The nasty side of the Golden Trumpet

Species name: Allamanda cathartica

Common name: golden trumpet, yellow trumpet vine

Location: Dominican Republic

The golden trumpet vine is native to Brazil, but because of its pleasing aesthetics has been transported around the world to different tropical locations as an ornamental species. Unfortunately, in almost all of those locations it has become invasive not because of its seeds, but because it reproduces asexually so readily. This plant is usually used as a hedge and is pruned multiple times per year, causing the stems of the vine to be cut up. Normally this isn't a problem but for a plant like this that can root so easily from cuttings it's potentially disastrous. Each tiny piece of plant can become a new one, and so without proper disposal of all fragments the vine can very quickly get out of control.

One of the most impressive qualities of this plant is how quickly it grows. Unlike many other vines, it does not have its own support system so requires a trellis to prop it up off the ground (or it could be grown as a ground-creeping vine; it doesn't anchor itself in the ground like English Ivy does which you can read all about HERE). It also doesn't have tendrils or circular stem growth like peas do, so it also won't strangle plants it is propped up against (but will, more than likely, shade out any competitors). In only a couple of months during the peak of the growing season, it can grow up to 20 feet. Yes, twenty. That wasn't a typo. That's a few inches a day...you could almost watch the plant growing if you could sit still long enough. That's insane.

Aside from the ridiculous speed of growth, this plant also has intoxicating yellow flowers. The flowers fully open just at sunrise, releasing a huge amount of scent along with them that you can smell from tens of feet away, in the attempt to attract their pollinators: hummingbirds. Hummingbirds are most active and looking for nectar first thing in the morning when they're still trying to recover from their overnight tropor or short hibernation. Warming such a tiny body up can only be accomplished by moving flight muscles, which hummingbirds can do at extraordinary speeds. This, as you can probably imagine, requires a whole lot of energy. Where does this energy come from? Sugar! And where does sugar come from for hummingbirds? Nectar! So the fact that these flowers open and are right ready to accept hummingbirds first thing in the morning means that the flowers are going to be visited right away if there are hummingbirds in the area. If this plant is propped up off the ground and allowed to grow in very dense clumps beside a wall for shelter, chances are you might find a hummingbird nest inside the clump of vines if you look hard enough. It would be like a Canadian Tim Horton's addict setting up a tent right outside a store. You can get your fix of morning java as soon as you wake up!

Unfortunately, this plant isn't just fun and games and pretty flowers to look at it. It is incredibly toxic, and the toxicity of the latex is enough to induce second-degree chemical burns if it stays on your skin long enough. If you are around this plant and are pruning it, PLEASE wear gloves and a long-sleeved shirt and pants (not to mention closed-toe shoes. Toes get ignored the most when it comes to gardening, and the last thing you want is a second-degree burn on your feet!). Also, there should never be a circumstance when you decide eating this plant would be a good idea. The toxic chemical called allamandin in the plant will cause severe vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, liver failure, kidney failure, coma, and potentially lead to death. As with many toxic plants, this plant may have a redeeming quality or two: in very low doses, allamandin is sometimes marketed in "natural" laxatives because of its cathartic qualities. Also, pure extracts of the latex of the plant show that it has potent antimicrobial and anticancer properties, so it might one day be used in conjunction with current cancer treatments. Every thorn has its rose (or something like that).

A miracle plant with a cure for everything?

Species name: Ixora coccinea

Common name: jungle geranium, flame of the woods

Location: Dominican Republic

The jungle geranium is an incredibly popular ornamental species in tropical locations because of how easily it's pruned into shapes. In tropical resorts, it's often the plant that makes up the "thou shalt not pass" barrier between the walkways around the resort and the grass and gardens beyond the walkways. It is native to India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka where it is said to be one of their holy plants.

One of the best characteristics about this plant that makes it so ideal as an ornamental species and even a houseplant is that it can tolerate hard pruning and it flowers on old growth, the previous year's growth, and new growth. This is often a problem for some plants like hydrangeas and hibiscus, where they only flower from the previous year's growth and so if you prune this off in the spring or fall you don't end up getting any flowers. Many gardeners get around this by giving the plant a hard prune once every 5 years or so and just sacrificing the flowers for a year (it will still grow up with green leaves, but just none of the showy flowers). It also flowers almost continuously during the year, but just at different intensities; the most flowers appearing just prior to and just after the rainy season. As an indoor plant, this species is often grown as a cultivar with orange or yellow flowers, or even flowers that change colour as they age. I have seen these plants in garden stores here in Canada and always been amazed by the flower colour-changing ability but never been interested enough to try to keep one alive. Maybe I'll give it a shot next time I see one!

