Kusamaki: the Arhat Pine

Species name: Podocarpus macrophyllus

Common name: Buddhist pine

Location: UWO Greenhouse

Podocarps are native to a region from China all the way south to the northern tip of Australia. This particular species is native to a small region in China and Japan, but is incredibly abundant there even now. Since the name "Buddhist Pine" is incredibly misleading (this plant is not a pine!), the traditional Japanese name is being favoured by English-speaking countries as the new common name of this plant: Kusamaki. In nature this tree can reach up to 20 meters in height, but in a greenhouse it rarely reaches more than a couple meters.

When mature, the Kusamaki produces berry-like structures that are used to disperse seeds, much like the yew (which you can read about HERE and HERE). They are toxic to humans (definitely won't kill you, but certainly will make you regret your decision to consume them), but quite delicious to birds who eat the fleshy coating of the seeds and disperse the seeds themselves in their poo. This phenomenon a very common bird-plant relationship, with many species of plants actually requiring their seeds to pass through a bird's digestive tract in order to germinate. While in the bird's gizzard, the sand that they consume to help grind their food to a paste also lightly scours the seed coat, which allows  it to pop open once exposed once again to sunlight, organic material and water. This is called ornithochory (ornitho- for "bird" and -chory for "to spread/disperse").

The Japanese rely very heavily on this plant as a building material, as many traditional Japanese houses are still made out of wood and must be resistant to rain and strong against wind. The wood of this plant is very rot resistant, and has its own waterproofing. The other desirable characteristic about this plant is that it is very resistant to termites, a huge problem for some prefectures or states in Japan. In Hong Kong, the Kusamaki is regarded as one of the most prized trees for feng shui, which means it is very valuable for sale and trade. In some areas in Hong Kong, the tree has been hunted to near extirpation due to the high market value for mature specimens.

The less majestic grey-headed coneflower

Species name: Ratibida pinnata

Common name: grey-headed coneflower

Location: Ontario

This is one of our many native species of wildflowers that prefers very dry clay-rich soils. At one point it was widely distributed across North America with its native range being from Ontario all the way south to the Gulf coast and all the way east to the Atlantic coast. This plant was recently declared extirpated in the wild from Pennsylvania state, and I'm sure there will be other states that will quickly follow suit. The native habitat of this species of flower is very quickly disappearing (large expanses of prairies have all but disappeared from Ontario with few exceptions) and soon the plant itself will follow. The only saving grace about this plant is that it has recently been added onto gardening lists as a desirable species to have in a butterfly and bee garden as they are preferred nectar and pollen sources for these species of insects, so gardeners are bringing them back in large numbers in Ontario and the United States. This doesn't quite count to "un-extirpate" a species, as it must be able to colonize and sustain a population in the wild to be considered "present".

Aside from an ornamental use, it has no known uses to humans. There has been one documented case of a historical use of the roots of this plant used as a treatment for toothaches when crushed, but the plant is no longer used for this purpose. That would probably suggest that either modern dentistry and pharmacology do the trick, or that this plant relied on the placebo effect and wasn't actually effective against aches and pains of any origin.