Botanical Nerd Word: Sarmentose
Sarmentose: Having long, thin runners (stolons).* Strawberries produce long runners, with new plantlets rooting along the ground. The image on the right shows the long…
Category Archives: Blog
Botanical Nerd Word: Ligule
Ligule: The membranous appendage arising from the inner surface of the leaf at the junction with the leaf sheath in many grasses and some sedges.*…
A Globe-Trotting Family’s Sculptured Life
Choosing hundreds of stone sculptures, crating and shipping them from Zimbabwe to botanical gardens across the world is one thing. Packing up your entire household…
Botanical Nerd Word: Rhizome
Rhizome: An underground, usually horizontal stem, such as that of ginger.* Irises grow from horizontal rhizomes that look much like pieces of ginger. Though they…
Botanical Nerd Word: Cyathium
Cyathium: The inflorescence in the genus Euphorbia, consisting of a cup-like involucre containing a single pistil and male flowers with a single stamen.* *Harris, J.G.,…
Botanical Nerd Word: Coriaceous
Coriaceous: Having a leathery texture.* For example, the leaves of rhododendrons. *Allaby, M. (2006). A dictionary of plant sciences (Revised ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Botanical Nerd Word: Sessile
Sessile: Lacking a stalk; e.g., a leaf without a petiole.* Trillium luteum has a sessile flower. It sits directly on top of the leaves (bracts)…
Botanical Nerd Word: Bifid
Bifid: Deeply two-cleft or two-lobed, usually from the tip.* The petals of this snow-in-summer (Cerastium) are bifid. Each one has a deep cleft at the…
Beauty in The Beach
If you love gardens you won’t want to miss this year’s Mark’s Choice Through the Garden Gate in Toronto’s iconic Beach neighbourhood. Every year Toronto…
Botanical Nerd Word: Volute
Volute: Rolled up.* For example, the new spring shoots of hostas. *Harris, J.G., Harris, M.W. (2001). Plant identification terminology: An illustrated glossary (2nd ed.). Spring…