The world’s smallest fruit – and yes, it is properly labeled as a fruit – is from the world’s smallest flowering plant, a tiny member of the duckweed family that floats on quiet streams and ponds. The fruit is smaller than a grain of salt.
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/plfeb96.htm
The world’s smallest seeds are produced by certain orchids living in the topical rain forest.
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/plfeb96.htm
The fruit of the Cow’s Udder (nipple fruit, titty fruit) looks sort of like a cow’s udder. The plant is related to the tomato but its fruit isn’t edible. Hmmm? Oh yeah… it’s poisonous…
http://www.gardening-advisor.com/cows-udder-nipple-fruit.html
The Wollemi Pine is one of the oldest and rarest trees with fossils dating back about 90 million years. A small grove of less than 100 members was discovered in a rainforest gorge in Australia in 1994. To learn more about conservation efforts, go to:
The Mexican Jumping Bean bounces around because the larva of a small gray moth is boinkin’ out inside the seed capsule.
http://www.gardening-advisor.com/Mexican-jumping-beans.html
Cork comes from the bark of the cork oak tree and is harvested by peeling the bark off the tree. Don’t worry, this doesn’t hurt the tree. In 8 – 10 years it will produce another layer of bark that can again be harvested.
http://www.gardening-advisor.com/cork-oak-trees.html
According to fossils, the Ginkgo Biloba tree has been on this planet for at least 270 million years – long before the dinosaurs reigned supreme. (I can’t believe that I finally had a chance to use the worn-out phrase “reigned supreme” in a sentence. I promise I won’t do it again…)
http://www.gardening-advisor.com/ginkgo-biloba.html
Contrary to what you may have heard, orchids are not parasitic plants. They just use the tree branches for support and take no nutrients from their host. Just so we’re not misleading here, some orchids are terrestrial…
http://www.gardening-advisor.com/Orchids.html
“Orchids are the largest and most diverse of the flowering plant families, with over 800 described genera and 25,000 species.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchid
Tumbleweeds are not native to the U.S. west. Seeds to the “Russian Thistle” probably arrived in flax seed shipped from the Ural Mountain region of Russia to Ukrainian farmers in South Dakota around 1877.
http://www.desertusa.com/mag01/may/papr/tweed.html
Each tumbleweed can disperse around 250,000 seeds as it rolls across the prairie.
http://www.desertusa.com/mag01/may/papr/tweed.html
The rutabaga is a root vegetable that originated as a cross between the cabbage and the white turnip. Actually, I don’t really care. It’s just such a cool name for a veggie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutabaga
Check out the history, rules and schedule of the Rutabaga Curl at the Farmer’s Market in Ithaca, New York with this link: (You don’t have to actually go to the Farmer’s Market… just click on the link, silly!)
http://www.rutabagacurl.com/index.html
For those of you planning on attaining your Master’s Degree in Rutabaga Management, you’ll find a wealth of information for your thesis at the Advanced Rutabaga Studies Institute (ARSI).
Air fern – sometimes sold in stores as air moss or air plant – and by the way, that never needs watering or fertilizing, is really nothing more than the skeletal remains of a tiny sea animal that is a distant relative of coral. The skeleton is treated and dyed green to look like a plant.
http://aggiehorticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/housepl/airfern.html
Mistletoe is a parasite – or a hemi-parasite to be more precise. It has green leaves and can photosynthesize but generally relies on its host tree or shrub for water and minerals.
http://www.mistletoe.org.uk/WhatAre/WhatAreIntro.htm
[Stated “fact”: The periwinkle plant from Madagascar is used to treat leukemia.] Basically true. Derivatives of the periwinkle are used in the treatment of numerous diseases. It’s one of nature’s neatest medicine cabinets.
http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/botany/perihist.html
http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/botany/vvv.html
[Stated “fact”: The growth rate of some bamboo plants can reach three feet (91.44 cm) per day.] Apparently, it’s been observed to do even better than that -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo
http://www.americanbamboo.org/FAQ.html#HowFastDoesItGrow
The Coco-de-mer palm has the longest leaves -up to 10m (32.8 ft.) long - and the largest seeds - weighing up to 30kg (66 lbs.) - of any plant in the world.
http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/plants_and_algae/Lodoicea_maldivica/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coco_de_mer
The blossoms of the giant saguaro cactus of the desert southwest U.S. open only at night and are generally closed by noon of the following day. Each flower will only open once. If it is pollinated, it will produce an edible red fruit.
http://www.desertusa.com/july96/du_saguaro.html
Saguaro cactus can grow to 30 feet tall and live an estimated 200 years.
http://www.desertusa.com/july96/du_saguaro.html
The Victoria water lily has the second largest leaves of any plant in the world - measuring over 8 feet in diameter. When it blooms, it changes from female to male overnight.
http://www.hudsongardens.org/content/Hudson_Gardens_Victoria_Lilies.pdf
http://www.hilozoo.com/plants/PE_amazon.htm
Rafflesia Arnoldii – a jungle parasitic plant of Southeast Asia – produces a giant blossom that can be nearly 3 feet in diameter. And to make it doubly special, it smells like carrion (rotting meat).
