Pass the cranberry sauce! Did you read that to the tune of the Bob’s Burgers song? I hope so.

Music by James Milor

Information provided by:

• https://www.cranberryinstitute.org/cranberry-health-research
• https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/the-botany-behind-why-cranberries-became-a-thanksgiving-staple
• Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America (3rd ed.) by Steven Foster and James A. Duke (2014)
• https://www.cranberries.org/
• Herbs at a Glance: A Quick Guide to Herbal Supplements by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2009)
• Cranberry: Chemical composition, antioxidant activity and impact on human health by Boris V. Nemzer, et al. (2022). Molecules, 27(5), pg. 1503. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27051503
• Peterson Field Guides: Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America by Lee Allen Peterson (1977)
• The Kitchen Witch Companion by Sarah Robinson and Lucy H. Pearce (2023)
• Domestication, genetics, and genomics of the American cranberry by Nicholi Vorsa and Juan Zalapa in Plant Breeding Reviews, Volume 43 by Irwin Goldman (Ed.) (2019). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119616801.ch8

Sorry it sounds so echo-y. I’m dog/housesitting for my parents, so I’m not in my usual recording space. Ruby the Beagle says “hi.”

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

• Diphylleia grayi-inspired stretchable hydrochromics with large optical modulation in the visible–near-infrared region by Guofa Cai, et al. (2018). ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 10(43), pg. 37685-37693. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.8b12490 [Abstract]
• https://www.thespruce.com/skeleton-flower-plant-profile-4802581
• Cytological effects of chemicals on tumors, XXV: Further studies on the effect of Diphylleia grayi extracts on tumor cells by Kohtaro Yamamoto and Yanagi Kimura (1964). Journal of the Faculty of Hokkaido University, Series 6 - Zoology, 15(3), pg. 347-352.
• https://www.scienceabc.com/nature/skeleton-flowers-how-does-this-white-flower-turn-transparent-in-the-rain.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphylleia_grayi
• https://www.bhg.com/how-to-plant-and-grow-skeleton-flower-8553286
• Diphylleia grayi-inspired intelligent hydrochromic adhesive film by Gang Yeol Yoo, et al. (2020). ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 12(44), pg. 49982-49991. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c13185 [Abstract]
• Diphylleia Grayi-inspired intelligent temperature-responsive transparent nanofiber membranes by Cengceng Zhao, et al. (2024). Nano-Micro Letters, 16(65). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-023-01279-z

There seems to be disagreement whether it ought to be spelled narrow-leafed or narrow-leaved. Neither is easy to say, for the record.

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

• https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-17100574
• https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/120221-oldest-seeds-regenerated-plants-science
• https://www.livescience.com/2602-extinct-tree-christ-time-rises-dead.html
• https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/02/22/3436826.htm
• Germination, genetics, and growth of an ancient date seed by Sarah Sallon, et al. (2008). Science, 320(5882), pg. 1464. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1153600 [Abstract]
• https://www.selinawamucii.com/plants/caryophyllaceae/silene-stenophylla/
• Exceptional seed longevity and robust growth: Ancient Sacred Lotus from China by J. Shen-Miller, et al. (1995). American Journal of Botany, 82(11), pg. 1367-1380. https://doi.org/10.2307/2445863
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_viable_seed
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silene_stenophylla
• Regeneration of whole fertile plants from 30,000-y-old fruit tissue buried in Siberian permafrost by Svetlana Yashina, et al. (2012). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(10), pg. 4008-4013. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1118386109

This episode ended up being way more involved that I expected, but I learned so much, and I thought I knew Dutch Elm Disease pretty well already. Hopefully, y’all will learn a lot, too.

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

• https://www.dontmovefirewood.org/pest_pathogen/dutch-elm-disease-html/
• https://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/pdlessons/Pages/DutchElm.aspx
• https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/fthr/pest-and-disease-resources/dutch-elm-disease-ophiostoma-novo-ulmi/
• A Dictionary of Plant Pathology by Paul Holliday (1989)
• https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/native-elm-bark-beetle
• https://themanitoban.com/2009/11/dutch-elm-vaccine-tested-in-winnipeg/530/
• https://www.unisci.com/stories/20013/0828015.htm
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_elm_disease

We will resume my trilogy of invasive plants next week once I find my mind. Has anyone seen it?

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

• https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/running-ponies/animal-or-vegetable-legend-of-the-vegetable-lamb-of-tartary/
• The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary: A curious fable of the cotton plant by Henry Lee (1887)
• https://www.nybg.org/poetic-botany/barometz/
• https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/curious-tale-of-vegetable-lamb
• The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary by Alice F. Tryon (1957). American Fern Journal, 47(1), pg. 1-7.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetable_Lamb_of_Tartary

Don't worry, I'm okay. My car is very much not okay, unfortunately.

If you’re thinking of planting a Privet, you should pivot and plant something else. Well, if you live in North or Central America, anyway, but that doesn’t rhyme.

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

• https://www.lewisginter.org/chinese-privet/
• https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/terrestrial/plants/chinese-privet
• https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/ligustrum-japonicum/
• https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/ligustrum-sinense/
• https://triangleland.org/company-news/species-spotlight-chinese-privet
• https://www.se-eppc.org/manual/privet.html
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligustrum_sinense

I have a complicated relationship with this stinky dead fish tree.

For your entertainment, a Reddit thread about Bradford Pears: https://www.reddit.com/r/arborists/comments/1bn1wpv/why_bradford_pear_is_so_hated/

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

• https://indiananativeplants.org/2013/callery-pear-a-bad-bad-plant-in-bloom-right-now/
• https://www.bhg.com/gardening/trees-shrubs-vines/trees/bradford-pear-tree/
• https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/callery-pear-bradford-pear
• https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/terrestrial/plants/callery-pear
• https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/pyrus-calleryana/
• https://extension.umd.edu/resource/bradford-pear/
• https://www.invasivespeciesva.org/species/callery-pear
• https://dyckarboretum.org/callery-pear-cut-them-down/

Meet the world’s biggest (and possibly stinkiest) flowers.

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

• https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/03/world/worlds-largest-flower-indonesia-scn-trnd/index.html
• https://www.britannica.com/plant/Rafflesia
• Plants That Kill: A Natural History of the World’s Most Poisonous Plants by Elizabeth A. Dauncey and Sonny Larson (2018)
• https://www.kew.org/plants/rafflesia-arnoldi
• https://parasiticplants.siu.edu/Rafflesiaceae/Raff.arn.page.html
• https://richardniesenbaum.com/plants-people-2/rafflesia/
• https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2017/02/colossal-blossom
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafflesia

If you’re in the U.S., I hope you try and have a happy 4th of July. And as a public safety professional in my day job, I must remind you to please not start any fires or injure anyone with fireworks. ‘Kay thanks.

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

• https://www.popsci.com/environment/fairy-lantern-japan-extinct-fungi/
• https://www.discoverwildlife.com/plant-facts/thismia-malayana-facts
• https://www.livescience.com/61925-fairy-lantern-plant-rainforest.html
• https://phys.org/news/2024-02-species-story.html
• Rediscovery of Thismia neptunis (Thismiaceae) after 151 years by Michal Sochor, et al. (2018). Phytotaxa, 340(1), 71-78. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.340.1.5
• Fairy lanterns in focus by Chris J. Thorogood and Siti-Munirah Mat Yunoh (2021). Plants People Planet, 3(6), 680-684. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10217
• Fairy lanterns may lure pollinators by mimicking fungi by Kenji Suetsugu and Masahiro Sueyoshi (2021). Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 19(4), 233. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2342
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thismia
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thismia_rodwayi