Plants for a Plant Zoo: Common Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)
Karen Few plants have flowers that are as appealing as common foxglove. The 2-3″ long blooms that cover the 4-5′ tall flowering stalks are purple with enticing spots inside and appear…
Plant Profile: Buffalo Bur Nightshade (Solanum rostratum)
Also known as buffalo-bur, spiny nightshade, Colorado bur, Kansas thistle, bad woman, Mexican thistle, and Texas thistle, this annual is native to the Great Plains and a member of Solanaceae…
Plant Profile: Alligator Plant (Kalanchoe daigremontiana aka Bryophyllum daigremontianum)
Also known as mother of thousands, devil’s backbone, and Mexican hat plant, this short-lived, succulent perennial is native to Madagascar and a member of the stonecrop family, Crassulaceae, that also…
Plant Profile:European Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum)
Native to the Balkans, this deciduous tree is a member of the soapberry family, Sapindaceae, that also includes maple, lychee, and buckeye. It has a deep taproot and grows up…
Plant Profile: Gopher Spurge (Euphorbia lathyris)
Also known as caper spurge, mole plant, paper spurge, and sassy Jack, this herbaceous annual or biennial is native to southern Europe, northwest Africa, and eastward through southwest Asia to…
Plants of the Bible: Mandrake ( (Mandragora officinarum aka Atropa mandragora
Also called love-apple, mandrake ( דודאים dudaim in Hebrew) is a very variable herbaceous perennial that is native to the Mediterranean area including Israel and the Levant and some soucses…
Plant Profile: Mandrake (Mandragora officinarum)
Also called love-apple, mandrake is a very variable herbaceous perennial that is native to the Mediterranean area including Israel and the Levant and some sourses would classsify mandrakes in the…
Plant Profile: Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)
This vigorous deciduous woody vine, also known as woodbine, is native to eastern and central North America south to Mexico where it grows in a variety of habitats including forests,…
Plant Profile: Cowbane (Oxypolis rigidior)
Also called pig-potato and stiff cowbane, this herbaceous perennial is in the parsley family, Apiaceae, that also includes celery, Queen Anne’s lace, and poison hemlock. It is native to eastern…
Plant Profile: Common Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum)
Also known as eagle fern, bracken fern is a herbaceous perennial and a member of the Dennstaedtiaceae family that includes 10 genera and 240 species of ferns. It is one…