This plant isn't just loved for its ornamental value; it's also an important plant in traditional Indian mediciine called Ayurveda. The flowers, leaves, roots and stem are all used, often as a tonic or a tea, and consumed to treat a big list of ailments. The fruits of this plant are also edible but (from what I understand; I've never tried one or even seen one) don't taste very good. Biochemically, this plant has incredible amounts of chemicals that are believed to have some sort of health-improving effects: lupeol (anti-inflammatory), ursolic acid (used in the cosmetic industry but also inhibit cancer cell growth), oleanolic acid (antitumor and antiviral properties), sitosterol (a plant sterol that can reduce blood levels of cholesterol), rutin (blood thinner and anti-inflammatory), anthocyanins (anti-aging), kaempferol (analgesic), and quercetin (antiviral, anticancer, anti-inflammatory). While none of these chemicals have been shown to have these effects on large-scale human trials (most are at either the mouse testing or cell-line testing stage), so far all research has been shown to be promising. While this certainly is not an endorsement to go out and eat kilograms of this plant every day, perhaps Ayurveda is really onto something with this plant. We'll have to wait and see.

This cactus doesn't just have roses. It also has leaves!

Species name: Pereskia bleo

Common name: rose cactus, leaf cactus

Location: Dominican Republic

This species of rose cactus (there are 17 species in the genus, all of which carry the common name "rose cactus") is native to the Caribbean basin, from Panama south to Colombia. It has been spread throughout Central America and the Caribbean Islands as an ornamental species, and it is now incredibly popular in gardens and as landscaping plants around hotels. I saw this plant at the farm we went to, and weren't given much information (if any; I was a straggler at the back of the group because of my compulsive picture-taking) about it. It's unfortunate; the people living there probably would know more about the plant than even Wikipedia does!

Surprisingly enough, this plant is a true cactus. You don't have to tell me it looks nothing like what you would picture to be a "cactus" because I most certainly agree with you. Unfortunately, we would both be wrong no matter how adamant we were about this not being a cactus; DNA sequence data tells us it is in the cactus family. Ah, well. Better luck next time to us! :) The genus can be split into two groups called clades, where each clade is a group of species that are most closely related to each other than they are to any other member of the other clade. Each clade has a very interesting characteristic that can be used to define members of that clade: geographic distribution. All members of clade A, where you find the species Pereskia bleo, are native to the land around the Caribbean Sea, from Mexico south to Venezuela (and also some species native to Hispaniola, the island that is made up of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, as well as Cuba, Jamaica, and the Dutch Antilles). Clade B, on the other hand, is made up of species native to South America near the Amazon basin in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru. The one exception to this rule is in clade B where we find the species P. aculeata which is native to a huge area from Mexico all the way south to Argentina. One thing that all of these species have in common is that they don't tolerate full sun very well; they much prefer to be found in shady areas. If exposed to full sun they will more than likely lose all their leaves and turn into a bush of sticks. This definitely won't kill the plant; the stems are green and they would be able to manufacture sugars using the energy of the sun quite easily (photosynthesis). They won't, however, flower or be anything fancy to look at. Best to plant it where it receives at least shading from a building or tree.

In Singapore, where it was introduced a few centuries ago, it is a very important medicinal plant in their traditional medicine, and the plant is called the "Seven Star Needle." The leaves are either chewed (if young) or brewed into a tea (if older) and consumed. It is believed that the regular consumption of these leaves will prevent cancer, but there is absolutely no scientific evidence to support these claims. I doubt the plant is toxic, as the people who make these claims would likely be dead from chronic poisoning if this were true, but don't start eating the leaves in an attempt to ward off cancer. The only evidence that this might one day be used to fight cancer is in mammalian cell lines; extracts from the leaves do kill cancer cells and prevent their proliferation. A word of caution before you get to excited: cell lines in culture behave very differently than what cells do in the body, so the fact that this has been demonstrated to be true has no weight with the medical community. Once (if) there is a long-term full-scale human trial with leaf extract, then the results might be meaningful to the human medical field.

