More resurrection plants: Sporobolus stapfianus (a grass in dry grasslands in southern Africa, Nigeria, and Yemen. Also resistant to extreme salinity, temperatures, and to ionic radiation)
Some plants are capable of thermogenesis (creating heat).
The last time devil's ivy was recorded flowering was 1964 despite it being a common houseplant.
Shade trees (umbrella-like canopy) and trees for treehouses:
ombú is a massive deciduous tree native to the Pampas of South America. Because it is derived from herbaceous ancestors, its trunk consists of anomalous secondary thickening rather than true wood. As a result, it is fast growing, but its wood is soft enough to be cut with a knife.
Some plants have been shown to actively promote the growth of their floral microbiomes. For example, the bertram palm bears long-lived (sometimes up to 4 months) flowers to cultivate the growth of yeasts which help the plant produce an alcoholic beverage enjoyed by its mammal pollinators (treeshrews, squirrels, and murids).
Bullhorn acacia produces beltian bodies on the tips of its leaves. These are very high in protein, fiber, and sugar and have led to the evolution of the only known spider with a mostly herbivorous diet, Bagheera kiplingi. The nectar, which is produced by special glands instead of flowers, is also sipped by the spider. In addition, the tree has coevolved a symbiotic relationship with ant species from Pseudomyrmex who live in the hollowed out thorns and aggressively protect the plant from pests.
Other interesting topics related to plant adaptations to symbiotic relationships with bugs: food bodies (including pearl bodies, Beltian bodies, and Beccarian bodies), myrmecophytes are plants that live in association with a colony of ants, domatium are produced by certain plants to house ants or other bugs, extrafloral nectaries are specialized nectar-secreting plant glands that develop outside of the flowers usually to feed other organisms, elaiosomes are fleshy structures attached to some plant seeds that are rich in fats and proteins and usually used to attract ants or
Nitraria retusa (Nitrariaceae) grows in deserts of northern Africa where it forms nabkhas that create an ecological home for many other species. Humans, camels, and goats alike all enjoy its fruit.
Sociable weaver birds make complex giant nests out of Stipagrostis ciliata. These nests even host a bird of prey that occasionally feasts on the weavers. They tolerate this because these birds tend to fight off predators that are often even more destructive: snakes and skinks.
Afrormosia is an incredible leguminous rainforest tree from the Congo. Seed pods provide food for monkeys and birds, seeds feed beetles, and flowers provide homes for butterflies. The hardwood is extremely valued in woodworking. It is also fire proof and often acts as a pioneer species in disturbed soils.
guaraná: I wanna grow it in a greenhouse or fruit trench!
Landraces. I want to buy a lot of varieties of certain crops and grow them to seed and let them cross pollinate
Sea buckthorn is a non-leguminous nitrogen fixing plant that basically just shows up to revive dead soils and then gets outcompeted by trees and woodland species and leaves. It has a lot of known edible and medicinal uses.
Perennial grains and perennial greens don't get enough love and attention
Egyptian walking onion is so named because its bulbs form above ground and eventually gain enough weight to make the plant bend and causing it to self-plant. In this way, it "walks" across the garden
The up-yam is grown more for its bulbils (which are above ground) than its tubers. The bulbils look like tubers and are edible. The cultivars grown in Nigeria also have edible tubers though wild versions can be toxic if not very thoroughly boiled.
Bittersweet nightshade is a very woody herbaceous perennial vine that occurs in woodlands, hedges, marshes, and scrublands. Although its berries are poisonous for humans (though poisonings are rare) and most mammals, they provide food for certain birds and its understory habit creates shelter for a number of animals. Its stems are approved in Germany for supportive therapy for chronic eczema where 1-3g of the stem are infused in 250mL of water daily. It's traditionally been used externally for skin abrasians and inflammation.
Huutah or "Chamise" is native to California, Oregon, Nevada, and northern Baja California. Chamise is useful for eczema and Adam's disease therapy. A balm is made by placing 50 grams of branches and leaves into 2 liters of extra virgin olive oil to infuse for 1 month. Then the olive oil is poured into a mixing bowl and 135 grams of beeswax is melted and thoroughly mixed in a water bath at 75 degrees Celsius. The mixture is then poured into 35 milliliter containers and allowed to harden into a balm. The balm can be rubbed with the finger tips and used as needed daily on rashes and lesions on the skin.
Weeping pittosporum (very closely related to P. angustifolium) is used by Australians to treat sprains and eczema. Decoctions of the fruits were drunk and applied for eczema and pruritus.
Shamel ash is a tree from central turtle island. The bark, macerated in water and sometimes combined with lime juice, is applied topically to combat skin problems such as eczema or itching.
