Thankfulness in the Air. Plant of the Day: Mayan Spinach Tree "Cnidoscolus chayamansa"

Volunteering in a position that requires steady walking has its perks. It’s the day after Thanksgiving and my volunteer work provides the workout needed to reduce the impact of my Thanksgiving overeating. In the first hour, there has been a small but steady stream of visitors. The Palm Dome is very cool but the tropical North Garden has its usual hot and steamy feel.

 

Palm Dome

The strong brightness that greets me in the palm dome indicates that pruning has been done since my last visit. After consulting with a fellow interpreter, I discover that the tallest palm in the room had been removed 3 days earlier. Its leaning predilection had marked its destiny with a chainsaw.

Entering the North Garden

Similar activity had been underfoot in the North Garden. The typical dark undertones of the lush tropical growth in the North Garden have been replaced with the bright and airy vision of severely trimmed vegetation. However, the familiar friends around the room still beckon their call of serenity and thoughtfulness.  I can see star fruit, oranges, papayas, cacao pods and much more.  A discussion with a visitor about the global-wide societal and economic benefits of the vanilla orchid provides a reminder of why I enjoy learning about and teaching about these plants.

The Plant of the Day is the Mayan Spinach Tree Cnidoscolus chayamansa, commonly referred to as tree spinach or chaya. Similar to spinach, this plant provides a popular leaf vegetable in Mexican and Central American cuisines.   Chaya is a good source of calcium, iron, protein, vitamins, and antioxidants.  The leaves of this plant are thought to have the highest level of nutrients of all land-based leafy green vegetables.

Spinach Tree leaves

The raw leaves contain toxic hydrocyanic acid and should be cooked before eaten.  As indicated by its common name, this plant is believed to have originated in the Yucatan area of Central America.

For more information:

Kuti, J.O. and E.S. Torres. 1996. Potential nutritional and health benefits of tree spinach. p. 516-520. In: J. Janick (ed.), Progress in new crops. ASHS Press, Arlington, VA.

Kuti, J. O.; Konuru, H. B. 2004. Antioxidant Capacity and Phenolic Content in Leaf Extracts of Tree Spinach (Cnidoscolus spp.). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 52 (1): 117–21.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cnidoscolus_aconitifolius

https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1996/V3-516.html
http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/982-chaya-the-maya-miracle-plant

Thank you to all our Veterans! Plant of the Day - Carob Tree "Ceratonia siliqua"

Happy 2016 Veterans Day!

I’d like to extend my appreciation to all Veterans who have or are still serving our country.  This includes multiple relatives of mine that serve or have served in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines!

While a cold but sunny and beautiful day outside, it’s a perfectly hot and humid inside for a conservatory of tropical plants.  This morning, I met Como volunteer Maggie, a beautiful, warm and sociable lady. She has been a Como volunteer for over 16 years!  She talked about the uniqueness of the Buddha's hand citrus tree fruit and how, when mature, the fruit looks like an open hand with outreaching fingers.  In Chinese, Korean and Japanese, this fruit is called Buddha’s hand.

There is a light number of visitors here today. There are some beautiful cacao pods growing on the cacao tree which seemed to amaze some visitors but not others.

In the North Garden, there is a cacao tree  (Theobroma cacao) and a carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua).  What are the differences, you ask?  Well, there some fundamental structural differences between the two trees.  

Cacao trees, for example, are cauliflorous, meaning they produce flowers and fruit directly on the trunk, from the ground up and along the branches of the tree. Tiny, tiny insects fly from flower to flower, resulting in pollination and subsequent growth of the fruit – cacao pods – on the tree.

For carob trees, there are male carob trees, female carob trees and hermaphrodite carob trees.  Male trees only produce flowers for pollination of the female trees and will never produce any carob pods.  Female trees produce carob pods but to do so need the pollination from either a male flowering tree or a hermaphrodite flowering tree.  Hermaphrodite trees produce both male and female flowers, so this tree can pollinate itself to produce carob pods but can also pollinate close female trees.

There are many, many differences in how the fruits are cultivated, harvested and processed to produce the cacao and carob sweetness that we enjoy around the world.  There are also nutritional differences and economic differences to various communities.  For fun and interesting facts about the differences between these two tree species, check out the links below!

For more information

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/carob-versus-chocolate/
http://www.heathernicholds.com/nutrition/carob-vs-chocolate
https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/carob.html
http://kholistic.com/cacao-vs-carob/
https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-and/climate-chocolate