Category Archives: Crops

Community Open Event May 2013

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Alastair Culham

On Monday 20th May we held what might be considered the official opening of the Tropical Biodiversity Glasshouse.  The University of Reading community open event provided a means for both the Harris Garden and our greenhouse to be shown to … Continue reading →

Posted in Annual Fund, Collaborators, Crops, Hands-on, Meeting, People, Staff, Students, Water Plants | Leave a comment

Piperaceae – the Pepper family

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Irene Lucas

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 →

Posted in Crops, Palaeotropics, Species | 1 Comment

Cannaceae

Posted on March 27, 2013 by gd026548

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 →

Posted in Americas, Asia, Australia, Crops, Monocots, Species | 1 Comment

Musaceae – GIANT HERBS not trees!

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Liew, P.S

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 →

Posted in Africa, Asia, Crops, Palaeotropics, Students | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Camellia sinensis: A Blood Boiling and Tea Stained History

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Chris Reilly

Family, Genus and Species Limits Commonly known in the West as ‘Tea’, Camellia sinensis (L) O. Kuntze is an evergreen shrub assigned to the family Theaceae. The most recent circumscription of this family includes 3 sub-families: Theeae, Gordonieae and Stewartieae, … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Crops, Evolution, Species | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Pandanus amaryllifolius – The only Pandanus with fragrant leaves

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Liew, P.S

P. amaryllifolius is one of the plants that is capable of evoking nostalgic memories of South-East Asian life solely by its scent. Pandanaceae is a paleotropical monocot family that comprises 4 genera (ie. Pandanus, Freycinetia, Martellidendron and Sararanga). Pandanus is … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Crops, Palaeotropics, Students | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Ipomoea batatas – Sweet Potato or When is a potato not a potato?

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Irene Lucas

Many of you will be familiar with the knobbly, red-skinned, orange-fleshed, vegetable known as sweet potato but you might be surprised to learn that it is more closely related to the parasitic thread-like dodders than it is to our familiar … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Americas, Asia, Australia, Crops, Species, Students | 2 Comments

 Cyperus papyrus L., post 2 of 2, taxonomy and distribution

Posted on January 4, 2013 by peter rooney

Cyperus papyrus is a tall and graceful plant.  It looks stunning in the Tropical Greenhouse with a tropical blue sky behind it, which, even in October, Reading obligingly provided, to prove the point.  It’s up to 5m tall, with almost globular … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Crops, Madagascar, Pond, Species, Students, Water Plants | 1 Comment

Cyperus papyrus L., post 1 of 2, value and uses

Posted on January 2, 2013 by peter rooney

The one thing that most people know about this plant is that it was the source of paper for  ancient Egyptians.  They started to use it for writing on circa 5000 years ago, and carried on up until the 8th or … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Countries, Crops, Madagascar, Pond, Species, Water Plants | 4 Comments

Manihot glaziovii & Manihot esculenta – Two shrubs with history

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Tom Cooper

There are 98 known species of Manihot which are native to the neotropics, between Arizona and Argentina according to Rogers and Appan (1973). Manihot (often referred to as Cassava) are in the Euphorbiaceae family, also known as the spurge family, which contains 300 genera, and … Continue reading →

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