Avocado Plant

Have you ever grown a plant from the pit of an avocado? I've been getting interested in plants lately so I decided to try it. It's a slow process. I got my instructions from www.gardenweb.com:

"How do I do it?"

Open the avocado and remove the pit from the center. You can eat the fruit of the avocado, it's yummy and is full of nutrients!*

Wash the avocado pit under cool running water, you don't need soap to clean it. With your fingers gently wipe away and remove any of the green fruit that might be on the pit. Rinse it well and then blot it dry with a paper towel.

Carefully push three toothpicks into the thickest width of avocado, you want to push the toothpicks into the pit about a 1/2" deep. (It's okay if you push them in deeper or even a little less) The toothpicks will help suspend the avocado pit in water and keep the top part of the pit in fresh air and the fat base of the pit under the surface of the water. Be careful pushing in the toothpicks, they have pointy edges and could hurt if they poke your hands, it's all right to ask a grown-up to help with this.

Suspend the pit over a glass filled with water....the toothpicks will rest on the rim of the glass and hold the pit in place so it doesn't sink to the bottom. Always check the water level in the glass and see that the water is covering the fat base of the pit by about an inch depth. If the water is below that level you'll need to add some more. Slowly and carefully pour in more water from a small cup to avoid splashing.

Place the glass in a bright windowsill. In about three to six weeks the top of the avocado pit will begin to split and a stem sprout will emerge from the top and roots will begin to grow at the base.

When the stem grows to about five or six inches pinch out the top set of leaves. In another two or three weeks new leaves will sprout and their will be more roots.

It's now time to plant the young avocado tree. Place enriched potting soil in a large flowerpot (maybe 8" to 10" across). Fill the soil to about an inch from the top of the pot. Make a small depression in the center of the soil and place the pit, root-side down into the depression. Don't put it too deep...you want to have the upper half of the pit above the soil line. Add some more soil around the pit to fill in any air holes by the roots and then firm it into the soil by gently pushing the soil around the base of the pit. The tree's stem and leaves should be straight and pointing up (like a flagpole).

Give the soil a drink to water the pit. Water it generously so that the soil is thoroughly moist. Water the soil slowly and gently so that when it's poured in it doesn't gouge out holes in the soil. Keep your tree watered but don't let the soil be so moist that it ever looks like mud.

How do I care for my avocado tree?"

Keep your tree in a sunny window, the more sun it gets the bigger it will grow.

Remember to give it frequent light waterings but don't let the soil get muddy. If the leaves turn yellow it means that the plant is getting too much watering, let the tree's soil dry out for a couple of days, then return to light waterings.

When the stem grows six more inches pinch out the top two sets of leaves. This will encourage the plant to grow side shoots and more leaves, making it bushy. Each time the plant grows another six inches pinch out the two newest sets of leaves on top.

"Can my avocado tree ever go outside?"

Yes it can go outside in the summer. If your winters are cold ~ below 45 degrees (F) or 7 degrees (C) ~ you must bring your tree inside for the winter. Otherwise, if your winters are cool and mild, the tree may stay outdoors year round.

"Will my tree ever grow fruit?"

Sometimes they will begin setting fruit after they are three or four years old. It helps to have several avocado trees growing together to aid with pollination.

More Tulips

Here are some more photos that Diana took last month at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

Tulips

My friend Diana took this photo at the Tulip Festival in Mount Vernon, Washington. I had assumed that her photos wouldn't be able to capture the impressiveness of the tulips...but she told me, "Actually, they kind of do!" Once I saw her photos, I realized she was right.

If you click on the photo, you can see it larger. It makes nice wallpaper!

4/20

Hey, happy 4/20, man.

Today's the day we all celebrate how some teenagers used to meet at "the wall" to get high. Or something. I don't remember the details too much.

Just that it was awesome!!

Peace out, bloggahs.

Electric Eel Cocktail

"We’ve seen mocktails, Baracktails, and now: “shocktails.” Haru’s director of operations and mixologist, Keith Dusko, is pairing a new drink, the Electric Eel, with so-called Sechuan buttons (also called Sansho buttons) that he says create an “electric sensation” when chewed — “like putting a nine-volt battery in your mouth.” (Indeed, accounts of eating the flower bud support this.) The drink itself is a margarita-like mix of premium tequila, sake, and yuzu, but it’s the buttons we’re intrigued by. We’re sure Dusko isn’t the first to use them in a drink, but so far they haven’t gotten miracle fruit-like hype."

