Plant Biotechs

Houseplants

Kokedama – the Japanese art

Modern green has become interesting when it is not about potting a plant in a pot but designing a miniature landscape such as a terrarium, bonsai, as well as kokedama. Kokedama is a Japanese word that means moss ball. It is a creative art of creating a display of living color that can be suited for both indoor and outdoor. Generally, it is a ball of soil that is covered with moss for a creatively […]

The Spleenwort – Asplenium

Asplenium is one of the most popular houseplants in the family of Aspleniaceae which consists of seven hundred evergreen ferns widely distributed around the world. It has a very diverse growth form as the genus includes terrestrial and epiphytic species and the species that grow on the rocks. The variations among the species made the distinct features that differentiate from a species to another species. Some make dense turfs of fronds or rosettes. Others creep […]

Horticulture

The Japanese art – Bonsai

Bonsai in Japanese means the plant in a pot. Once a luxury for the privileged people or garden centers of specialists, these tiny artistic trees were uncommon curiosities or botanical freaks due to the fine aesthetic design and artistic conception. Not until now, indoor miniature landscaping has been gaining popularity as modern green, which also bring back this ancient art to the general public for everybody who is into this art. Because of the association […]

Christmas of a desert – Christmas cactus

Christmas cacti are familiar flower shop pot plants. Cacti of this genus, Schlumbergera, are some of the most widely cultivated and enjoyed cacti. It is named to honor Fréderic Schlumberger, an avid French cultivator of cacti and other succulents. It is a tough plant that can grow over a year and it is suitable for Thanksgiving and Easter. This genus consists of six species of bushy cacti that are originated from southeastern Brazil. They gave […]

Pteridophytes

Selaginella – False roses of Jericho

Selaginella is an evergreen, rhizomatous perennial in the genus of Selaginella from the family of Selaginellaceae. Generally known as spike moss or arborvitae ferns, mainly found in tropical and warm-temperate zones, Selaginella is highly valued as small ornamental plants that provide a very satisfactory blossom miracle. Although share resemblance with the true rose of Jericho (Anastatica hierochuntica), which is a flowing plant in the family Brassicaceae. They are absolutely botanically unrelated because Selaginella is one […]

Botany Ethnobotany

Holly: Frau Holle’s holy tree

Of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly wears the crown! There are four hundred or so evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs that make up this large genus, which is Aquifoliaceae. Generally, species under this genus are known as holly. They come predominantly from the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. They are grown for their foliage and produce clusters of small glossy berries. With its shiny green and spiky foliage […]

Ethnobotany Parasitic plants

Mistletoe – a parasitic plant is the symbol of Christmas

Mistletoes are a diverse group of aerial parasitic plants, particularly obligate hemiparasitic with a worldwide distribution. It is usually found in the temperature forest along the Pacific rim of southern South America. It is a successful and interesting plant that parasitize trees and shrubs, establishing xylem connections with their hosts to obtain water and other xylem-borne nutrients. Mistletoe grows on a range of trees including willow, apple, and oak trees. It is also found on […]

Botany Evolution Parasitic plants

They are expert in stealing – parasitic plants

It doesn’t sound rationale that there are plants that do not make their own foods and living as parasites on other plants. As autotrophs, plants are supposed to live on their own because plants, as most people would assume, are entitled to their abilities to photosynthesis, which is the process of making foods with light and air. However, nature never fails to challenge people’s perceptions with exceptions. In fact, there are about 4500 species of […]