Catching The Rain » Plants in the news

A ‘lost forest’ – Kew’s discovery in Mozambique, thanks to Google Earth!

James — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:08:10 +0000

Kew botanist Jonathan Timberlake recording vegetation on the steep slopes of Mount Mabu. Photo: Tom Timberlake

There’s a nice audio slideshow, with some stunning pictures, now available on the BBC site – Audio slideshow: Discovering a ‘lost forest’.

It’s covered in more depth on the Kew site – “Google Earth helps Kew put ‘lost forest’ of Mount Mabu on the conservation map”

Kew on Newsnight – Obama’s first 100 days: Environment

James — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:43:15 +0000

Always nice to see Kew being featured on high profile programmes like newsnight, and especially on such a prominent news story (overly so if you ask me, but that’s not important here!).

I particularly like the montage of a giant George Bush in the temperate House….

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Newsnight | Obama’s first 100 days: Environment.

What did Siebold ever do for us?

James — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:12:01 +0000

Well, according to the FT Magazine article, Defining Moment – Japanese knotweed invades Britain, he was the person responsible for introducing Japanese knotweed to the British Isles, way back on 9 August 1850.

Mind you, he also got up to some fairly dodgy dealings in its native Japan. Perhaps as some sort of atonement he then gave them the piano, but I think he was dead before the magnitude of introducing one of Britain’s most pernicious weeds was realised.

More baobab press coverage

James — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:00:23 +0000

It’s nice to see the baobab story getting so much coverage, and even nicer to see that the editorial and factual quality of the articles, such as the new one on the BBC site (First taste of a magical fruit) is improving in leaps and bounds!

It reminds me of a book I was asked to proof for botanical accuracy, Miriam Moss’s enchanting children’s title This is the Tree.

Shock report from the BBC: New exotic fruit to hit UK shops

James — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:28:22 +0000

The BBC is reporting that a New exotic fruit [is] to hit UK shops. New? What’s new about the baobab? Africa’s ‘upside down tree’. Well it’s certainly not a new species. It’s certainly not a new use. What appears to define this as ‘new’ is that the EU has just approved it.

What a sad world it is that something that has been used in it’s native countries for centuries can only be sold when it has been approved by bureaucrats sitting in an office in Brussels (or wherever they are – I can only assume it’s not even Nairobi, let alone out in Kenya’s beautiful countryside where these majestic trees can be found).

Something for the weekend sir?

James — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 21:44:08 +0000

As a regular to Portobello Road market I am attracted by the range of goods you’re likely to be offered, representing different cultures, different origins, and of course different uses. But to be honest I’m not sure that I’ve ever come across anything there from Uganda, and almost certainly nothing derived from a Ugandan tree, but I think I’d be particularly alarmed, indeed perhaps a little offended, if I was offered Uganda’s sex tree.

I’ve even been to Kampala and nearby Entebe Botanic Garden, and don’t recall anyone asking me if I wanted “something for the weekend, sir?”. In fact the only thing I remember was the presence of millions of spiders on the shores of Lake Victoria. To achieve such numbers, I wonder what they’d been eating?

Grow your own Viagra

James — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 10:17:28 +0000

The Independant ran a fascinating article on Sunday: Grow-your-own Viagra craze hits Britains garden centres

Thankfully I’m not one to need to follow their advice (too much info?!), but this has to be one of the best botanical news stories I’ve read for ages.

It’s always nice to see the wonderful and varied properties of plants,

a plant widely available in garden centres has the same effect on men as Viagra

it was discovered by an allotment holder

The latest gardening craze was triggered by a discovery by a 55-year-old furniture restorer, Michael Ford, on his allotment. He was always experimenting with drinks made from different plants and one day he tried an infusion from his winter-flowering heather. He said: “The effect was almost immediate. I had to stay in my potting shed for an hour or so before I could decently walk down the street.

and the effect was validated by a botanic garden

Botanist Alan Bennell said: “This first surfaced when East European chemists reported finding a Viagra-type chemical in the floral tissues of winter-flowering heaths. They were able to isolate measurable amounts of material that is an analogue of the active principle in Viagra.

The only thing that spoilt the story was the date of publication – 1 April!

When is a knotweed a weed?

James — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 11:40:41 +0000

The Daily Mail is today reporting “Attack of the super weed hits Olympics” and suggesting that clearing 10 acres of this pesky little plant could cost £70 million. They go on to say:

Surveyors have discovered that the aggressive weed has taken over 10 acres of the proposed sites for the velodrome and aquatic centre in Stratford.

I wonder how much that surveyor (oh, sorry, surveyors – it took more than one of them!) was being paid to identify it, when someone with the most basic of botanical skills would have known what it is. And given the suggestion that its presence on the site is some new discovery, just when did it magically appear?

Specialists can charge up to £40,000 to clear only six square yards of ground affected by the weed, which has been called the most invasive plant in Britain.

The logic in the assumption that this means it will be £70m to clear the lot is beyond me. Answers on a postcard please….

Just what is Yorkshire forced indoor rhubarb?

James — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 23:18:38 +0000

Well, I knew the answer to that one as posed on the BBC website, but I confess I’d never heard of the Lincolnshire Rhubarb Triangle. Any Bermuda connections? Or do you think they’re just trying to trade off the name?

Titan arum flowers at the Eden Project

James — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 11:41:22 +0000

The Eden Project has just seen a titan arum flower, and to back it up they have done some nice web coverage including a live webcam and timelapse footage.

But looking at Google News it seems that this latest flowering has failed to capture the imagination of the press with just a handful of stories, and from as diverse locations as Australia, Romania and South Africa, but practically nothing in the UK.

Is everyone bored of it now?

If you’re not, and want to find about more about this spectacular plant, then see the profile pages about titan arum on the Kew website and the ever-growing (sorry, no pun intended!) page on Wikipedia