The Japanese can't make their own taxol from their yew

Species name: Taxus cuspidata

Common name: Japanese yew

Location: Ontario

You might be wondering why I'm featuring the same plant twice in the same week, but you would have made one vital assumption that is incorrect: just because two species look the same doesn't mean they are the same. The Japanese yew, featured here (native to Japan, as you might have guessed), is a very close relative to the Canada yew, featured in my blog post on Monday (read all about it HERE). In fact, by assuming that the photos above represented the same species as that of the Canada yew, you would be making the same error that many botanists have made in the past; it was only recently demonstrated that there are distinct species within the genus Taxus. The genus was originally thought to be monotypic, and instead having distinct geographic races or subspecies that are on their way to becoming their own species, but have not yet become distinct enough to warrant the title. The Sumatran and the Mexican yews are the most different from the type species, the European yew. These were the first to obtain their own species designation, with every other species following suit and being confirmed through DNA sequencing.

So if these species are so morphologically similar, how do you tell them apart? Well, the needles and their arrangement on the branches is the first clue. The needles of the Canada yew are arranged around the branches when young, but the development of the bark on the branches almost flattens out the arrangement of the needles as it matures. If you look at the branches that are brown in colour instead of green (showing that bark has been formed), the needles are in two rows on each side, but are flattened on the branch. It has almost become two-dimensional. The difference in the maturation of the Japanese yew branches is that the needles remain spirally-arranged on the branch; they never flatten out unless something has been grazing the branches. With age, the needles also turn upwards, so all of the oldest needles on the inside of the shrub or small tree are pointing upwards, even though their point of attachment on the branch is all the way around it.

The second hint that these are different species is their sheer size difference. The Canada yew barely reaches a height of 2 meters off the ground and completely lacks a central stem. While the Japanese yew pictured above doesn't really look like it has a central stem, it is clearly more "tree-like", and the branches have the ability to support their own weight as opposed to drooping onto the ground like the Canada yew branches do. The Japanese yew can also grow to a maximum height of 18 meters.

The last major differences are not visible to the eye, but rather "visible" to a machine called a gas chromatography mass spectrophotometer, or GCMS. These machines are also sometimes called the "mass spec," and if you watch CSI at all you will have heard of them! They really do exist, and they are used in much the same way as suggested on TV (but not nearly as quickly, and the results are a bit harder to interpret than what the shows make them out to be!). You dissolve a bit of an unknown substance into a solvent (usually some sort of alcohol, although other organic solutions are sometimes used like chloroform), and inject a very small quantity into the machine. The machine separates the individual components of the liquid mixture by molecular size, and displays a graph of molecular weight versus abundance. The shape of the peak tells you what types of chemical bonds are present, and the location along the size axis tell you how big the molecules are. The height of the peaks tell you how much of any given substance are present. So what does this have to do with the Japanese yew? Well, it's a rather unfortunate tale for the Japanese; if they want to make their own paclitaxel, they're going to have to start planting Canada yew. The Japanese yew doesn't contain the right combination of taxanes to have the desired medical effects. In fact, the Japanese yew is exponentially more toxic than the Canada yew; it has the distinction of being the "Japanese horse killer." Just five needles are enough to kill a small dog. If you choose to plant this ornamental tree in your garden, please keep animals and small children away from it! And don't EVER use it as a Christmas tree!

Taxol in plant form

Species name: Taxus canadensis

Common name: Canada Yew

Location: Ontario

The Canada yew is an incredibly important shrub to people all over the world, and most don't even realize it. While technically not a tree, most of its closest relatives can be up to 25 meters high. The Canada yew has no main trunk, and so just kind of flops onto the ground. It was originally thought to be a subspecies of the English yew, Taxus baccata, but was shown to be a distinct species through DNA sequencing and actually more closely related to the Western yew than the English yew! Just goes to show that plants that appear to be closely related based on morphology alone might be misleading you when it comes to their genetic relatedness.

