Campus Botanica
University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC, Canada

It's cherry blossom time again!

Pachypodium sp. at Cambridge University Botanic Garden. These plants, growing in arid regions, use their spines to catch fog, enabling the moisture to condense and drip down to their roots.

In the Giardino dei Semplici (Garden of Simples) in Florence, Italy.

A map of Italy.... This lichen was growing on the wall of the hermitage of the Vallombrosa monastery. The monastery was built in the 17th century and home to five Benedictine monks. It was visited possibly by John Milton, and certainly by Wordsworth, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Mary Shelley, Nietzsche, and others. The hermitage, however, became a forestry school in the late 19th century and remains one today. How long has this lichen been growing here? What has it seen?

She who wicks the pain away; she who helps us sleep. Papaver somniferum - opium poppy. The use of this plant predates written history. Almost all of us have be...nefitted, in one way or another, from her powerful alkaloids (morphine, codeine). Some of us have suffered terrible losses too. Photographing this plant was so interesting - the petals, at times, are so thin and so pale, that the camera can't quite distinguish them from light. I love it here at varying stages - still sleeping, wide open, pregnant with milk and seeds. Enjoy. See more

Passion flower.

Ilex vomitoria, Bermuda Holly, or Yaupon flowers, in Devonshire Marsh, Bermuda. The leaves of yaupon were used by indigenous people on the east coast of North America to make a black tea. The leaves contain caffeine and theobromine (the same alkaloid as chocolate). Europeans witnessed purification ceremonies in which men would drink the tea and vomit; they erroneously assumed the plant had emetic properties. Most likely it was either an admixture plant that caused the vomiting or simply part of the practice. One wonders if the indigenous people of these areas who were brought to Bermuda in slavery as prisoners of war found this plant and used it for the same purposes. It used to be more common, but this is the first time I've seen it in Bermuda - far from where humans tread.

This is the fruit from a female Gingko tree.

Clitoria ternatea, commonly known as Asian pigeonwings or blue pea. The flowers are used as a food colouring in Southeast Asia - adding a bud to white rice will turn it blue; a splash of lime will further turn it pink. This plant is also lauded for its medicinal properties - some of which adhere to the Doctrine of Signatures, the idea that the way a plant looks indicates its uses for the human body. In this case, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners have used Clitoria as an aphrodesiac or to treat infertility, while Ayurvedic medicine lauds it as an antidepressant, memory enhancer, tranquillizer and sedative. If nothing else, its beauty surely makes one smile.

Turpentine, made from pine resin, has made so many things possible.

Dogwood tree blooming @beatymuseum #UBC. This is your family. #botanicgardens #Evolution #Cornus https://t.co/3tMT6HzCsG

Exquisite #Gaillardia #flowers at #Iona Beach in #Vancouver. Medicine for the heart. https://t.co/Uywab03zhK

Wild #Gaillardia at Iona Beach in #Vancouver - refreshing dabs of colour in our blue-grey-green landscape. https://t.co/XQVUP6AWg4

#Rumex acetosella with #bee. In the Buckwheat family, sheep #sorrel leaves are a tart, delicious addition to salad. https://t.co/lAHOO57own

Some insight into chicory - a roadside blossom with much to offer...

Papaya! Carica papaya, a gorgeous tree native to Central America, northern South America and southern Mexico, now cultivated in most of the tropical world. There's a lot to say about papaya, but let's limit to this: it's a delicious source of Vitamin C, green papaya is used as a meat tenderizer (and is rich in digestion-aiding enzymes), and the green papaya also, of course, makes a wonderful salad (as in Thai cuisine) or is delicious steamed and mashed with a little butter and salt. My grandmother in Bermuda used to make a traditional dish called Pawpaw Montespan. Here's one version: http://www.familyoven.com/recipe/pawpaw-montespan/238527

#poppies #poppy #Vancouver https://t.co/ixbfEcp3Ka