Published by Daniel Mosquin on September 18, 2018
Last Friday, the UBC Horticulture Training Program students were treated to a lecture about Eurasian medicinal plants and a tour of the physic garden with Ukrainian botanical pharmacologist Anastasiia Dushyna. Pulicaria dysenterica was not one of the plants highlighted on the tour, but it likely would have been, had we been growing it in the […]
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on September 4, 2018
Up to three hundred times as sweet as sugar, the calorie-free steviol glycosides in stevia have been known and exploited for at least 1500 years.
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on March 5, 2018
Our recent cold weather delayed many early-flowering plants in UBC Botanical Garden. Almost everything that is presently in flower has previously been featured, so instead I sought foliage and geometry while looking for something of interest for BPotD. South African thistle met the criteria. It is rendered here in greyscale to emphasize the patterns in […]
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on February 20, 2018
It is a long road to Xilitla from San Miguel de Allende in México; six hours of driving without stopping. Stops are however necessary, not only for enjoying the plants along the way at the height of wildflower season, but also for the calls of nature. Sometimes the two are combined.
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on January 18, 2018
Daniel recently wrote about Quercus robur, but it’s been some time since I wrote about a species native to Europe, so today I’ve chosen Centaurea benedicta (formerly Cnicus benedictus) as the topic. Perhaps best known (in English) as blessed thistle, its importance as a historical medicine makes an interesting contrast with the widespread notion of […]
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on November 30, 2017
Browsing through the November BPotD entries, I noticed an overall palette of muted, autumnal colours for the month. Time to brighten things up!
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on November 6, 2017
Fields of Cosmos bipinnatus, or Mexican aster, were a relatively common sight during my recent visit to Mexico. Admittedly, few localities were as dense as this patch growing amongst a corn crop (where it was readily apparent that no corn would be harvested this season).
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