In the inventory and articles published on this website, we think it’s helpful to provide both botanical and common names, but sometimes the informal names are head-scratchers. For example, “Swiss Chard” is the appellation placed on a plant that’s native to the Mediterranean. Fortunately, most common names do make sense, and we believe there are few more descriptive than ‘Powderpuff.’ The most ornamental…
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Brooks Tropicals of Homestead this week issued a colorful, informative notice to remind us that starfruit season is upon us. It encourages consumers to incorporate the fruit in cooked dishes in addition to its customary use as a garnish. Take a minute to examine some of Brooks’s dining suggestions, republished with permission below. (Click on the bottom…
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Caesalpinia is one of the more interesting genera of ornamental trees belonging to the pea family, known botanically as Fabaceae. There is considerable disagreement about the number of species in the genus – it’s somewhere between 70 and 165 – but Richard Lyons’ Nursery will acquaint you with three that have proven desirable and reliable in…
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Today Richard Lyons’ Nursery takes a look at the Tamarind Tree. At first glance, Tamarindus indica would seem to be a strange appellation for this wondrous tropical tree. After all, it’s native not to India, but to tropical Africa. So this nomenclatural dysfunction must just be the result of some sloppy botany, right? Well, it’s not as simple as that.…
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Seminole Pumpkin (Cucurbita moshata) is called the wild squash of the Everglades. This is a native Florida pumpkin which the Seminole and Miccosukee tribes cultivated before the Spaniards arrived in the 1500’s. They would plant the seeds at the base of dead trees and allow the vine to grow upward with the fruit hanging down…
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