Holiday Gatherings! Plant of the Day: Noni – "Morinda citrifolia"

A huge number of visitors were in the Conservatory today.  I have not seen the Conservatory this crowded in a long time.  Cold arctic air has settle over the upper Midwest, but today it is accompanied by the smiling and encouraging bright sunshine.  Folks clearly wanted to get out to visit some place nice and interesting.  The Conservatory is certainly a great place for a visit on any day!

Beautiful sunshine brightening
up the North Garden

 While walking through the North Garden, I see plants that have been trimmed and others that are growing beautiful new foliage.  I’m surprised that the jackfruit tree does not have any fruit.  This tree usually has at least a couple of jackfruit visible on the tree.  The horticulture staff do a wonderful job of placing orchids around the Conservatory to add color to the rooms.  Many visitors like to take pictures of the orchids.  Today there were many families visiting the Conservatory and many were taking pictures of their kids with either the plants around the Conservatory or the poinsettias in the Sunken Garden.

Noni - Morinda citrifolia

The plant of the day is the Noni, Morinda citrifolia, in the Family Rubiaceae.  Noni produce a fruit that is used in many ways and for various applications.  It is most commonly combined with other fruits to make noni juice, thought to have strong antioxidant properties and healing effects for such conditions as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.  Because of this, noni extracts are available in such forms as tablets, capsules and tea preparations.  Noni is high in potassium. Health claims related to the noni fruit have not yet been substantiated in clinical trials.

For more information:

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health:   https://nccih.nih.gov/health/noni

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center:            https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-medicine/herbs/noni

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/noni/bibliography.asp#medicalHealthResearch

Holiday Spirit is in the Air! Plant of the Day: Black Pepper – "Piper nigrum"

Visitors today seem more lively and happy than usual.  I chalk that up to holiday spirit!  It can’t be the weather because its overcast and raining outside.  High today – yes you are reading this correctly – 44 degF – in St. Paul, Minnesota.  In December!  A mixed blessing to be sure.  But everyone seems happy and in good spirits throughout the Conservatory.

2015 Winter Flower Show

Today I bypassed my usual beeline to the North Garden and went straight to the Holiday Show in the Sunken Garden.  A sea of red poinsettias greeted my curious eyes as I arrived in the room.  Although there are only seven different varieties of poinsettias, there are hundreds of poinsettias poised with a variety of greenery and other winter shades.  What a true delight to see this beautiful homage to our wonderful holiday season.

Back in the Palm Dome and Northern Garden, I relaxed in the continued lushness and beauty of the plants so elegantly planted together and nursed by the skilled Como horticultural staff and volunteers.  I never tire of seeing the interesting and lush tropical plants that look as healthy and at home as if they were in their native habitat.  A true wonder to see in Minnesota!

Black Pepper - Piper nigrum

I’ve chosen the plant of the day as the Black Pepper.  The plant is found as a ground cover plant in high quantity in the North Garden. 

From the Piperaceae family, the black pepper plant is a vine that grows in tropical climates. After a few years, it bears tiny white blossoms that become berries that we know as peppercorns. For black peppercorns, the berries are picked before full maturity and turn dark when dried. Variations of green and white peppercorns are obtained by choosing different stages at which to pick the berries.

In addition to being the delicious spice that we use to add flavor to our food, the essential oils of pepper are used in some countries as an ingredient of folk medicine.  Touted benefits include relief from respiratory disorders, coughs, the common cold, constipation, indigestion, anemia, impotency, muscular strains, dental disease, pyorrhea, diarrhea, and heart disease.  Pepper is also used to preserve food because of its antibacterial properties. It is a rich source of manganese, iron, potassium, vitamin-C, vitamin K, dietary fiber and is touted as an effective anti-inflammatory agent.  Aside from the medicinal benefits, it has even been used to deter insects and even some large herbivores.

For more information:

https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/herbs-and-spices/health-benefits-of-black-pepper.html

http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/black_pepper.html

http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/piper-nigrum-black-pepper

http://foodfacts.mercola.com/black-pepper.html

Park, Il-Kwon, et al. "Larvicidal activity of isobutylamides identified in Piper nigrum fruits against three mosquito species." Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 50.7 (2002): 1866-1870.

Reddy, S. Venkat, et al. "Antibacterial constituents from the berries of Piper nigrum." Phytomedicine 11.7 (2004): 697-700.

Good Mental Health. Plant of the Day: Mandarin Lime, "Citrus x limonia"

A very busy day in the Conservatory!  Lovely to see all of the smiling folks walking around and enjoying the gardens.  The Fall Flower Show is still underway and the sunken garden looks amazing!  If you haven’t seen this flower show, you’re missing a beautiful and colorful flower show.  Come down and see what an amazing job the Como staff have done!  The Winter Holiday Flower Show will be switched into the sunken garden soon.

The gardens are an incredible spot for improving mental health.  Walking through the conservatory on the paths is a relaxing treat for the soul.  The variety of plants from multiple countries is an amazing experience.  In the North Garden and Palm Dome, countries from multiple continents are represented.  In the Tropical Encounters, visitors can see plants from the Americas.  A visit is a relaxing and interesting education.