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/resources/forest-facts/species-profiles/rafflesia.html
Lichens – the plant-like stuff you see growing on rocks or trees – are not actually a single kind of plant but rather a partnership of fungi and algae or cyanobacteria functioning together in a symbiotic relationship.
http://bugs.bio.usyd.edu.au/Mycology/Plant_Interactions/Lichen/lichenBiology.shtml
The Welwitschia, a native plant of Angola and Namibia, has the distinction of having both a strange name and being a strange plant. Its short stem generally produces only two leaves that grow forever, twisting and fraying to form a weird pile of “plant stuff”. Leaves have been measured that were 6.2 m (20.3 ft) long which, considering the growth rate, suggests that these plants may be up to 1000 years old. Click the top pic in the reference link to take a look.
http://www.conifers.org/we/index.htm
Coffee “beans” are not actually beans but are instead seeds of the coffee cherry (berry).
http://www.coffeeperks.com/history.html
It can take up to five years for a coffee tree to become fully productive. A tree can live from 50 to 70 years.
http://www.justaboutcoffee.com/index.php?file=coffeetree
Almonds are a member of the peach family.
http://www.uga.edu/fruit/almond.htm
The world’s oldest living tree is a bristlecone pine growing in the White Mountains of California. Named Methuselah, it’s been growing for over 4,700 years. Well, actually there’s one older than that, but Methuselah has demanded top billing…
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/Paleoclimatology_CloseUp/
The tallest sequoia (and tallest tree in the world) is the Stratosphere Giant in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California, measuring in at nearly 113 meters tall. Huh? Oh yeah… that’s about 373 feet. And it’s still growing…
Update: Whoa… they’ve found a taller tree. It’s “Hyperion” measuring out at 379.1 feet in Redwood National Park!
http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=24188
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/29/BAGBULF6NG1.DTL
The largest tree in the world is the General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park.
http://www.nps.gov/seki/shrm_pic.htm
The Agave americana or century plant usually only blooms once during its lifetime - normally when the plant is between 10 and 25 years old.
http://ag.arizona.edu/pima/gardening/aridplants/Agave_americana.html
From a botanical perspective, the tomato is a fruit. Always has been, always will be…
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutother/tomato?view=uk
http://lamar.colostate.edu/~samcox/Tomato.html
The heaviest tomato ever, weighed 7 lb, 12 oz and was grown by Gordon Graham of Edmond, OK in 1986.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato
http://grahamrice.com/sideshoots/tomato.html
One ounce of tomato seeds contains approximately 11,500 seeds.
http://oregonstate.edu/Dept/NWREC/tomato.html
The strawberry is a strange fruit… uh, vegetable… The little “seeds” on the outside of the berry are actually achenes which is the real fruit because they have seeds inside of them – sort of like a sunflower “seed” or hull. So if that’s the case, then that makes the berry an “accessory fruit” which would be a vegetable.
Right…??? I think I have a headache…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry
http://koning.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/Plants_Human/fruittype.html
The English walnut is not from England. It’s native to the Balkans, central Asia and southwest China – and may be properly referred to as the Persian walnut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walnut
http://fruitsandnuts.ucdavis.edu/crops/walnutfs.htm
http://diamondnuts.com/growers/GOhistory.htm
Tulips did not originate in Holland. They are native to central Asia.
http://www.dirtgardener.com/TipSheets/Bulbs/TulipHistory.html
Kudzu - a pushy, potentially destructive vine imported into the U.S. from Japan in 1876 – can grow up to a foot per day in the summertime. It’s darned hard to get rid of…
http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/exotic/vegman/fifteen.htm
Contrary to a fairly common belief, the pineapple is not native to Hawaii. It’s believed to have originated in the lowlands of Paraguay and may have made its way to Hawaii via a Spanish shipwreck in 1527. Christopher Columbus gets the credit for introducing the pineapple to Europe before that.
http://www.dole-plantation.com/Fun/history.aspx
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