Pachypodium lealii v. saundersii (Star of Lundi).

This is another one of my wife's plants. Pachypodia are members of the dogbane (Apocynum, Greek for dogbane or poison to dogs) family from Madagascar and southern Africa. Pachypodium means thick-foot in Greek. Some people regard saundersii as a subspecies of the bottle tree, P. lealii (named for a Portuguese botanist, de Costa Leal); while others believe it is a separate species. Sir Charles Saunders was a plant collector and a British magistrate of southern Africa in the 19th century. This plant has several common names, but the one I like the best is the Star of Lundi (a town in southeastern Zimbabwe and the former name of the Runde River).

My wife has been growing this spiky little Star for about five or six years. The shell is from Hawaii (nerdy irony: Honolulu is antipodal to southern Africa). We repotted it three years ago and it has almost doubled in size since then. I should have taken a photo before it dropped its leaves around New Year's Day. Right now it looks like a cross between a cucumber and a voodoo doll. We thought that something was wrong with it when leaves started to shed, but apparently it is deciduous so that is normal. It has yet to flower. I just recently read that to make it flower, one shouldn't water it during the dormancy period; so from now on it is on the wagon. A few weeks ago I noticed several flowering Pachypodia in a nearby tailor's shop. I'll use my spy skills and get a stealth photo of her plants soon. I may even try to liberate one...

An interesting note about Pachypodia: I have heard that the sap is very toxic. There is an online account of a man accidentally ingesting a drop of the sap and he had a strong and unpleasant high for several hours.

Annona cherimola (cherimoya).

Chermoyas are part of the custard-apple (Annona) family and are native to the northern Andes. Annona is the Taíno (a native people of the Caribbean) word for a related fruit. The species name is from the Quechua word for the fruit (Quechua is a language group from the central and northern Andes, like Peru and Equador).

Chermoyas are an odd looking green fruit I have often seen in Safeways here in San Francisco. A few months ago I decided to stomach the $6.99/lbs cost and buy one of these buggers. They look the like the unholy union of a strawberry and an artichoke, but the taste is more like a non-acidic apple mixed with cream. I was really really careful when I cut it in half so as not to nick any seeds. In retrospect this was totally unneeded. The fruit had about 40 or 50 rock hard seeds scattered throughout the spongy flesh. The seeds themselves are rather pretty--dark woody brown and about the size of an almond.

As was my want, I planted all of the seeds in a shallow container filled with a potting soil/perlite mix. They all sprouted. Every single one of them. I was so annoyed. I replanted as many as I could manage and put the rest in the compost bin. I didn't even cry this time. Well at least not a lot. Now I have a little grove of these guys. I probably would have gotten rid of more of them, but their foliage is just too attractive.

Here is a close up on one of the Chermoyas. As you can see the leaves are very regularly alternate. They seem to pump out a new leave every other week. I tipped one of them to see if it would branch but so far it hasn't. I really enjoy the color of the leaves. They supposedly can take cold weather, since they are Andean, but one that was near the window seems to have gotten a little cold burn from touching the glass.

Epiphyllum "campfire."

I'm now going to start a section about a couple of my wife's plants. She had a small collection of cacti and succulents when we started dating, and I believe all of them are still alive despite her best efforts.

The Epiphyllum, or Epi as she calls it, is a member of the cactus family. Epiphyllum is Greek for upon-leaf. The name is likely due to the propensity for this genus to grow off of other trees. Epiphylla are known for their fragrant, colorful flowers. These cacti are sometimes referred to as orchid cacti or leaf cacti (their stems are broad and flat). To produce different flower colors, many hybrids of hybrids of hybrids have been propagated. For this reason the species name is not identifiable.

The Epiphyllum cultivar we have is called campfire and should hopefully one day have bright red flowers. Typically these guys get really long and leggy and will hang down from their epiphytic abodes. I talked my wife into cutting off one of the longer stems and replanting in the pot. She warned me that something unpleasant would befall me if it died, but luckily it seems to have rooted and now it even has its own new side shoot. Now all we need is a flower. Apparently the fruit is edible and very similar to the pitaya (dragon fruit of the genus Hylocereus), which I may write about later when I start talking about plants that I want to grow.

Aloe vera & Agave americana.

First of all, I have to qualify that I could easily have mislabeled these. The aloes are definitely Aloes, but could be some other species. The agave looks to me like the standard Agave americana, but I can't recall whose front yard I liberated it from so I can't really go look at the original plant.

Aloes are great plants to have if, like me, you have a tendency to burn yourself a lot. They are monocots in the asphodel family. The name aloe is from the Greek word for the plant or a drug made from its bitter juice. Apparently aloe juice can act as a laxative, but I just use it topically. Agaves are from the agave family. They are named after a woman from Greek mythology whose name means illustrious.

