevent sunlight from reaching underwater, which in turn can hinder or kill other plants. On the flip side, it forms a protective cover for fish, frogs, and insects, and even provides a food source for crabs and turtles.
The Danger of Imports
Managing the spread of hydrilla is not easy, and removing it by hand requires considerable time and expense. Various methods exist, all developed by aquatic plant managers to control it from clogging waters. Unfortunately, bombarding an exotic species of this nature with herbicides can cause side effects not yet fully revealed, and can increase human exposure to carcinogens. Fluridone and endothall are among the few known herbicides that are effective against hydrilla. Fluridone, however, is very costly and acts very slowly. Endothall is a contact herbicide, and while it often shows quicker results, combating hydrilla is still a risky, uphill battle that does more collateral damage to the environment with each passing season.
What Is It Good For?
Apart from treating abscesses and debris in wounds, there are no significant medical uses for Hydrilla verticillata. Even still, health stores sell the plant as a supplement, as it contains calcium, vitaminB12, protein, and minerals, and is claimed to be good for the immune system, weight loss, and healthy skin. In its native regions, people have collected it as fodder for animals. Recent studies indicate that cows fed hydrilla gave 20 percent more milk; chickens laid 14 percent more eggs when it was added to their diet. This may be due to the high presence of calcium in the plant. Some researches say that it ranks among plants with the most calcium content; it is measured in hydrilla at 13 percent.
If hydrilla establishes an economic value as cow feed, it could shake its classification as a weed, which could stem the spread of herbicides intended to get rid of it into waterways.
ICE PLANT
Carpobrotus edulis
The “Me First!” Plant
The ice plant belongs to the stone plant family. There are more than 150 species of ice plants, the best known of which is the purple ice plant, also known as the hardy ice plant, or Delosperma cooperi. The name ice plant comes from the leaves, which have glistering surface hairs that reflect and refract sunrays like tiny ice crystals. It has pale pink, purple, white, yellow, and orange daisy-like flowers, and fleshy leaves. A few ice plant species are bushy shrubs, while others are low-growing spreaders. It is a native of South Africa, where ice plants are evergreen; in other locales, the plants grow as perennials.
Ice plant shoots can grow more than 3 feet in a year, and each shrub or bush can spread wide, covering a tremendously large area of 165 feet in diameter, or more. The plant produces fruits that look like either a type of raspberry or a fig, depending on the species. But all ice plant fruits consist of hundreds of tiny seeds, which make the plant’s chances of propagation great. The fruits are edible and are made into jams and tarts in South Africa. The gelatinous juice of the leaves is used in medicines. Ice plants have green leaves that are triangular in shape and change into flowers in the blooming season. Despite the “ice” in their name, these plants don’t like cold weather, which causes root rot and death. They can, however, thrive in poor soil conditions and don’t need very much water. New plants can arise either from a planted seed or cuttings from a mature specimen. Using a cutting is the fastest way to grow ice plants, particularly for people who wish to plant them for their flowers, which bloom year-round. Ice plants are drought- and insect-resistant, and a choice for landscaping that requires little maintenance—they can provide fast-growing green ground cover even in dry, hot areas, and can also help control erosion.
IVY
Hedera
From Decorative to Poison
Ivy plants are evergreen creeping or climbing plants of the family Araliaceae and especially the genus Hedera. Native to central, western, and southern Europe, ivy comprises around 15 species, with more than 100 subvarieties: the most common are wall ivy, ground ivy, grape ivy, Boston ivy, and English ivy. These plants have been held in high esteem since Roman times. They were considered symbols of love and fidelity because of their habit of clinging to whatever surfaces surround them.
Most ivy plants bear flowers and nectar fruits that are eaten by insects and a few birds. Some species of ivy can keep on growing upward to heights of 90 feet from the root. As evergreen plants, they need less maintenance in terms of water and sunlight. Ivy can also be planted indoors in pots for ornamental purposes. The creeping varieties are even useful in the prevention of soil erosion. Many find ivy adds texture and color to a property and a quality of old-time elegance to houses up which it crawls; thicker varieties have even been used to create sound barriers between adjacent buildings.
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In Indian mythology, ivy plants are treated as a symbol of wealth and prosperity, while in Roman culture they symbolized love and fidelity.
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Some Popular Varieties
Boston ivy: Boston ivy is a perennial vine covered with small green flowers and dark green leaves. It can grow to a height of 2 feet.
English ivy: English ivy climbs walls and covers the sides of buildings, and is also known as true ivy. The leaves are gray and yellow and are ruffed or pointed.
Devil’s ivy: Also known as the money plant, it can grow up to 65 feet in length, and the leaves are yellow and green, shaped like hearts.
Poison ivy: A woody vine whose leaves produce urushiol oil, which can cause severe rashes, blistering, or inflammation of the skin.
Swedish ivy: The one ivy that does not cling to walls. Actually native to Australia, this variety is very popular in Sweden as a houseplant.
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JACKFRUIT
Artocarpus heterophyllus
A Wealth of Fruit
If you’ve never eaten jackfruit, then simply imagine biting into a large, 30- to 100-pound oblong or egg-shaped greenish yellow seedpod with a whole fruit stand of combined tastes. Although its flavor is unique, some report tasting a blend of apple, banana, pineapple, and mango all in one. It has an earthy smell that may put some off, but to most people the fruit is a tasty delicacy. Considering the fruit’s wide spectrum of vitamins and other nutrients, the jackfruit is certainly one of nature’s most splendid gifts.
Artocarpus heterophyllus belongs to the family Moraceae and is also known as jack (jak) or jaca, derived from the Malayan t
erm chakka. In the Philippines it is called nangka; in Cambodia, khnor; in Thailand, khanun; and in Vietnam, mit. Jackfruit is considered native to Southeast Asia and is widely cultivated in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia, as well as in Africa, Mauritius, Brazil, and Jamaica.
Jackfruit is a handsome tree, growing 18 to 66 feet tall, with evergreen, glossy, 8-inch-long leaves. The leaves, stems, branches, and trunk all contain a white, sticky latex sap. Its flowering blooms come from large branches, or directly from the trunk, or sometimes even around the base of the tree. It is a monoecious species, growing tiny male flowers in clusters 5 inches wide and rounded, as well as ellipsoid, female flowers on the same tree. Fruits come in different sizes and weights, and some huge ones grow to over 36 inches long and are 2 feet wide. Inside the fruits, there are large bulbs (perianths) with yellow, banana-like flesh, and a pithy core. Each bulb has an oval, brownish seed (called an endocarp) measuring only ½ inch long, but they are numerous, with as many as 100 to 500 seeds inside a single fruit.
However, not all are big supporters of this tree. In Tijuca National Park in Brazil, the jackfruit is considered an invasive species: from 2002 to 2007, the park’s manager organized a cutting of more than 55,000 trees. Its aggressive nature notwithstanding, many have found uses for these trees beyond their coveted fruits: the jackfruit’s wood is a good material for many musical instruments.
The Big, Bad Book of Botany Page 13