Spilmay is an evergreen perennial shrub in the dogbane family (which includes periwinkles, milkweeds, iboga, frangipani, natal plums, etc). A poultice is applied for rheumatism, wounds, eczema, pigmentation and other skin inflammations; it's heated in oil to be applied externally to treat joint pain and swellings.
Papri (elm family) is used by Meo people for a large variety of medicinal uses including eczema for which a paste of these leaves and garlic is applied topically.
Biskhapra (ice plant family) is also used by Meo people for treating eczema. A paste of roots in urine of milk feeding calf is applied on eczema, and wounds between fingers of hands and feet of humans.
Desmanthus illinoensis has been studied extensively for companion planting/intercropping applications. It is also mixed with passionflower to produce an analog of Ayahuasca.
Turnera diffusa is possibly one of the most commonly used psychedelic plant in Mexico but not much known outside of it
Ephedrine comes from Ephedra species which is how we got meth. Ephedrine was banned from supplements in 2004, but you can still buy OTC asthma medicines that contain it
Some really cool liverworts in the Radula genus (e.g. Radula perrottetii) contain perrottetinene, a canabinoid. Smoking these plants dried produces effects that are somewhat similar to marijuana though milder. Would be cool to try to domesticate this liverwort (liverworts aren't even vascular plants!)
The toothache plant is an herb from the sunflower family whose likely original range is Brazil. It's perennial in warmer climates, grows quickly, and attracts fireflies when in bloom. Fresh leaves can be shredded to add a unique flavor to salads, but cooked leaves lose their strong flavor and can be used as leafy greens. A decoction/infusion of the flowers and leaves are used as a toothache remedy.
Acmella alba is also used for toothaches by the Siona who call it gũhĩ sɨrɨ.
Tuvaraka is a tree in the Achariaceae family. It's oil has historically been used as a treatment for leprocy. It's sometimes been called the "toothache tree". It enhances the action of berberine in treating Staphylococcus aureus by preventing its removal from within S. aureus cells.
Codonanthopsis dissimulata is used by the Siona as a headache and toothache remedy as well as to treat stings of a type of ant. For toothaches, leaves are pounded and then boiled and that mixture is held in the mouth.
Drymonia coriacea is also used by the Siona in the same way. It is called macenidsi.
Melastoma malabathricum. Ethnopharmacologically, the leaves, shoots, barks, seeds, and roots of M. malabathricum have been used to treat diarrhoea, dysentery, hemorrhoids, cuts and wounds, toothache, and stomachache.[3]
the best hyperaccumulator of arsenic we know of, and it survives
See also:
as of 2021, no plant has been identified as a mercury hyperaccumulator so phytoremediation is hard, but many plants have been identified for use as phytostabilization. Phytovolatization (plants take up Hg in roots and release it into atmosphere) is very inefficient. Vegetation that bioaccumulates Hg removes less than 0.2% of Hg in soil even when chemically assisted (for contrast, Sedum plumbizincicola can remove 32.4-84.5% of cadium)[4]
Cats love to munch on grass and taking fat hits of some nip. When it comes to grass, almost any species works as catgrass so long as it's not toxic to them. But did you know that catnip isn't the only plant that can have that effect on cats? Many other plants produce nepetalactone and some cats that are not sensitive to catnip are sensitive to other plants that contain nepetalactone or, potentially, actinidine.
Catnip is the OG cat drug. Many other Nepeta species also contain nepetalactone and have similar effects. 68% of cats responded to catnip in a study.
Kuppaimeni contains iridoid compounds that cause an excited reaction in cats said to be stronger than catnip. It contains isodihydronepetalactone (nepetalactone), and isoiridomyrmecin (iridolactone).
Lemongrass is also often cited as an alternative to catnip.
Silver vine contains actinidine and dihydroactinidiolide and tends to be more powerful than catnip. 79% of cats responded to silver vine in a study.
Charcoal tree (Trema orientalis from the hemp family) is a tree with soft wood that's suitable for paper or pulp production. It's bark can also be used to make string or rope. It is native to tropical and southern Africa (including Madagascar), Asia, and Australia. The leaves and bark have a wide range of medical uses. At least 14 species of butterflies use it as a larval food plant; several species of birds eat the fruit or feed on the abundant insects which live in the trees; and cattle, buffalo, and goats use the leaves, pods, and seeds as fodder. It can also act as a pioneer species.
Balsa tree (Ochroma pyramidale from the mallow family) is a fast growing tree that can grow 30m tall (up to 27m in 10-15 years). It is native to Mexico, South America, and Central America. It is an effective pioneer plant that can establish itself in clearings in forests or abandoned agricultural fields. It's wood is less dense than cork. Trees generally don't live longer than 30 to 40 years. It is closely related to baobabs and the cuipu tree (Cavanillesia platanifolia) which has even softer wood. As the only member of its genus, it is monotypic.
Quiop wood is softer than balsa wood. The bark is also used as a source of fibre. It is a tree from the mallow family that grows in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It is very fast growing.