From NPR:

"It's a little yellow bud, and when you put it in your mouth, something strange happens.

"It's a reaction that feels "a little north of Pop Rocks, and south of putting a 9-volt battery in your mouth," says Keith Dusko, director of operations for Haru, a chain of restaurants in New York, Boston and Philadelphia.

"The plants are known in the U.S. as "Szechuan buttons," "sansho buttons" or "electric buttons," and chefs here have been experimenting with them for the past couple of years.

"Dusko uses them in two cocktails — one is a martini-like drink with a broken-up button rimmed around the edge of the glass. Rob Welland, the executive chef at Poste in Washington, D.C., is planning to debut an Alaskan halibut dish that integrates the button into a curry sauce.

"It's not just a flavor, it's a feeling," he says, "and I thought that was interesting to introduce into the cuisine."

"Michael Nestrud, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, says the plant, known as Acmella oleracea or para cress, has been widely used in South America, Africa and Asia."

Green Sea Slug

State employees, huh?:

A green sea slug appears to be part animal, part plant. It's the first critter discovered to produce the plant pigment chlorophyll.

The sneaky slugs seem to have stolen the genes that enable this skill from algae that they've eaten. With their contraband genes, the slugs can carry out photosynthesis - the process plants use to convert sunlight into energy.

"They can make their energy-containing molecules without having to eat anything," said Sidney Pierce, a biologist at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Pierce has been studying the unique creatures, officially called Elysia chlorotica, for about 20 years. He presented his most recent findings Jan. 7 at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in Seattle. The finding was first reported by Science News.

"This is the first time that multicellar animals have been able to produce chlorophyll," Pierce told LiveScience.

The sea slugs live in salt marshes in New England and Canada. In addition to burglarizing the genes needed to make the green pigment chlorophyll, the slugs also steal tiny cell parts called chloroplasts, which they use to conduct photosynthesis. The chloroplasts use the chlorophyl to convert sunlight into energy, just as plants do, eliminating the need to eat food to gain energy.
"We collect them and we keep them in aquaria for months," Pierce said. "As long as we shine a light on them for 12 hours a day, they can survive [without food]."

The researchers used a radioactive tracer to be sure that the slugs are actually producing the chlorophyll themselves, as opposed to just stealing the ready-made pigment from algae. In fact, the slugs incorporate the genetic material so well, they pass it on to further generations of slugs.
The babies of thieving slugs retain the ability to produce their own chlorophyll, though they can't carry out photosynthesis until they've eaten enough algae to steal the necessary chloroplasts, which they can't yet produce on their own.

The slugs' accomplishment is quite a feat, and scientists aren't yet sure how the animals actually appropriate the genes they need.

"It certainly is possible that DNA from one species can get into another species, as these slugs have clearly shown," Pierce said. "But the mechanisms are still unknown."

Potatoes Are Trying to Kill You

No, I'm not insane. It's science! You can't argue with science:

Petunias and potatoes may actually be carnivorous plants, scientists now suggest.

Indeed, carnivorous behavior may be far more widespread in plants than commonly thought - if we take a closer look, botanists said.

At least six different kinds of killer plants have been recognized since the time of Darwin, such as Venus flytraps, which snares insects between its jaw-like leaves, and pitcher plants, which capture victims in slippery pits. These plants apparently target animals to supplement their growth in harsh, nutrient-poor habitats.

Many other plants, some quite common, have also been suggested as potential carnivores over the years that have failed to gain wide acceptance as such thus far. Petunias and potatoes, for instance, have sticky hairs that trap insects, and several species of campion flowers have the common name catchfly for the same reason.

"We may be surrounded by many more murderous plants than we think," said botanist Mark Chase, Keeper of the Jodrell Laboratory at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in England.

Chase and his colleagues reviewed all the research so far on carnivorous plants. A number of plants might actually be carnivorous, they noted, but merely go about their murderous business in a subtler manner than their more conspicuous cousins.

For instance, the cross-leaved heath (Erica tetralix) is not typically considered a carnivorous plant, but this pink flower possesses sticky, adhesive glands and dwells in poor soils. Also, while carnivorous seeds might be a strange concept, those of the shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) possesses a sticky layer with chemicals that can attract, kill and digest victims.

"Although a man-eating tree is fictional, many commonly grown plants may turn out to be cryptic carnivores, at least by absorbing through their roots the breakdown products of the animals that they ensnare," Chase said.

