This is a one off blog about some weeds found in tropical countries. Most of those are actually exotics from other tropical climates which originally may have been introduced as an ornamental, just as in our own temperate world!
But you will be surprised that their are also temperate plants which can become weeds in the tropics!
My blog now got a big brother in the form of a short video each week about ten popular, or not so popular weeds!Watch the video below.
The Common Gorse or Ulex europaeus is a familiar plant in the Legume family! (by Matt Summers)
Nowadays they are called Fabaceae, but they were long known as Leguminosae and commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family.
This is a large and economically important family in the world. It includes trees, shrubs, and perennial or annual herbaceous plants, which are easily recognized by their fruit (a ‘bean’) and/or their compound, stipulate leaves.
It is not as large a family in Britain perhaps but an interesting and useful family all the same! Credits are due once again to Stace‘s Flora, J. Barker’s Medicinal Flora, Plantlife and Wikipedia for most information. The link on the scientific names are mostly from the Plant Atlas 2020 Online and the information from the habitats is also copied from this Online Atlas. Pictures of the plant can be found in the ‘Gallery’. The link on the Common Name is from a website with usually some more info and pictures of the plant. I try and use UK sites as much as possible! Pictures, with thanks from Matt Summers (MS), Mike Poulton (MWP), Rudi Pilsel (RP), Sue Collingswood (SJC) and Chris Westall (CW) and from Wikipedia Commons.
In case there are any medical uses stated with the plants mentioned below, please take sensible advise from a qualified herbalist.
If you would like to learn a bit more about the classification of this large family I can recommend Britannica.com webpage
NN behind many of the names in the descriptions means Non-Native (which either could be an archaeophyte or more commonly a neophyte) and has been deliberately or accidentally introduced and has naturalised into the wild.
FBBC in the Contents page, behind the names, means that it also occurs in the Flora of Birmingham and the Black Country!
The very recognizable stems of the Silver Birch at Cannock Chase
After all the native, short, flowering plants, this time a blog on the native, tall, woody trees called Betulaceae, which includes the main genus, Betula or Birch but also our native Alder, Hornbeam and Hazel belong in this family.
The Betulaceae or Birch Family is number 59 in Stace and has 3 straight native species of Birch as well as several hybrids, subspecies and introduced, ornamental varieties.
The birch is a typical pioneer, which means it can colonize new land very rapidly in the right conditions and can therefore be seen as a weed by some who wouldn’t like them to do this!
But most of us can agree that the Birch tree is very beautiful and hoping for you to learn in the following text that it is also a very useful tree as are its cousins, Alder, Hornbeam and Hazel about which I will tell you more in the second part!
In my last blog I introduced you to the main uses of the Asteraceae or the Daisy family. The first post was all about the classification of this large family.
Today I will list some of the commonly known, medicinal ones in our temperate climate, as mentioned in the Medicinal Flora by Julian Barker.
I will include links on both of the plant names so you will be able to read more about each plant on other useful websites. Pictures (also heading) by Mike Poulton, Rudi Pilsel, Andy Purcell, Matt Summers and Wikipedia. You can find more pictures on Wikipedia> tools >Wikipedia Commons as well as in the Gallery of Plant Atlas 2020 Online.
I will also colour code the blocks on the colour of the flower. Hope you will find that useful as well as pretty! Most uses are medicinal. Plants used as an ornamental or other uses are backed by a green colour! The link on the Scientific name as well as the information about habitat is from Plant Atlas 2020 Online (backed by blue).
Cautions: This is a ‘ethno’ and an educational blog on the known medical uses of the Composites or Daisy family. There are many cautions mentioned and self-medication is therefore not advised: seek help through a qualified herbalist!
Cardoon and Sunflower are both non-native ornamental as well as economical food crops in the Asteraceae (both pictures by Matt Summers)
The post on Asteraceae went through the entire classification and might have been a little tedious for you?
However, I do hope you find it fascinating like myself how classification does make sense, especially in large families such as the Composites or Asteraceae.
It neatly groups similar looking plants together and when these plants ‘look similar’ they most likely also have the same properties and uses.
This week we start with the uses of this family.
Of course weeds or native plants as I like to call them, are ALWAYS useful in any habitat situation, soil and indeed for other living creatures apart from ourselves.
When we pull out the dandelion or ragwort we are taking away a valuable food source for multiples of creatures. Is it really worth that?
A very nice blog to read on edible ‘thistles’ can be found here: https://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/thistles-a-highly-nutritious-and-medicinal-weed/
Here are links to all the different posts on Asteraceae:
An example of Herbarium book with Japanese plants from Siebold’s collection in Leiden, 1825 By P. F. Siebold – Sieboldcollectie Naturalis, Public Domain and thanks to Wikipedia
Hello dear Readers!
The Tuesdays of the last few months I’ve been busy with research in Birmingham’s Museum Warehouses. I’ve been looking at the vast amount of dried specimen plants of one of the 6 or so Herbariums they have stored in there.
Why I wanted to research Bagnall’s Herbarium in particular was because of the many local native plants Bagnall himself collected as well as the many plants from Sutton Park. This is a national important nature reserve and SSSI. More about this later!
I don’t really want to repeat what this brilliant website says, as my weekly blog wants to highlight the positive things about those weeds!
Weeds are also just being ‘themselves’; one of the many native plants of these Isles! They grow in soil and habitat in which they naturally like to grow in and often we are actually helping them greatly by providing a pleasant environment to thrive even more!
The more I work with all kinds of plants, in my daily life and work, the more I appreciate them, and this even includes ‘WEEDS’, or our native plants as I prefer to call them; or even wild flowers as many are pretty as well as useful…. Or ‘PRETTY USEFUL’!!
Crambe maritimaor Sea kale looking stunning in its native habitat!