Paulownia species are (one of?) the only known species of trees that utilize C4 photosynthesis. This makes them possibly the fastest growing species of tree known.
Chupa-chupa fruit is popular and can be eaten raw. It is another fast growing tree species of the mallow family that grows in the southern Andes. It is suitable as a pioneer species and can help establish woodland gardens.
Wineberry is fast-growing, short-lived, and deciduous making it a great pioneer species. In addition, it's fruit is edible raw or cooked and it has many medicinal uses.
Spanish moss is a bromeliad that is neither moss nor lichen, nor is it from Spain. It has been used for building insulation, mulch, packing material, mattress stuffing, fiber, and much more.
Calabash' is a gourd that has been used to make water jugs for ages. When harvested young, it can also be eaten as a vegetable.
Two species of Luffa (also gourds) are grown for their fruits which are used as cleaning sponges. They are also used as vegetables.
Rose madder (Rubia tinctorum from coffee family): roots are harvested after 2 years to make a red dye called madder lake. The outer red layer gives the common variety of the dye, the inner yellow layer the refined variety.
Sumomo (Prunus salicina from the peach genus in the rose family): fruits produce a dark grey to green dye that's been in use in Japan for many years. Fruit are also used to make a plum wine later in the year.
Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus from sunflower family): indigo dye is obtained by boiling the petals with alum and then strained.
Chuchua (Viburnum triphyllum from moschatel family): violet dye from its fruits. It associates with mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen-fixing bacteria. It's important in ecological restoration due to its high rate of foliar exchange and is useful for watershed protection and as a windbreak.
However, Lodoicea (a monotypic palm), has even larger cotyledons. This palm also have rare massive coconut-like fruit which are used as a flavor enhancer and the shells are used to make bowls.
The peanut, also known as the groundnut, is an example of geocarpy wherein the plant fruits underground. After flowers are pollinated, they grow pegs that go into the ground which end up fruiting. Geocarpy in general is very rare, but much rarer is a type of geocarpy in which the flowers themselves also grow underground. This is known as protogeocarpy and one example of this feature is the genus Alexgeorgea. Amphicarpy, bicarpy, and geocarpy has been reported in 21 families and 40 genera of angiosperms.
The unit of measurement often used in jewelry, the carat, derives from the use of carob seeds as a unit of measurement because of the belief that their seeds were very consistent in weight. However, studies show that their seeds might actually vary about as much as other plants. However, that same study also showed people were much more able to tell which carob seeds varied more than others making it still useful. Carob is a legume (and therefore nitrogen fixing) that is often used as a chocolate substitute due to its sweet pods.
Although the majority of plants use C3 carbon fixation, C4 carbon fixation is present in around 3% of plants. Even rarer is CAM photosynthesis which is present in Crassulaceae as well as a number of unrelated genera. C4 carbon fixation occurs in 40% of monocots, but only around 4.5% of dicots. Poaceae, specifically within the PACMAD clade make up the bulk of known C4 plant species. Most C4 plants posses a characteristic leaf anatomy called kranz anatomy, though some exceptions exist which operate through a unique C4 mechanism that uses a single cell rather than 2 specialized types of cells for photosynthesis. There are very few C4 trees apart from Paulownia, 7 species of Euphorbia, and a few desert shrubs that become trees as they age. However, C4 trees are known to be extremely fast-growing with some species of Paulownia being thought to be the fastest growing species of tree known.
Suaeda aralocaspica a halophytic C4 plant that lacks the kranz anatomy. It is a monoecious annual that produces 2 different seed types that differ in sizes, color, shape, dormancy, and germination characteristics.
Bienertia cycloptera and Bienertia sinuspersici are also C4 plants that lack the kranz anatomy. B. cycloptera is a rare monoecious annual plant used medicinally for its antimicrobial effects.
Megathyrsus maximus is a C4 grass in which PEPCK is the enzyme that plays the role of catalyzing decarboxylation in bundle-sheath cells.
Paulownia is a genus containing C4 trees. They are extremely fast growing with very high quality timber that is lighter and stronger than balsa wood.
winged bean - young seedpods (cooked or eaten raw in salads); immature seeds (used in soups); mature seeds (cooked like beans, roasted like peanuts, fermented like tempeh; roasted as coffee substitute); seed oil; root (raw or cooked); leaves and young shoots (raw or cooked, older leaves are best cooked like spinach, not edible after flowering); flowers and flower buds (raw as garnish, sauté makes them taste like mushrooms)
dhaniya - fresh leaves (for chutneys, salads, etc or as garnish); dried seeds, whole or ground (spice/seasoning and for pickling, roasting as a snack, or brewing); fresh green seeds; roots; flowers (raw as garnish)
Miner's lettuce is native to California. It's a perennial in certain zones, but even where it's not a perennial it readily reseeds itself so there's no need to store seeds.
