Skip to main content

Cleaning a conifer, with leaves rather than needles

Again I was able to cycle to the GH. The weather was a bit steamy with high humidity. There were broken clouds threatening to coalesce into thunderheads at some point - they didn’t. The sky on the return trip was sunny and hot.

My first task was to help B wash dirt plastic and terracotta pots that had been emptied. The plastic pots were going to be dipped and rinsed in an antiseptic solution of some sort - located in the pot cleaning room. The terracotta pots were to be sterilized by heat after we had rinsed out the dirt chunks. B had set up the hose outside in the courtyard next to the workroom. The pots she had selected took about 45 minutes to clean. She brought the pots to the cleaning room to finish the process. The pots will be reused, cleaning them helps to prevent the spread of pathogenic organisms:  bacteria, fungi, and viruses.


The next chore was helping Curator J and B clean the sooty mold and scale from a couple of podocarp (family) trees in the gymnosperm clade. They were both grown from seeds collected in North Vietnam, and eventually donated to the GH. Curator J is not a fan of this sort of plant scavenging - he would rather the plants were obtained through reputable processes. Anyhow, these two plants have strap-like almond-shaped leaves rather than needles (like other gymnosperms). Nagleia nagi is the scientific name of the plant, also called Asian bayberry for its fragrant seed berries. The plant is dioecious, males and females, which spread pollen by air. The habit of the tree branches does, however, resemble a small conifer tree.


The plants were covered with black sooty mold from a heavy infestation of scale, dozens of parasites covering each leaf. Curator J and I tackled the cleaning of the larger (6-foot bush), B cleaned the smaller 3-foot plant. Fortunately, the leaves are quite thick and strong, they were easily cleaned without being damaged in the process.

Conifer: Nagleia nagi (Asian bayberry)


The final task was to complete the cleaning of a small bonsai-like cactus plant:  Leuenbergeria portulacifolium. It too was covered with scale insects and black sooty mold. The challenge was to clean away the soot and scale from delicate leaves set between spine needles (arising from areoles). I found the best combination of tools was a toothbrush and a small jug of isopropyl alcohol (70%). Initially I thought it was a euphorbia because of the presence of leaves and spines. But the needles arise from areoles, which is a feature of cacti, not euphorbias. 


Cactus: Levenbergeria portulacifolium (pink rose cactus - not a euphorbia)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I celebrate learning this about cycad plants

I didn't know that the cardboard palm - Zamia furfuracea - is a cycad. It isn't a palm tree (don't judge me, I'm not a botanist). But it also doesn't look like the other more familiar types of cycads with their fluted upright palm-like fronds. I didn't know it is said to be the second most commonly cultivated cycad, after Cycas revoluta . I didn't know this plant is unrelated to the common ZZ plant - Zamioculcas zamifolia - although they have a similar appearance. Before today I didn't know any of these things, but now I am happy to have learned them. From the parking lot I walked to the U of M Conservatory greenhouse in near-zero F weather. Stepping into the tropical spaces was a joy of its own. But being able to learn new information and experience new procedures was a compounding factor. Joy squared. During my 3-hour volunteer shift, my initial task was to clean the parasite critters (mealybugs and scale) from the stems and leaves of the cycad, Zami...
Post a Comment
Read more

Another routine spectacular day in the greenhouse

It has been a sincere pleasure for me to volunteer a few hours a week at the University of Minnesota Botanical Conservatory. After many visits over the last few years, exactly none of those days have felt ordinary or repetitive. If there is a routine , it is that the botanic diversity of the collection - with over 3000 species - is displayed in a spectacular way each day. The Conservatory is located on the St. Paul campus, and is free of charge and open to the public during typical weekday hours. For instance, today most of my allotted time was spent in just one of eight rooms, the room that houses the tropical collection. The chores included pruning, re-potting, spraying, sweeping, etc. As I moved through the room, in every direction, there seemed to be a stunning plant pleading to be admired.  After the chores were complete, I had the opportunity to go back and photograph some of the beauties that surrounded me while working.  Dendrobium tangerinum , Papua New Guinea Dendr...
Post a Comment
Read more

Botanical Garden of Prickly Plants in Palm Springs

This adobe wall and gate are part of the original hotel in Palm Springs, California. In 1938 the old adobe hotel was purchased by Chester Moorten, who had previously been a stunt man in early Hollywood working on films including the Keystone Cops movies. He and his botanist wife Patricia, lived and operated a desert garden center out of the old hotel. Locally he was known as "Cactus Slim" for his ability to maintain desert plants. Chester's son, Clark, carried on the business and became a noted expert in desert plants. Clark Moorten still owns and operates the Moorten Botanical Garden which is open to the public (except on Wednesdays, which I discovered the hard way). Original adobe wall of the old hotel, now Moorten family home Layout of the botanical garden Compared to other botanical gardens, this one is limited to one acre. However, what it lacks in size it compensates with variety and quality. There are specimens in this garden that would be difficult to find in the ...
Post a Comment
Read more