Lady’s mantle is an absolutely fantastic plant for a partially shady border. It can also make a great ground cover. Lady’s mantle (Achemilla mollis) was used during the Middle Ages as a medicinal herb. Today, however, it is used as…
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You might just keep walking if you saw a gas plant in a garden center or nursery. It really does not like being cooped-up in a pot and, therefore, does not always put its best leaves forward. If you decide…
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The lily family is a family of monocotyledons (one of two major groups of flowering plants). They have one seed leaf. Most lilies have parallel veins but some of them have net venation (the veins in the leaf) and flowers that…
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Plants generally fall under three categories: trees, shrubs and herbs. It is easy to distinguish herbs as those plants which are generally small and without any firm support or woody stem. On the other hand, shrubs have a woody stem,…
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Most people understand that plants, being the wondrous organisms that they are, make sucrose from water and carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and that oxygen is released as a bi-product. Yet, for many functions at different stages in the life cycle…
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All 13 species of the Baeckea genus are endemic to Australia, although one extends to tropical Asia. The genus is part of the myrtle family Myrtaceae. They are evergreen, erect to spreading shrubs with small, neat leaves. The flowers are…
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“White-top sedge” can refer to either of two similar sedges that grow commonly in marshes, pine woods, and savannahs of the southeastern United States. They were once both referred to by the scientific name dichromena colorata, but now each is…
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The aim of flowers is sex, plants invest a huge proportion of their energy into producing flowers to ensure that pollen is passed from the male part (anthers) to the female receptive part (stigma) either to the same floer, another flower on…
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There are only six species of the genus Bauhinia which are endemic to Australia. Most of the 300 odd species are confined to the tropics. It is not found in Europe but can be found just about everywhere else. It…
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Tradescantia ohiensis, more commonly known as Ohio Spiderwort, is a wildflower native to the eastern half of the United States. While common in some states, it is listed as endangered in the state of Pennsylvania. A hardy plant better able…
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