The reason why most of these plants are not generally thought of as carnivores is because they have not been found capable of digesting what they entrap as more obvious carnivorous plants do. Still, because roots can readily absorb nutrients released from decaying corpses, nearly all plants are capable of carnivory, Chase and his colleagues assert.

"In almost every habitat, the nitrogen and phosphorus that animal bodies can provide are limiting factors for growth, and even a minimal amount of carnivory can reap some benefit."

Although Chase feels there is more than just circumstantial evidence that demonstrates how widespread carnivorous plants are, to prove the point, researchers can dose insects with mildly radioactive nutrients. Scientists can then track such molecules to see if the plants are really absorbing them, which would show they are benefiting from killing prey.

"What plants are doing is much more sophisticated than we ever imagined," Chase said. "Although animals are eating plants, plants are also eating animals. It's not just a one-way street."

Friendly Food print from: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/food-art/5-budget-friendly-food-prints-from-nouar-092656?image_id=641775

Sassafras

Just a little sassafras...no biggie.

I walk past a sassafras tree on my way to work every morning. When I was a kid, someone once showed me how to pick a leaf off a sassafras tree and scratch the stem to release the fragrance. It smells like lemon soap:

"Sassafras trees grow from 50–120 feet) tall with many slender branches, and smooth, orange-brown bark. The branching is sympodial. The bark of the mature trunk is thick, red-brown, and deeply furrowed. The wood is light, hard and sometimes brittle. It can be used to make a serviceable bow if properly worked. All parts of the plants are very fragrant. The species are unusual in having three distinct leaf patterns on the same plant, unlobed oval, bilobed (mitten-shaped), and trilobed (three pronged); rarely the leaves can be five-lobed. The young leaves and twigs are quite mucilaginous, and produce a citrus-like scent when crushed. The fruit are blue-black, egg-shaped, 1 cm long, produced on long, red-stalked cups, and mature in late summer.The largest Sassafras tree in the United States is located in Owensboro, Kentucky. The name "Sassafras," applied by the botanist Nicolas Monardes in the sixteenth century, is said to be a corruption of the Spanish word for saxifrage.

"Steam distillation of dried root bark produces an essential oil consisting mostly of safrole that once was extensively used as a fragrance in perfumes and soaps, food and for aromatherapy. Safrole is a precursor for the clandestine manufacture of the drug MDMA (ecstasy), and as such, its transport is monitored internationally.

"The dried and ground leaves are used to make filé powder, a spice used in the making of some types of gumbo. The roots of Sassafras can be steeped to make tea and were used in the flavoring of root beer until being banned by the FDA. Sassafras tea can be used as an anticoagulant. Sassafras was a commodity prized in Europe as a cure for gonorrhea."

From: www.wikipedia.org

Tree Pose

"The Tree pose, Vrikshasana, is a beautiful and classic yoga pose that gives one balance and flexibility. The Sanskrit name for this pose, Vrilshasana, comes from the Sanskrit word for tree –vrksa.

"To open the Tree pose you will stand in the Tadasana pose (standing straight up).

"Shift your weight slowly to your left foot while keeping the other foot planted firmly on the yoga mat.

"Bend your right knee slowly.

"Reach toward the ground using your right hand and grab your right ankle.

"Bring up your right foot and place the bottom of the right foot along the inner left thigh. Press your heel firmly into the inner thigh groin area. Your toes should be pointed to the floor. Remember to notice pelvis placement. Your pelvis should be right on top of your left foot.

"Lay your hand on top of your pelvis bone.

"Stretch so that your tailbone feels as if it is pulling toward the floor. While pressing with your right foot you should use the outer left leg as resistance.

"Place hands together and look at a fixed point.

"Keep pose for up to one minute.

"Repeat pose on other side.

"The Tree pose focuses on your thighs. It is great for people suffering from problems with their sciatica. The Tree pose will give strength to your thighs, calves, ankles, and spine.

"Other benefits of the Tree pose include balance. The Tree pose will allow you to increase your balance ability. It can also relieve pain in the feet caused by flat feet.

"Some beginners find that their foot tends to slide down their leg when they are in the Tree pose. This can easily be solved by placing a sticky mat between your foot and thigh. As you practice the pose over time your muscles will strengthen and you will no longer need the sticky pad. You may also feel unbalanced when you first begin this pose. To solve this problem you can balance against a wall.

