Plant Profile: Sharon Tulip (Tulipa agenensis aka T. sharonensis)
Karen The Sharon tulip is a perennial bulb and member of the Lily family, Liliaceae, that also includes dog’s tooth violet and fritillaria. It is native to the Middle East where…
Plant Profile: Common Rush (Juncus effusus)
Also known as soft rush and mat rush, this herbaceous perennial is a member of the rush family, Juncaceae, that includes plants resembling sedges and grasses. Common rush is native…
Plant Profile: Canary Creeper (Tropaeolum peregrinum)
Also known as canarybird flower, canary bird vine, and canary nasturtium, this tender perennial vine is native to western South America, in Peru and possibly Ecuador. It belongs to the…
Plants for a Plant Zoo: Wolfsbane (Aconitum napellus)
Wolfbane has a long a interesting history. According to legend aconite grew on the hill where Hercules fought Cerberus, the three headed dog that guarded the underworld. The dog’s spittle…
Plant Profile: Tatarian orachea (Atriplex tatarica)
Native to saline and alkaline deserts of Middle and western Central Asia, Asia Minor, North Africa, and Eastern Europe, this annual shrub is a member of the amaranth family, Amaranthaceae,…
Plant Profile: Common Horsetail (Equisetum arvense)
Also known as scouring rush, this is a herbaceous perennial that bears spores rather than seeds and is more closely related to ferns than to seed bearing or flowering plants.…
Plant Profile: Camel Thorn (Alhagi maurorum)
Also known as Caspian manna and Persian manna plant, this deciduous shrub is indigenous to temperate and tropical Eurasia and the Middle East where it grows in both wetlands and…
Plant Profile: White Weeping Broom (Retama raetam aka Genista raetam)
This dense, deciduous, flowering shrub is native to arid regions of northern Africa from the Western Sahara to Sudan, Sicily, the Sinai Peninsula, the Palestine region and Saudi Arabia. It…
Plant Profile: Common Reed (Phragmites australis aka P. communis)
Native to temperate wetlands world wide, this perennial aquatic grass is a member of the grass family, Poaceae, that also includes corn, rice, and bamboo. It is a vigorous grower…
Plant Profile: Red Acacia (Vachellia seyal aka Acacia seyal)
Also known as shittah tree, this evergreen tree is native to parts of northern Africa including Senegal, and Egypt where it grows in woodlands, wooded grassland, subtropical and tropical deserts,…