The Pacific or Western yew has just recently been downgraded from threatened to nearly threatened on the IUCN's Red List of endangered and threatened species worldwide. Its eastern relative, the Canada yew, has now replaced the Western yew as a commercial shrub. So why the need to produce it commercially? Well, it is an incredibly attractive plant with its red arils and soft green needles. The arils of these plants, contrary to what they look like, are not fruits! Yes, they're soft and fleshy and contain a seed. But because conifers cannot produce fruits because they do not have flowers, the red arils can't possibly be fruits. Instead they're just highly modified seed coats, which have been modified to store sugars and other tasty things that are attractive to birds and small mammals. Unfortunately, these red arils are also attractive to children and lead to quite a few deaths or hospitalizations every year since the seeds are incredibly toxic. The animals that consume the yew arils only eat the fleshy outsides, and either swallow the seeds whole and pass them right through their digestive tract, or leave the black seeds behind.

Sure, the ornamental use of this plant is quite important in Canadian industry. But that's certainly not the most important use of this plant worldwide. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, this plant was discovered to have a unique set of chemicals called taxanes with an incredibly important role in human health: they kill cancer cells. The chemicals were first isolated in 1992, and lead to the widespread population decline of the Pacific yew in western Canada. The Canada yew in the east was then discovered to have just as high a concentration of taxanes that were just as easily purified from the bark, and this species is much more abundant. It can also be sustainably harvested every 5 or so years, and so the purification of taxanes was switched to the bark of the Canada yew. Once the process was perfected and clinical trials were completed, drugs were officially put into production; worldwide they're called paclitaxel (the generic name) or taxol (the brand name). These two drugs are now the most widely prescribed anti-cancer drugs around the world. The other reason why this is so significant? The research was done at the university that I currently attend, The University of Western Ontario in London. Hometown pride! While there are still some stands of the Canada yew being used for taxane production, some of these chemicals have been successfully synthesized in the lab. It's only a matter of time before the entire spectrum of taxanes can be artificially lab-created and so wild populations of both species can be left to their own devices.

The medicinal use of the Canada yew doesn't stop there, but any medicinal use of this plant is incredibly dangerous because it is deadly toxic. Native North Americans used the young tips of this plant in very small amounts steeped in tea and consumed to alleviate rheumatism. There is some clinical evidence that consumption of this plant is effective in this way for rheumatism, but it is a very fine line between an appropriate medical dose and a lethal or very toxic one. For this reason, most doctors (and even herbalists) prefer other routes of relief.

Resveratrol: the miracle drug from Japanese knotweed?

Species name: Fallopia japonica

Common name: Japanese knotweed

Location: Ontario

Again, from the common name of this species you should be able to discern that it's a non-native plant (native to Japan, China and Korea), and it is one that is highly invasive in disturbed habitats outside of northeast Asia. In North America, any place that it has been introduced it very quickly dominates, and takes many years of dedicated effort to eradicate it completely. Because of the intense underground network of rhizomes, complete eradication of the plant without use of chemical herbicides is nearly impossible; the next option is to dig up the earth and transport it away from the site (the easiest way to remove Japanese knotweed away from areas to be developed). This involves removing the top two to three feet of soil, a feat that is not possible for most natural or residential areas.

Despite this plant's bad rap, I find it one of the most fascinating plants we have in North America (but I would never plant it myself!). The growth rate of Japanese knotweed is outstanding; it can grow three to four METERS in one growing season from about May until October or November. That kind of growth in a temperate species in a temperate location is unheard of with very few exceptions. Why this plant isn't being investigated as a possible source of biofuel is beyond me (there's no reason why it couldn't be grown in a highly controlled way in a greenhouse or contained outdoor area, and genetically modify it to prevent the formation of seeds). The stems can grow to be so large and so strong that it is often mistaken for bamboo in the cut form (I doubt anyone would mistake it for bamboo when it's still standing in the ground; the leaves are very different! They are completely unrelated species).

In Japan, this plant is a traditional food crop, although not widely served in tourist areas so most foreigners are not exposed to it. The name for the food made from this plant (young shoots and leaves) is called "sansai," but the plant has numerous names based on different regions in Japan. When I was there in 2006, I was convinced to try it (in Hiroshima they call it "itazura") and boy oh boy. "Sour" does not even begin to describe it. I was offered a piece, I tried it, I didn't die, but I certainly wouldn't willingly inflict that kind of cheek-puckering pain on myself again! I didn't notice any reaction to it, but apparently the stems contain high levels of oxalic acid, the same chemical found in rhubarb leaves (and the reason why you should never, ever eat rhubarb leaves).