"To vary the Tree pose you can reach to the ceiling with both arms. Making sure your arms are straight and parallel you can place your palms together. This motion is easily performed by raising your arms when they are already in Tree pose position.

"To challenge your balance you can do the Tree pose with your eyes closed."

Text from: http://www.yogainstructiontherapy.com/yoga-poses-and-exercises/the-tree-pose/
Drawing from: http://jessielilac.blogspot.com/

Kelp Forest

I bought these stamps yesterday. They are pretty and educational! You can click on any picture to see it bigger. The picture below makes a great wallpaper for your monitor, while the black & white chart would make a fun page to print out and color.

Did You Know...?

Kava ("piper methysticum" or "intoxicating pepper") is an ancient crop of the western Pacific.

Other names for kava include ʻawa (Hawaiʻi), 'ava (Samoa), yaqona (Fiji), and sakau (Pohnpei).

The word kava is used to refer both to the plant and the beverage produced from its roots. Kava is consumed throughout the Pacific Ocean cultures of Polynesia (including Hawaii), Vanuatu, Melanesia and some parts of Micronesia and Australia. Kava is sedating and is primarily consumed to relax without disrupting mental clarity. Its active ingredients are called kavalactones.

In some parts of the Western World, kava extract is marketed as herbal medicine against stress, insomnia, and anxiety.

Photo of Samoan island. Text from: www.wikipedia.org

The American Samoa Quarter

I went to buy some water out of a vending machine just now and received this interesting coin as change--it's an American Samoa quarter. I didn't even know that was an American territory, so that was interesting to learn.

Sue had mentioned a few weeks ago that "they're doing territories now." She had gotten the Guam quarter. It's actually a different program than the 50 State Quarters Program. Each program has its own United States Mint Official Website, which is kind of fun (if you're a nerd).

The funny thing is that, as I was putting my dollars into the machine, I halfway wondered to myself if I'd get one of the territories coins as change--and then I did!

At first I thought the picture on it was some kind of drum, but it turns out that it's an "ava bowl" which is used to make "the special ceremonial drink."

What do you suppose that drink is like?? I love that they have a special ceremonial drink, it's so classic. It's like something Superman would drink if he visited. Or Jimmy Olsen (and then it would turn him into a giant bear or something):

American Samoa
The American Samoa quarter is the fourth in the 2009 District of Columbia and U.S. Territories Quarters Program. American Samoa – known as the heart of Polynesia – is a group of five islands and two coral atolls in the South Pacific, approximately 2,300 miles southwest of Hawaii and 2,700 miles northeast of Australia. Contacts with Europeans began in the early 1700s and intensified with the arrival of English missionaries and traders in the 1830s. Under the Treaty of Berlin in 1899, the United Kingdom and Germany gave the United States rights and claims over the area, and it officially became a United States territory in 1929 when Congress ratified deeds of cession dating back to 1900 and 1904.

The American Samoa quarter reverse design depicts the ava bowl ("tanoa"), whisk and staff in the foreground with a coconut tree on the shore in the background and the inscriptions, AMERICAN SAMOA and SAMOA MUAMUA LE ATUA, the motto of American Samoa, which means "Samoa, God is First." The ava bowl is used to make the special ceremonial drink for island chiefs and guests during important events. The ava ceremony is considered the most significant traditional event in Samoan culture. The whisk and staff symbolize the rank of the Samoan orator delivering speeches during these gatherings. The ava bowl, whisk and staff also appear on the Official Seal of American Samoa.

A review committee established by American Samoa Governor Togiola T.A. Tulafono solicited and reviewed reverse design narratives from the public, narrowing approximately 60 submissions down to three. These included the ava bowl, whisk and staff and coconut tree concept; a man with traditional Samoan tattoo holding an ava bowl; and a traditional Samoan guest house with a head-dress and ava bowl. These narratives were forwarded to the United States Mint for the production of artistic renderings, which were then proposed to the territory. Governor Tulafono recommended the final design for the American Samoa quarter, which the Secretary of the Treasury approved on July 31, 2008.

http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/DCAndTerritories/

Mushroom I Saw On Campus Today

I was walking on campus when I suddenly saw this giant white mushroom.

















Wow! That's a big mushroom!



















If you click on any of these photos, you can see them bigger. If you look closely at this third photo, you can see what looks like little animal scratches on the right side of the mushroom's cap.