The plant of the day is the Mandarin Lime – Citrus x limonia.  This fruit is a hybrid between the madarin orange and the lemon.  This fruit is also known as Rangpur or lemandarin, Citrus x limonia, and, as might be expected, it has an acidic taste.  Outside of the United States the Rangpur is used primarily a rootstock but in other countries it is used primarily as an ornamental or potted plant.

Mandarin Lime Fruit - Citrus X limoonia

The Mandarin Lime in the North Garden is one of several lime trees that are in the North Garden.  It has multiple green fruit on the tree.  One visitor stated that “back home” (sorry, I didn’t catch where he was from), they pick the leaves off the lime tree and seep them in hot water to make tea.

Mandarin Lime

For more information:

https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/mandarin_lime.html

http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/rangpur.html

http://www.fruitipedia.com/rangpur_lime.htm

Heavenly Smells. Plant of the Day: Star Fruit Tree - "Averrhoa carambola"

Creative staff display
outside of Fern Room

The gardens look and smell heavenly today!  The staff continues to do an amazing job of cleaning, organizing and structuring the paths, plants and signage that make the Conservatory plant collections heavenly to enjoy by visitors.  The decorative touches along the hallways are always beautiful, interesting and imaginative.

Although I interpret in the Fern Room, Palm Dome and North Garden, I almost always walk directly to the North Garden to start my interpretive volunteer time.  Today, as I walk into the North Garden, I am struck by the many star fruits that are growing on the star fruit tree just inside the North Garden entrance.  There are numerous fruit to see and they are all a bright yellow.  Every visitor that sees these fruit have the same glowing reaction to how interesting and pretty they look.

Starfruit - Averrhoa carambola

Star fruit is a very useful species for humans.  It is used as a garnish in salads, cooked with seafood, fermented into wine or made into pudding. The wood from this tree is useful for construction or to make furniture.

Many other plants are fruiting around the North Garden including the Mexican Cream Guava (Psidium guajava). The guava fruit is high in vitamins C and A.  This plant is a short evergreen tree that grows in most subtropical and tropical regions of the world.  A concoction made by boiling the leaves and/or the bark has been used by many tribes for diarrhea and dysentery throughout the Amazon.  It has also been used for sore throats, vomiting, stomach upsets and vertigo.

Mexican Cream Guava
Psidium guajava

For more information:

Starfruit:

National Tropical Botanical Garden
http://ntbg.org/plants/plant_details.php?plantid=1377

Food Facts
http://foodfacts.mercola.com/star-fruit.html

Purdue Horticulture
https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/carambola.html

Guava:

National Tropical Botanical Garden
http://ntbg.org/plants/plant_details.php?plantid=9567

Global Invasive Species Database
http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=211

Tropical Plant Database
http://www.rain-tree.com/guava.htm#.Vlo5p-mzVp8

The Wookie Tree - Plant of the Day: European Fan Palm, "Chamaerops humilis"

After my haitus, which was longer than I anticipated, I am back to my blog and glad to be writing again about my volunteer experience with the incredible plant collections at the Como Conservatory.  At the end of this month, I’ll start spending some of my volunteer time in the Tropical Encounters exhibit.  So I’ll soon be adding information about the plant collections in that area as well.  I already know that some of the plants found in the North Garden and in Tropical Encounters are the same, but as I’m sure we’ll see, there are some unique and interesting plants in there as well.  I’ll probably write about the animals as well.  Their stories and influence on our environment and society can be just as interesting as with our plant species.

This is the first day that I’ve done volunteer work on a Sunday.  My past volunteer days have been on Mondays.  There aren’t that many visitors here but it’s a very pleasant day outside so folks are probably enjoying the outdoors today.

European Fan Palm

I see a multitude of plants that are producing fruits.  The vanilla orchid (Vanilla planifolia) that surrounds the entry door into the North Garden has been artificially pollinated and is producing vanilla pods.  The Barbados Cherry tree (Malpighia glaubra; West Indies), Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans; Indonesia), Chombo (Capsicum chinense), Surinam Cherry (Eugenia uniflora; Tropical S. America), multiple lime trees and the Tahitian Gooseberry (Phyllanthus acidus; Southest Asia) are just some of the fruiting plants that I could see.

As I walk through the Palm Dome, one of our visitors points to the European Fan Palm and states that it should be called the Wookie Tree!  As you can see in the picture, the hairy trunk  does have the very general outward appearance of a Wookie from Star Wars.

The plant of the day is the Wookie Tree, AKA the European Fan Palm, Mediterranean Fan Palm, Dwarf Fan Palm and Palmito.  It’s the only palm native to the Mediterranean area of Europe where the climate is sunny, hot and dry.  This palm is a popular landscape plant, especially in areas where tropical palms might not fare well.  It’s main contribution to human society is a landscape plant but its trunk fibers can be used to stuff upholstery.

For more information:

M. E. Merlo, M. M. Alema, J. Cabello, and J. Penas.  1993.  On the Mediterranean Fan Palm (Chamaerops humilis).  Principes, 37(3), pp. 151-158.

http://www.palms.org/principes/1993/vol37n3p151-158.pdf

Florida Palm Trees            http://www.florida-palm-trees.com/european-fan-palm-tree/