Today, Japanese knotweed is the most common source of the drug "resveratrol," which has an incredibly large list of reported benefits: life extension (unproven in humans, but works in mice and fruit flies), cancer prevention (no clinical trials in humans, but causes cancer cell death in cancerous red blood cells and smooth muscle like the lining of your intestines), cardioprotective effects (anecdotal evidence; all of the scientific evidence that showed resveratrol had any effect on preventing cardiovascular disease have been retracted because they were published fraudulently), antidiabetic effects (clinical trials have shown it lowers blood sugar), neuroprotective effects (has been shown to reduce plaque formation in the brains of non-human animals; no human studies), anti-inflammatory effects (prevents the progression of rheumatoid arthritis in rabbits; no human studies), antiviral effects (prevents the progression and spread of the herpes simplex virus and synergistically enhances anti-HIV drugs), effects on testosterone levels (increases sperm production in rats and increases testosterone production in mice; no human studies but is currently being sold as a bodybuilding supplement), and finally antimicrobial effects (shown to be ineffective at preventing growth of any microbe, bacteria or fungus, that it has ever been tested against). Should you choose to take resveratrol for any reason, make sure you consult your doctor.

If current medical uses weren't enough, there are also traditional medicinal uses of this plant. Both the Japanese and the Chinese in their traditional medicines used extracts from the leaves of Japanese knotweed as a laxative and to regulate bowel motility.

The Witch Hazel from which we get witch hazel

Species name: Hamamelis virginiana

Common name: Witch hazel

Location: Ontario

The witch hazel shrub was one of the very first woody plants that I learned how to identify in second year in an ecology course. I'm not sure why, of all "uncommon" plant species I managed to retain that one, but there it is. I use "uncommon" relatively; I knew, along with everyone else in the class, what a maple tree was, the difference between white and red oak, etc. This plant was one of the first I learned about that wasn't commonly spoken about by gardeners in my area. It could be because of it's characteristic relatively round leaves, and the uneven leaf base. I learned later that an uneven leaf base with nothing else to go on is actually incredibly common in the plant kingdom, and is a terrible single characteristic on which to base an identification! Witch hazel is a native plant across much of Canada (and North America in general), but has been naturalized in many parts of Europe and Australia. In the genus Hamamelis there are also a few species native to Asia in parts of China and Japan.

The uses of this shrub are many. The most famous use by far is as the main ingredient for the astrigent "witch hazel", which is obviously made from this plant. The leaves and young twigs are boiled down to extract the chemicals unique to the plant called hamamelitannins, which are chemically related to tannins found in oak galls (read about them HERE), walnut husks (read about them HERE), and in red wine. They have quite potent medicinal value, and have been used for centuries against swelling, superficial injuries, inflammation, and tumour suppression. It is also a very effective treatment for acne and other facial blemishes, and is a popular over-the-counter medication. It is also used to treat psoriasis, eczema, ingrown toenails, skin burns, poison ivy rashes, varicose veins and hemorrhoids. Whew!

Earlier this year the evidence that witch hazel extract is useful for tumour growth suppression was validated by a study jointly performed in Spain and the United States. They found that when the hamamelitannin extract was applied on colon cancer cells, it caused programmed cell death (an incredibly unusual phenomenon in cancer cells). When applied to a mixture of cancer cells and normal colon cells, only the cancerous cells were killed where the healthy ones survived. This is a very promising result, suggesting that this might one day be an incredibly effective treatment and cure for colon cancer. Clinical trials still need to be done on in vivo animal tissues, so there is still a very long time to wait for this to make it to the market, providing it is effective in the body and can be easily and practically administered.

Teeny Tiny Cranberries

Species name: Vaccinium oxycoccus (=Vaccinium microcarpum)

Common name: Northern cranberry, common cranberry, small cranberry

Location: Alaska (3rd picture from Wikipedia)

The saying "everything's bigger in Alaska" only seems to work for vegetables and mosquitoes. When it comes to other plants, they're considerably smaller due to the harsh growing conditions that they experience during the winter. Spruce trees that would normally grow to be about 50 feet tall within 100 years in the southern part of Canada might take up to 300 years to reach the same size in Alaska. The same can be said about cranberries, which are usually shrubby perennials (meaning they can live for many years). In Alaska, it is predominantly Small Cranberry that grows there (you can probably guess how it gets its common name), but even that doesn't begin to describe its size. Each one of those leaves is only about 0.5-1 cm long, and the fruit are about the same size. Anyone who's ever made their own cranberry sauce before at Thanksgiving or Christmas knows that's a pretty small cranberry!