My aloes don't get much attention except for when I need them. I like to cut off the older leaves and put them in the freezer for later use. When I inevitably burn myself, I take a frozen leaf and remove the skin with the back side of a knife. The cold flesh is doubly soothing on a burn.

This agave lives in a small pot made by my wife when she was in elementary school. The pot is so small that I can't even stick my thumb in it. I used to water this guy about once every 6 months but now it gets watered much more often and it has doubled in size. The problem is that now it falls over under its own weight. Unfortunately this is not the blue agave that tequila is made out of (Agave tequilana); however, one can ferment a milk-colored alcohol called pulque or mezcal from Agave americana.

Fortunella margarita (kumquat) & Citrus maxima (pomelo).

I just realized that for whatever reason I'm growing both the smallest and largest citrus fruits. Both kumquats and pomelos are members of the rue family (citrus family), Rutaceae. The pomelo is a member of the genus Citrus; while kumquats are Fortunella, although this is currently under debate. Citrus comes from the Greek word for the citron tree (Citrus medica). Fortunella is named after Robert Fortune, a Scotsman that introduced the fruit to Europe. Kumquat, by the way, is just an Anglicization of the Cantonese name for the fruit that basically means golden orange (quat in loquat also refers to the orange).

Here is a photo of my two little kumquat trees. One has a yellow fungus growing in its soil. If you haven't had a kumquat, they are interesting little fruits. You eat the whole thing, rind and all. The inside is very tart and the skin is sweet. My parents have a large kumquat tree in their yard (this is where I get my seeds). I had a lot of fun throwing kumquats at things (people, bee hives, cats) as a kid, and for many years have had the dream of growing a little fruiting kumquat tree in a pot. Unfortunately I have no orange thumb when it comes to kumquats. These two are pitiful, but hopefully they'll survive.

In my jungle, Goliath is beating David. This is my grove of pomelos. I hadn't tried a pomelo until last year when the grocery store around the corner had one in the discount box. They are great. I like them much more than grapefruits. Pomelos are less sour and obviously much larger than grapefruits; although the actual edible part is deceptively smaller than one might think. We bought an organic pomelo at the Alemany Farmers' Market and it had more seeds than I knew what to do with. Since I'm not very successful with citrus seeds I planted all of them. Unfortunately almost all of them sprouted. I gave MANY away but still have a dozen or so. They also started growing out of pots I didn't know they were in. I really should stop recycling potting soil.

Here is a close up of the leaves of one of my pomelos. The pomelo leaves, much like the leaves of the Kaffir lime (Citrus x hystrix, an unresolved hybrid), appear to be funky compound leaves where one leaf grows out of the apex of another. This isn't actually the case, as only the distal portion of this structure is the true leaf. The proximal portion is a modified petiole (Latin for little foot) called a phyllode (Greek for leaf-like). This odd adaptation is common in several Acacia species.

Because I have so many of these things, I've been experimenting with them. I had several sprout that lacked chlorophyll--in the entire plant or in just the leaves. Those obviously did not last very long. Also some are placed by the kitchen window where they are exposed to a constant draft and chilly temperatures in the middle to upper 40s F at night. Those have shown signs of stress or died. The best looking pomelos have been grown in indirect sunlight at room temperature. If enough of these make it past a year or two, I may attempt to graft kumquats onto them.

Dudleya farinosa (powdery dudleya/bluff lettuce).

Dudleya farinosa is a hearty little succulent that seems to grow out of the tiniest of cracks in the sandy cliffs overlooking the Pacific up here in Nor-Cal. Dudleyas are members of the crassula family (jade plants) and were named after William Dudley, a botanist from Stanford. Farinosa is Latin for floury, apparently referring to the powdered appearance of the leaves.

This little fellow is one of two that I liberated from a cliff in Marin County. I just yanked them out of their sandy prisons and stuck them in some sandy potting soil. Powdery dudleyas are near impossible to kill* and will eventually elongate and hang down from their roots by a thin stem.

* Unfortunately my wife killed the twin of the one in the picture--the deadly combination of a poorly draining pot and way too much water.

Eriobotrya japonica (loquat).

The loquat Eriobotrya japonica is an extremely easy to grow plant in the rose family. The genus name means quite literally, woolly bunch of grapes, in Greek (erio-botrya). I normally get 90-100% germination without doing anything other than dropping the pits into some dirt. Even the pits from unripe fruit seem to always sprout.

Loquats grow all over the Bay Area. If you haven't eaten one, they are quite nice and not too sweet little orangish-yellow fruits (a little bigger than a golf ball). Inside each fruit are 4-5 large glossy seeds. They grow into medium-sized trees and provide good shade with their ample, fuzzy dark green leaves.

These two seedlings sprouted about 6 months ago. I found some smushed loquats in the gutter a couple of blocks from my apartment. As usual I made the mistake of planting all 14 seeds, which generated 14 seedlings that I had to thin out (that normally makes me sad, but I'm getting used to it). Despite the ease at which I can get these things to germinate, I've never gotten one to grow in a pot for more than a year without it dying. We'll see how these go.

