Plant Facts
An African bugleweed synthesises in its tissues a substance similar to the hormone that controls the development of caterpillars. If a caterpillar is persuaded, experimentally, to ingest that substance, then when it turns into a butterfly it will develop two heads and die.
84% of a raw apple and 96% of a raw cucumber is water.
A notch in a tree will remain the same distance from the ground as the tree grows.
A pineapple is a berry.
Arrowroot, an antidote for poisoned arrows, is used as a thickener in cooking (so if you ever get shot with a poison arrow, do not go to a doctor, look in your kitchen cabinet.
Avocados have the highest calories of any fruit at 167 calories per hundred grams.
Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew cannabis sativa (marijuana) on their plantations.
In the Netherlands, in 1634, a collector paid 1,000 pounds of cheese, four oxen, eight pigs, 12 sheep, a bed, and a suit of clothes for a single bulb of the Viceroy tulip.
No species of wild plant produces a flower or blossom that is absolutely black, and so far, none has been developed artificially.
Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.
Peanuts are beans.
Quinine, one of the most important drugs known to man, is obtained from the dried bark of an evergreen tree native to South America.
The California redwood - coast redwood and giant sequoia - are the tallest and largest living organism in the world.
The largest single flower is the Rafflesia or "corpse flower". They are generally 3 feet in diameter with the record being 42 inches.
The oldest living thing in existence is not a giant redwood, but a bristlecone pine in the White Mountains of California, dated to be aged 4,600 years old.
The rose family of plants, in addition to flowers, gives us apples, pears, plums, cherries, almonds, peaches and apricots.
Asparagus is a member of the lily family, which also includes onions, leeks, and garlic.
The bright orange color of carrots tell you they are an excellent source of Vitamin A which is important for good eyesight, especially at night. Vitamin A helps your body fight infection, and keeps your skin and hair healthy.
Onions contain a mild antibiotic that fights infections, soothes burns, tames bee stings and relieves the itch of athletes foot.
One bushel of corn will sweeten more than 400 cans of pop.
Banana oil never saw a banana; it's made from petroleum.
Almonds are the oldest, most widely cultivated and extensively used nuts in the world.
Bananas are actually herbs. Bananas die after fruiting, like all herbs do.
Eggplant is a member of the thistle family.
From the 1500's to the 1700's, tobacco was prescribed by doctors to treat a variety of ailments including headaches, toothaches, arthritis and bad breath.
Ginger has been clinically demonstrated to work twice as well as Dramamine for fighting motion sickness, with no side effects.
No species of wild plant produces a flower or blossom that is absolutely black, and so far, none has been developed artificially.
Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.
Oak trees do not have acorns until they are fifty years old or older.
One pound of tea can make 300 cups of the beverage.
One ragweed plant can release as many as one billion grains of pollen.
Oranges, lemons, watermelons, and tomatoes are berries.
Orchids have the smallest seeds. It takes more than 1.25 million seeds to weigh 1 gram
Rice paper isn't made from rice but from a small tree which grows in Taiwan.
The world's tallest grass, which has sometimes grown 130 feet or more, is bamboo.
When a coffee seed is planted, it takes five years to yield consumable fruit.
Willow bark, which provides the salicylic acid from which aspirin was originally synthesized, has been used as a pain remedy ever since the Greeks discovered its therapeutic power nearly 2,500 years ago.
Watermelons are actually vegetables! They are in the same family as cucumbers, pumpkins and squash.
The world's largest watermelon on record weighed over 260 pounds.
In England, it is tradition to plant large patches of thyme because it is said that these patches are playgrounds for fairies.
Carrots can help you to see better in the dark. That's because carrots contain lots of Vitamin A, which helps to prevent "night blindness".
Frozen vegetables can be more nutritious than fresh vegetables. Fresh vegetables take a lot of time, once they have been picked, to reach the supermarket. The more time between picking and eating, the more nutrients they loose.
Frozen vegetables however are usually processed and packaged on the same day they were picked; therefore they maintain the maximum amount of nutrients.
The top green leaves from beets can lightly boiled and then eaten, just like spinach. In fact, beet leaves are the most nutritious part of the vegetable.
Two common varieties of peas include snow peas and snap peas.
Snow peas are picked before the peas inside have a chance to develop, so that the pea pod is still very flat and tender. With snap peas however, the peas are allowed to grow and then both the pod and the peas inside can be eaten either raw or cooked.
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