Category Archives: Countries

Amorphophallus konjac: Can You Resist the Lure of the Devil’s Tongue?

You are probably familiar with Amorphophallus titanum, the titan arum, which has the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world, but do you know about its smaller, red tongued sibling Amorphophallus konjac? Family Description A. konjac is a member of the … Continue reading

Posted in Africa, Asia, Learning and Teaching, Monocots, Philippines, Students | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Wanderlust Tropics: a naturalist journey into Bromeliaceae

Neotropical most iconic plant family! Bromeliads are part of our life in several different ways, especially for those who live on the American continent, where these plants firstly evolved around a hundred millions years ago (Givnish et al. 2011). Doubtless … Continue reading

Posted in Americas, Monocots, Neotropics | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Nigerian Field Society

On Saturday 4th July we welcomed the Nigerian Field Society UK branch to the Tropical Glasshouse.  This was an especially interesting visit for me because many of the visitors had far more experience of tropical biodiversity, and particularly tropical botany … Continue reading

Posted in Africa, Annual Fund, Meeting, People | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Comfortable life with Cymbopogon citratus (lemongrass)!!

This gallery contains 3 photos.

You have heard of name “lemongrass”, haven’t you? So, what is the lemongrass? Is Lemongrass same as a Lemon? The answer is definitely No! It is a completely different species from the lemon. Well, why do we call it the … Continue reading

More Galleries | Leave a comment

Nepenthes mira – The Wonderful Pitcher plant

The Nepenthaceae, and in particular the only genus in this family, the genus Nepenthes, has been described in a previous blog, posted on this site by Garance (Wood-Moulin 2013). In that blog the morphology and development of pitcher plants has … Continue reading

Posted in Asia, Carnivorous Plants, Philippines | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

You’re a botanist, what’s this then? (Or Tradescantia spathacea, this one’s for you mum!)

That sentence may sound familiar to many of you who frequent this blog (followed closely by “Botany, so you’re a gardener then?” but we won’t go in to that). Being asked about the identity of a random plant that mysteriously … Continue reading

Posted in Africa, Americas, Asia, Australia, Mexico, Philippines, Students | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Tacca chantrieri – Halloween in the plant world!

Tacca chantrieri has a purple-black, curious yet magnificent inflorescence with wide-spread wings and whisker-like bracts hanging from the side. The inflorescence of this tropical plant almost looks like a bat or jungle cat in the wild. Thus giving the plant a common name … Continue reading

Posted in Asia, Countries, Monocots, Species, Students | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Dendrochilum filiforme Lindl.

This diminutive orchid is commonly known as the Golden Chain Orchid, a name it shares with a few close relatives.  The plant in our glasshouse was donated by a keen plantsman who grows a range of exotic species and is … Continue reading

Posted in Asia, Philippines, Species | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

More on bananas

We grow two types of banana in the tropical glasshouse, the pink, seed containing, Musa dasycarpa, and the much larger edible banana with small yellow seedless fruit for which we do not know the cultivar.

Posted in Africa, Crops | Leave a comment

Horse tales: all about Equisetum myriochaetum

This gallery contains 3 photos.

What’s named after a horse, older than a horse and can keep you warm in winter? So-called because of their bristly appearance, the horsetails are an intriguing group of early plants that have existed since the Devonian period [1]. Fossil … Continue reading

More Galleries | 1 Comment