Persea americana (Florida and Hass avocados).

Persea americana is a member of the laurel family. The genus name was taken from the Greek persea, the name of an unrelated Egyptian tree in the sapote family.

We currently have three Persea americana growing. We used to have a nice, big, bushy one but it died shortly after the last time we moved. All of our avocados were started by the standard toothpick technique. I used to think that I had bad luck with avocados, but later I realized that sometime you have to wait a long frackin' time for them to sprout. I'd trash them after 2 weeks, now I'll let them go for up to 2-3 months. Also I'd always try to sprout them upside down (the point goes upward!).

The tallest one is my oldest plant. I started it in 2002 or 2003 when I was living in DC. A roommate went to Miami and brought back a Florida avocado. I'd never had one before. In my opinion they are kind of bland compared to the varieties we get here in CA (based on an n of 1); however, it was the largest avocado I'd ever seen and the pit was huge and fuzzy so I stabbed it with 3 sharpened wood matches and he grew. The Florida avocado was the only plant that I brought with me on my solo 3-day repatriotic drive from Brooklyn to San Francisco. I named it Plant-o on the trip. Every time I stopped the car along the way, I'd take Plant-o out and put him in the shade. Driving across the Nevada desert, I had to balance using the AC to keep him from wilting and turning the AC off to keep my engine from melting. My grandmother talked me into pinching off the growing tip about 5 years ago and it took him 2 years to put out another leaf. Now he survives with about 2-6 leaves at a time.

The other 2 avocados are from Hass pits that my wife and I started in late 2008. I have no particular loyalty to these. Also note, I like to hang plastic insect/spider rings on our plants to surprise visitors.

Who am I?

In order to save space, I have about 2 or 3 "seed pots" where I toss random seeds in the hope that they will eventually germinate. Normally when I see something sprouting, I just dig around and figure out what seed it came from and voilà I know what the plant is. Unfortunately I occasionally have a seedling that I can't place. I've been growing the plant below for about a year but I have no clue what it is. Any suggestions? It is vine-like and seems to be herbaceous. The leaves are compound with three tear drop/lanceolate leaflets with smooth edges. Really, any suggestions would be quite welcome.

A plant I didn't love.

As I said before, I like plants with functionality. I'm not particularly into flowers. The plant below is a common garden geranium (Pelargonium zonale) that I had for several years. It is not a true geranium, which are cranesbills in the genus Geranium, but they are in the geranium family. The genus name is from the Greek pelargos, stork, referring to the fact that the plant's flowers resemble stork beaks.

I didn't ever really care for this plant and to make matters worse it absolutely refused to die despite lack of water, poor light, and my constant emotional neglect. I even took its pot away and put it in a very small recycled sour cream container. Eventually I decided to get rid of it, but alas, I hate tossing out live plants so kicked it out and made it live on the street.

It took about 20 minutes until someone picked it up and took it home. I can only assume it was taken by someone lame.

Mi selva.

Question: Where does one keep plants in a little apartment?
Answer: Everywhere.



Location 1: On the table in the kitchen (and on the window sill and on the shelves).


Location 2: On a chair in the corner. Helpful hint--make sure to store your wife's books under the chair, they are good an absorbing any water that overflows your pots and will therefore protect the wood floor.


Location 3: On top of the microwave on top of the refrigerator. This serves 2 purposes, the appliances give some bottom heat to your tropical plants and it puts about 3 sq. ft. of the urban forest above your wife's line of sight.


Location 4: On the TV cabinet. Considering that the TV isn't plugged in to anything (cable is for rich losers), the foliage gives your guests something to stare at.


Other popular locations: on the floor, in the bathroom, window sills, book shelves.

The itch.

I love cataloging things. I love planting things. I love drawing things.

I've had the itch to start a record, both written and illustrated, of my favorite plants for quite some time. Like many of my normal (abnormal) compulsions, I don't have a clue why or from where it originated. I've started this blog to help document and organize my thoughts about plants. Initially I'm going to include photos of the plants I have at home. Hopefully I can expand upon this and eventually include some of my plant drawings and photos/drawings of other plants that I find interesting. If you haven't seen the Kunstformen der Natur by Ernst Haeckel, you should really check it out.

Before I begin, I think I should give you a little bit of my philosophy toward plants. I've been growing things since I was about 10 years old. My grandmother has quite a green thumb and used to maintain a small greenhouse in her backyard. As a kid I loved checking out her various bonsai, cacti, and succulents. From her I inherited a fondness of appropriating cuttings and seeds. Some people say that I steal, but I think that I liberate. I am mainly interested in trees and food-bearing woody plants, although due to the climate in San Francisco and the fact that I reside in an apartment all my plants live in pots.

I love growing things from seed. I love tropical plants. I love the fact that my wife lets me cover about 3% of our 450 sq. ft. apartment with pots.