There are three different species of cranberry, all of which are native to arctic environments around the world. The most economically important species of cranberry in North America, Vaccinium macrocarpon, is native to eastern North America, while the species pictured above is native to North America, northern Europe and northern Asia. Many pieces of literature also consider a third, separate species of cranberry that's native to Europe but I have indicated here that they are the same species (DNA sequencing suggests V. oxycoccus and V. microcarpum are the same species despite having slight morphological differences).

There are many health benefits that cranberries claim to have, but in general it's best to eat them because they taste good, not because they might help fight cancer. There has been the suggestion for many years that cranberries have very high antioxidant levels (which they do; some of the highest of any fruit regularly consumed in a North American diet), and a high level of oxygen radical absorbance capacity or ORAC. Oxygen radicals are a necessity of life if you're an animal, plant or fungus; there is no way not to produce them since they're a byproduct of energy production in cells. Despite this, oxygen radicals have the ability to mutate DNA and a very high oxygen radical stress on the body can lead to tumor formation. Unfortunately, foods with a high ORAC score have so far failed in any scientific trial to translate that ability into something that's biologically relevant. In other words, just because a cranberry has the potential to buffer the effects of oxygen radicals on the body doesn't mean that it actually does. If you're spending all of your disposable income on antioxidant extracts from various plants it's probably best to find something else to spend your money on until there is some solid scientific evidence that any of these supplements (or foods!) have an effect on the body that's tangible.

Subarctic Broccoli

Species name: Brassica oleracea

Common name: Broccoli

Location: Alaska

Last summer when I was in Alaska I took a roadtrip up to the Arctic Circle from Fairbanks. Along the way, the highway crosses the Yukon River and the van stopped at the welcome centre for a break. Outside the welcome centre is a vegetable garden, if you can believe it! I was definitely misinformed about the weather in the interior of Alaska when I arrived. Sure, I knew it would be light out all the time but I was grossly unprepared for just how light it really is. In July, it feels like it's 2:00 pm all day every day. Neglecting to bring a sleeping mask with me was probably the biggest mistake of the trip! The other thing I hadn't accounted for with the huge number of daylight hours that they have during the summer, is the extended growing season. Most of the time when you think of Alaska you think "cold and inhospitable" (at least, I did), not "perfect for agriculture during the summer." The weather there is actually perfect for growing crops that thrive in cooler weather (broccoli is no exception there!), and due to 24 hours of daylight during the summer their growing season is the equivalent of almost five months of ideal crop growth. Mind-boggling! When I was taking the train from Anchorage to Fairbanks, we went through Wasilla (Sarah Palin's hometown) and learned that they have an annual "Large Vegetable Fair" every fall, where farmers from all over compete for prizes for the largest vegetable in many different categories. The world's largest cabbage was grown just outside of Wasilla and weighed in at a massive 150 kg. That's a lot of coleslaw!

Broccoli is one of six vegetables that are all part of the same species: broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kohlrabi, and kale. Humans have selected for various characteristics in each of these six vegetables which is why they look so different from each other. DNA sequencing about a decade ago showed that genetically, there wasn't actually much differentiation between these vegetables, just the turning on and off of specific genes. Broccoli and its brothers and sisters are native to the Northern Mediterranean (Italy, Greece, France).

Broccoli as a vegetable is packed with Vitamin C, fibre, selenium, beta-carotene, lutein, diindolylmethane, glucoraphanin and indole-3-carbinol. These last four chemicals are associated with anti-cancer, anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties, and glucoraphanin especially has been shown in small amounts to be a potent chemical that aids in DNA repair and blocks the growth of cancer cells. For this reason, broccoli and its extracts are currently being studied as a potential treatment or cure for cancer (as well as many other species in the genus Brassica). Something to keep in mind if you choose to consume broccoli for its heath benefits alone: the potency of these chemicals decreases with boiling; up to 30% with five minutes of cooking, 50% with ten minutes of cooking, and up to 75% with thirty minutes of cooking. Broccoli is one of the many vegetables best consumed raw or steamed (steaming and microwaving don't seem to have the same detrimental effects as boiling does)!