I put a penny on top of it so that you can see the proportions.

"It Is Very Nice" To Have a Man-Eating Plant Named After Me, Says Sir David Attenborough

This story is oddly charming.

From The Guardian:

Sir David Attenborough is increasingly the go-to man for scientists overcome by the creative challenge of naming a new discovery. The naturalist has given his name to a prehistoric lizard, a parasitic wasp, an echidna (or spiny anteater), a fossilised fish and, now, a rat-eating plant.

It seems a dubious honour when your name is attached to a giant pitcher plant capable of trapping rodents in enormous folds. Sir David, however, is delighted that the carnivorous species was given the scientific title Nepenthes attenboroughii by a team of botanists led by Stewart McPherson, who discovered it during a plant-hunting expedition to Mount Victoria in the Philippines.

"I like these oddball plants and this is a very dramatic one. It can hold up to two litres of water in its jugs," says Sir David. "It is a very nice, complimentary thing for this young, intrepid explorer to do and I am very touched that Stewart McPherson should have done it in my name."

Every year, more than 15,000 new species of animal alone are recognised by scientists. In the old days, they would often pay tribute to a learned colleague but by the mid-19th century many species were named after wealthy patrons who funded scientific endeavour.

While modern scientists are admirably blind to the commercial potential of a new species of coffee plant called Starkbuckii or a prehistoric cow named McDonaldae, many have a weakness for honouring random celebrities. Hence we have a sea snail called Bufonaria borisbeckeri, a ground beetle named Agra katewinsletae and several dinosaurs named after Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg. Scientists have also immortalised their dodgy music taste (a dinosaur called Masiakasaurus knopfleri, after Dire Straits singer Mark Knopfler) and geeky passion for Star Wars (a wasp named Polemistus chewbacca and a beetle called Agathidium vaderi).

This year, a species of lichen was named Caloplaca obamae in honour of Barack Obama's support of science. The names given to three species of slime-mold beetle (Agathidium bushi after George Bush, Agathidium cheneyi after Dick Cheney and Agathidium rumsfeldi after Donald Rumsfeld) might not carry the same intent.

It is acceptable to name a species after a public figure but not after yourself, according to Steve Tracey of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. Scientists naming discoveries after family members is also "a little bit naughty", says Tracey, particularly as the discoverer's name is anyway placed next to the species name so authorship is not forgotten.

His personal favourites are humorous: the mollusc of the genus Abra that was given the species name cadabra, while the naturalist Sir Peter Scott caused a stir by giving the Loch Ness Monster the scientific name of Nessiteras rhombopteryx. Supposed to mean "the wonder of Ness with the diamond-shaped fin", it was later revealed as an anagram of "Monster hoax by Sir Peter S".

Patrick Barkham, The Guardian, Tuesday 18 August 2009

Triffids

AP News:

A giant plant that can gobble up bugs and even rodents has been discovered in Southeast Asia.

The carnivorous plant (nepenthes attenboroughii) was found by researchers atop Mt. Victoria, a remote mountain in Palawan, Philippines. The research team, led by Stewart McPherson of Red Fern Natural History Productions, had learned of the plant in 2000 after a group of Christian missionaries stumbled upon it while trekking up a remote mountain and reported it to a local newspaper.

The discovery, announced last week, was detailed in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.

The pitcher plant is the world's second largest and can grow to more than 4 feet tall, with a pitcher-shaped structure filled with liquid. The plant secretes nectar around its mouth to lure rats, insects and other prey into its trap. Once an animal has fallen in, enzymes and acids in the fluid break down the carcass of the drowned victim.

"All carnivorous plants have evolved to catch insects but the biggest ones, such as this one, can eat rats and frogs," McPherson told LiveScience. "It's truly remarkable that a plant this big has been undiscovered for so long."

The world's largest pitcher plant (nepenthes rajah) was discovered in 1858 by British naturalist Hugh Low in Borneo. The plant's rat-eating habit was confirmed four years later when his colleague Spenser St. John found a drowned rat inside one of the specimens.

Though some have approached McPherson to ask about the likelihood of cultivating the monster plants as mouse traps for rodent-infested regions like New York City, the botanist (who also happens to specialize in pitcher plants) says he finds the idea "a bit far-fetched."

"Mice and rats are attracted to the sweet nectar of the plant, but it only catches them occasionally," says McPherson. "It just isn't practical. There will be too many mice for the plant to catch anyway."