Chaya[5] is a large, fast-growing, perennial shrub in the spruge family (which means it exudes a toxic milky sap). The leaves are edible but must be cooked 5-15 minutes before being eaten. Seeds are produced rarely so propagation is usually by woody stems. A USDA study in Puerto Rico found that greater yields were able to be obtained with chaya than with any other green. The plant grows wild from southern Texas through Yucatán and Chiapas. It is closely related to the genus Manihot (cassava). There are many varieties and subspecies within this taxon, but there are 4 varieties that are cultivated: 'Estrella', 'Picuda', 'Chayamansa', and 'Redonda'. The first two are hard to differentiate from wild specimens. 'Chayamansa' is the most clearly domesticated with reduced stinging hairs and mature fruit being rare, never producing viable seed. 'Redonda' varieties lack stinging hairs.
Katuk, also called sweet leaf, is a shrub growing ~3 meters tall that is widely cultivated in east and southeast Asia as a medicinal plant and vegetable. It is very prolific and nutritious and considered one of the most appetizing green vegetables. Young leaves can be eaten raw, but older leaves should be cooked. Plants can also be grown as hedges or for shade for vegetables. The seeds readily germinate. One study[6] looked at "acceptability scores" of 5 different ways to cook them with "pakodi, "bajiji", and "dhal with greens" being the most popular (though all were well liked). The bajiji method consists of mixing the greens with Bengalgram batter and deep frying them in a cooking medium. Pakodi is essentially the same but with chopped onions added to the mix.
Inga species, like the joaquiniquil (aka the icecream bean), can produce fruit year round. They are legumes and therefore nitrogen fixing. Unlike most legumes, the presence of ammonium levels in the soil results in an increase, rather than an increase, in nodule formation. In addition, the tree also increases the amount of extractable phosphorus in the soil. It's natural distribution ranges from Central to South America often found at the margins of large rivers like the Amazon River. It has been used in agroforestry in association with cocoa and coffee since pre-Columbian times.
Natal plum can fruit year round, peaking in summer and fall with flowers and fruit appearing at the same time.
The peanut butter fruit can fruit and flower year round. It is a shrub to small tree that is native to South America where it grows as an understory tree in dry and moist limestone forests near the coast. The plant can be grown in tropical to temperate areas and will fruit in the first year of growth. It is known for its fruit which tastes very similar to peanut butter. The fruit can be eaten raw.
One of the most well-known rules of thumb in foraging that actually generally holds up is don't eat white berries. So I'm gonna keep track of exceptions to this rule as I come across them.
Midgim berries are native to heathlands of Eastern Australia. It is a shrub in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae).
White mulberry is a fast-growing, medium-sized tree in the fig family (Moraceae) that is native to China and India. It is often cultivated to feed silkworms, who eat the leaves, for the production of silk. The berries are delicious. The tree is usually short-lived (<100 years), but some specimens are known to have reached 250+ years. It is capable of the fastest known example of rapid plant movement by using its stamens to catapult the pollen at about 350mph (over half the speed of sound).
The common snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) from the honeysuckle family is a deciduous shrub native to North America throughout Canada and most of the western United States that is mostly dispersed by birds. Besides containing saponins, the berry is edible. It is an important food source for bighorn sheep, white tailed deer, and grizzly bears and it is often used in ecological restoration projects for erosion control.
Mistletoe is the common name for a number of species in the Santalales order. They are usually parasitic vines and are usually toxic due to the presence of tyramine or phoratoxin. Although consumption can be dangerous (though not commonly fatal), the plants have also been used medicinally in a number of cultures.
White baneberry is another poisonous North American plant. Although they're harmless to birds, the berries and the entire plant is considered toxic to humans. It is related to black cohosh and both are members of the buttercup family.
Chupa-chupa (Quararibea cordata from mallow family) fruit can be eaten raw and the flavor is reminiscent of a very sweet pumpkin with overtones of mango and apricot. The tree is fast-growing and can reach a height of 10-30m. It is also suitable for use as a pioneer species in its native range to restore native woodlands. It is grown in association with avocadoes because both trees have the same soil requirements and chupa-chupa can provide the shade that avocado trees need.[7]
Hǎitáng (Malus spectabilis): The apple that tastes better when it goes "bad".[8]
Woodapple is a monotypic large deciduous Eastern Asian tree that bears edible fruit but is also widely used for a large number of medicinal uses. It is very slow growing, taking 15 years before fruiting begins. It's drought resistance makes it a good rootstock for grafting citrus.
The icecream bean is a legume that can produce fruit year round.
The candlestick tree (Parmentiera cereifera) produces edible pods in large numbers. It is endangered in its native range but commonly grown as an ornamental. There's little information about its edibility online. It is from the Atlantic coasts of Panama