When is a Geranium actually a Geranium?

Species name: Geranium maculatum

Common name: Wild geranium, Spotted geranium, Wood geranium

Location: Ontario

I must say, I'm pleased to find out that this is a native plant! The wild geranium is native to eastern North America and the northeastern United States. There's an shockingly similar plant that's native to Europe called the Wild Cranesbill (this plant is also sometimes called the Wild Cranesbill in Canada and Woodland Geranium in Europe...no one said the common names of plants were any less confusing than the Latin names!), but it has slightly different shaped petals so I'm pretty sure this is the North American species. It's one of my favourite "weeds" in the garden that grows either by the pond (think small...it's more like a big permanent puddle than it is a "paddle around in a canoe and find frogs" pond) or by the fence at the back of the yard, but seemingly never in both places in the same year. This year seems to be a "by the fence year"!

Confusingly (no part of this blog post seems to be straight-forward...), this is only somewhat distantly related to the "garden geranium" that many North Americans and Europeans plant in their gardens right around this time of year. Those geraniums are in a genus named Pelargonium, and all of those species are native to South Africa (this refers to the southern part of the continent, not the country; just making sure we're sticking to the "confusing blog post" theme!). Both of these genera are part of the same family, the Geraniaceae. To compare Latin names to common names, the story doesn't get any clearer: species of Pelargonium are referred to as Storksbills, while species of Geranium are referred to as Cranesbills. In North America, we call one species of bird a stork and another a crane, while the reverse is true in Europe. So you can't even use the shape of the mature fruit to determine if it's a crane or a stork bill, because it would depend on your geography which one is which. I'll give you some time to think that one through... :)

Like many spring wild flowers, the wild geranium relies on a rhizome to accumulate nutrients during the fall to use for spring growth. The rhizome is high in tannins (the same chemicals that give dry red wine the "mouth pucker feel") and has been used in the medicinal practices of many indigenous peoples to treat diarrhea, canker sores, gum disease, thrush in babies, venereal disease, and what is probably throat cancer. It might be effective against some mouth-related ailments, but I doubt it's going to turn out to be the next great cure or treatment for cancer. I have been wrong before, so we'll have to wait and see! It has also been used to prevent infection around the site of the umbilical cord cut in newborns, as a component of anti-bacterial face wash, as an anti-itch paste, and to counter-act a "love medicine." This plant sure gets around!

There's pansies, that's for thoughts

Species name: Viola tricolor

Common name: Wild pansy, Heartsease, Johnny Jump Up

Location: Nova Scotia

This species of pansy is native to Europe, and is the genetic basis for all commonly planted garden pansies. The wide variation in colour (white, yellow, orange, golden, purple, blue, variegated, etc) in these garden plants is due to selective breeding over hundreds of generations, not due to genetic modification using modern technology. They're a great example of the effort that we as humans have put into moulding plants into our idea of beauty.

Pansies are perennial plants in the right environment (no frost), and annual in others. The wild varieties that haven't been selectively bred are much more cold-tolerant and can survive as perennials in much less hospitable environments. In Ontario, we get wild pansies popping up as forest ground cover near river banks and in forest lowlands despite our (often) very cold winters (except not this year!). Since their introduction to North America as a decorative and medicinal plant, the pansy population has exploded and has become an invasive plant.

Pansies are a great example of coevolution between bees and flowers requiring pollination. Their purple colour attracts bees (who see in the ultraviolet range) like a glowing beacon. The yellow portion in the interior of the plant would be a dark spot against the glowing background, directing the bees to the nectary of the flower. While the bees are feeding on the plant's nectar (which they will later turn into honey), the flower is depositing pollen behind the bee's head. The bee would then travel to another flower, depositing that pollen onto the female parts of the next flower and ensuring cross-pollination. A good rule of thumb to figure out what kinds of flowers are pollinated by what methods is to look at the colour of the flower and pay attention to the smell: bright red tube-like flowers (and some darker pink ones) are almost always pollinated by hummingbirds, butterflies and moths, purple flat flowers are almost always pollinated by bees, purple tube-like flowers are almost always pollinated by butterflies, dark red smelly flowers are almost always pollinated by flies, and white flowers are the "grab bag" of the plant world depending on their smell.

