Hooked on Biology

When was the last time you ate a tomato or potato? And did you think about where the tasty plants come from? Many of us associate tomatoes with Italy - after all, they're used in lots of pasta sauces and pizza! The Italian word for tomato is pomodoro , adapted from the older pomo d'oro , or golden apple. That really goes to show how much they love tomatoes, but French might top even that. In French, the word for a (specific kind but that's because the word tomate exists now) tomato is pomme d'amour , literally apple of love. The name for potato is much less romantic - pomme de terre , or apple of the earth. The Italian is patata , stolen from Spanish (and it's not alone - see History) according to Wiktionary. This makes sense - more on that later. Clearly, those European countries enjoy tomatoes, but it hasn't always been this way. Tomatoes and potatoes are two staples around the world, so today is mostly a history day. Let's get right to it! History If you...

"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?" - Severus Snape, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone . If you've read the Harry Potter books, you might know the answer to the question posed in this scene. There is absolutely no difference between monkshood and wolfsbane - they are two names for the same genus of plants, Aconitum. Overview - General Aconitum - The Toxin(s) - History, legends General Aconitum There are over 250 species in the Aconitum genus, which really begs the question as to why they're collectively referred to with the same common names. They are perennials mostly native to the mountainous regions of the northern hemisphere in cool, moist, but well-draining soil. They belong to the Ranunculaceae  (buttercup) family, which is known for its toxicity. The flowers have a very distinctive appearance reminiscent of a monk's hood, according to some old English guy, giving them the very creative name of monkshood. Any of the na...

  I would like to talk about Little Shop of Horrors, an iconic movie and musical, and more specifically, Audrey II, the infamous carnivorous plant. I haven't actually seen any version, movie or musical, so forgive me if my information is incorrect. Consider this study of Audrey II a sneak peak for the carnivorous plant dump later in June. Overview: - What exactly is Audrey II, or Twoey? - General plant problems - Carnivorous plant-specific problems - Did they get anything right? There will be spoilers for Little Shop. Speaking of which, have a quick summary:      A guy who works in a flower shop - Seymour - sees a plant he assumes is a Venus flytrap one day and buys it. He takes as good care of it as he can, but no matter what he does, it's not happy. Eventually he figures out it desires human flesh and then it gets worse from there. The plant is manipulative and eventually takes over the world, theoretically murdering all of humanity. A Problematic Childhood ...

You've probably seen an orchid before. They have distinctive flowers and are popular to give as gifts, but how much do you really  know about them? Hopefully more by the end of this post! Quick overview: - Taxonomy + Naming - History - Use/history pt. 2 - Anatomy - Cultivation + Environment Taxonomy + Naming The term "orchid" can refer to any plant in the family Orchidaceae which covers around/over 28,000 currently accepted species through 763ish genera. It's one of the two largest families of flowering plants, but because we're constantly discovering more, it's hard to say which one is biggest. In addition to recognized species, there are over ten thousand cultivated varieties (cultivars) and hybrids. You may recognize some commonly cultivated orchid genera, such as Vanilla, Orchis , or Cattleya , to name a few. Now about the names. Orchis is what we call the "type genus," or the genus the entire family is named after. It comes from the Ancient G...

Today I am welcoming Atropa belladonna , also known as belladonna, nightshade, deadly nightshade, or tasty black berries if you like eating poison. They belong to the Solanaceae,  or nightshade family, which also includes tomatoes, potatoes, and aubergines, as well as the much less deadly black nightshade. Fun fact: for a long time, people wouldn't eat tomatoes because they were thought to be poisonous. As the name "deadly nightshade" implies, the plant is very dangerous for human consumption. However, its Latin name doesn't quite say the same. Linnaeus (commonly referred to as the father of modern taxonomy) named it Atropa , after one of the three fates from Greek mythology who was responsible for ending someone's life - not too surprising. However, the name belladonna comes from the Italian word for beautiful woman. Why? Well, during the Renaissance, women would put the juice of these berries in their eyes to dilate their pupils and "make the eyes appear m...