Thunbergia alata, commonly known as the Black Eyed Susan vine, is a climbing vine from the Acanthaceae family (Heywood et al, 2007)1, which produces large showy yellow flowers with a black spot in the centre. These large bright flowers and … Continue reading
On 26th June the University Tropical Biodiversity glasshouse hosted a visit of 90 pupils from Aldryngton Primary School. This was the first official school visit we have hosted since the refurbishment of the glasshouse. Mrs Dunn from Aldryngton was the … Continue reading
The latest arrivals to the tropical greenhouse are a set of Pinguicula species originating in Mexico and some hybrids and cultivars derived from them. These add to the plants of Pinguicula laueana we have been growing there for the past … Continue reading
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Commonly known as the scaly tree ferns, Cyatheaceae are a clade of ca. 600 plant species within a group of plants known as the monilophytes or ferns (Smith et al. 2006). All ferns are spore-bearing and share a highly distinctive … Continue reading
A group of six Zebra Danios (Danio rerio) have been living in the Tropical Greenhouse pond for several months. Two weeks ago we added some new waterlilies to the pond and top dressed their pots with coarse gravel. This seems … Continue reading
Introducing Piperaceae Piperaceae is commonly known as the pepper family. The name Piperaceae comes from the Sanskrit ‘pippali’ which also gave rise to the Greek ‘peperi’, the Latin ‘piper’ and the English ‘pepper’. Originally this referred to Piper longum, the … Continue reading
Cannaceae is one of the monocot families that is easy to recognize. this family is represented by one genus, which is Canna, and 10 species. This family is one of the plants with a long history of human cultivation. Records that go back to … Continue reading
Eichhornia crassipes (Water Hyacinth) has a relatively ambivalent place in freshwater habitats. It has become a serious invasive species in many countries, and is one of the world’s most noxious aquatic weeds (Patel, 2012), yet it has been found to … Continue reading
Dracaenaceae Salisb., Gen. Pl: 73 (1866), nom. cons. The family Dracaenaceae has a complex, fascinating history, of great interest will be to see how it unfolds. It is the family of Dragon Trees, of one, two or three genera and … Continue reading
When we talk about plants and people, the “Banana family” or Musaceae is one of the prominent ones. Although it has a long history and prominent role in human and wildlife diet, the puzzle of the origin and evolutionary theory … Continue reading
