Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Two Solanaceae Weeds

For some reason I find the Solanaceae ("nightshade") weeds quite ornamental. Maybe it's just their strong resemblance to deliberately-cultivated plants, such as pepper, potato, and tomato, also in Solanaceae, that makes me look at them differently from other weeds.

Physalis peruviana, Peruvian Ground Cherry or Cape Gooseberry. First cultivated by the Inca for its edible fruit, it's now widespread globally both as a weed and an appreciated garden plant.

Solanum carolinenseHorse Nettle or Devil's Tomato. All parts are toxic due to the presence of solanine, which serves as a chemical pest defense.

Of course when we consider that the definition of "weed" is situational, and in home gardens quite subjective, maybe to me they aren't weeds! It'd be interesting to see if good cultivation and some pinching could make a passable ornamental plant out of horse nettle, for instance.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Leafy Sepals and Proliferation

The one 'Double Knock Out' seedling that I kept recently issued a new basal shoot, the blooms of which were quite leafy:

Large leafy sepals, each looking almost exactly like a normal terminal leaflet. The stamens have also proliferated into leafy structures.

These sepals are so leaf-like that they have both terminal and side leaflets. 

Underside, showing a very convincing petiole to the left.

Although at the moment I'm not sure what causes blooms to develop like this, I hope the trait proves to be stable. How novel it would be if this variety consistently made these little "boutonnieres," framing each flower with a cluster of basal "foliage" derived from the sepals.