The wild pansy has been used for hundreds of years as a medicinal plant, hence its other common name: heartsease. Historically it has been widely used as a treatment for epilepsy and asthma, and more recently as a herbal treatment of cancer. Pansies contain chemicals called cyclotides in their tissues which have been shown to be cytotoxic (meaning they induce cell death in rapidly-dividing cells). Whether or not the plant contains potent enough cyclotides or whether or not these chemicals are biologically active is still under investigation. I doubt "eat wild pansies" will become a treatment of cancer any time soon. But medicine has to start somewhere! Another great example of why medical researchers need to have a solid understanding of botany in order to come up with new, cheap drugs for various medical conditions. The wild pansy has also been used as a treatment for skin diseases, bronchitis, whooping cough, rheumatism and cystis. Despite the plant's demonstrated anti-inflammatory abilities in rats, it hasn't ever been demonstrated as being effective against any of these health problems. The flowers are actually edible, and are now becoming more and more popular as a garnish on summer salads and as a wedding cake decoration.

A cancer-fighting plant

Species name: Catharanthus roseus

Common name: Madagascar periwinkle, cape periwinkle, "Old Maid"

Location: Ontario

This species of ornamental plant is one of the most impressive plants we have in Canada, not just for its showy flower display that lasts all spring and summer (and, depending on weather, sometimes well into the fall). Native to Madagascar (this is one of the few instances where common names really do reflect origins!), this Madagascar periwinkle had been brought to North America as an ornamental plant by early European settlers (who likely stole it from Madagascar on one of their many "expeditions"). Fortunately for the plant and unfortunately for native wildflowers, it has really taken off and is now one of the most invasive plants in Southern Ontario. Granted, it is strikingly beautiful...but we've got our own native wildflowers that would be just as nice growing in your garden! Ironically, in its native habitat it is a threatened plant due to habitat destruction from land conversion (from forested areas to agriculture).

Madagascar periwinkle is a perennial plant, meaning it lives for many years and sets seed many times over its lifetime. It is also an evergreen, meaning it doesn't lose its leaves. Even in Canadian winters, if you dig under the snow the bright green leaves will still be firmly attached to the plant. It is incredibly efficient at growing a vast root network to seek out water, so when the rest of your plants start to wilt from drought this one will be unaffected.

There are many hundred cultivars of Madagascar periwinkle growing in gardens around the world. In my garden at home, we have the "Grape Cooler" variety which has been selected for cold tolerance (why it can survive even under a thick layer of snow) and a purple flower colour. Native varieties of this plant often have much lighter flowers, from pink to white, with a very dark centre to attract insects to the nectar tube. Another great example of how plants have evolved mechanisms to coerce animals to help them reproduce.

This plant is vitally important in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and is becoming more and more important in local Western medicine, too. The Chinese have been using this plant for centuries as a cure for diabetes, malaria, and Hodgkin's disease. I'm not sure if it's actually effective against either diabetes or malaria, but extracts from the leaves are currently used as one of the most popular Western drugs to treat and cure leukemia (and to some extent, to treat Hodgkin's disease). This can be contrasted against a featured plant in a previous blog, bloodroot (one of the most notorious plant-based fake cancer cures).

Vinblastine and vincristine, the two biologically active pharmaceutical chemicals in Madagascar periwinkle were discovered here at the University of Western Ontario (sorry, but I will never call it Western University!) in the 1950s. At the time, it was noted by Dr. Noble and Dr. Beer that when Madagascar periwinkle was made into a tea and consumed, it lowered the number of white blood cells in the body. Normally this would not be a good thing (which is why you shouldn't ever eat this plant, raw or cooked!), but if you have a disease that specifically attacks white blood cells it might be a good treatment or cure. It went into clinical trials, was demonstrated to be incredibly effective against lymphoma, leukemia and Hodgkin's, and the extracts were made into a commercially available drug (trade name was formerly Oncovin, I'm not sure what it's called now that it's out of patent). The two chemicals are no longer extracted from the plant, but rather synthesized in the lab since it's so much cheaper and more practical.