This episode appears not to have published last week when it was supposed to, and I don't know why. I'm sorry about that. It was finished and scheduled, but it still said "draft."

Today's topic is the Musk Plant. No relation to Elon. It’s a flower that smells like that stuff that’s in all the perfumes and colognes. Except, it doesn’t anymore, and that’s a mystery!

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

• Flowers and Their Meanings: The Secret Language and History of Over 600 Blooms by Karen Azoulay (2023)
• https://burkeherbarium.org/imagecollection/taxon.php?Taxon=Erythranthe%20moschata
• https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/mimulus/moschatus/
• The lost scent of Mimulus moschatus by W.B. Gourlay (1947). Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, 72, pg. 285-287
• Lost fragrance of musk by Eric Hardy (1934). Nature, 134, pg. 327. https://doi.org/10.1038/134327c0
• The lost scent of Mimulus moschatus by J.P. Hudson (1948). Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, 73, pg. 24-25
• The lost fragrance of musk. Nature, 134, pg. 54–55 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/134054a0
• The scent of Mimulus moschatus by H.N. Ridley (1947). Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, 72, pg. 373
• National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Eastern Region (2nd ed.) by John W. Thieret, William A. Niering, & Nancy C. Olmstead (2001)
• The musk mystery: A suggestion by Sir W. Beach Thomas (15 November 1930). The Spectator, pg. 10
• Mimulus moschatus in Massachusetts by M. E. Ward (1904). Rhodora, 6(71), pg. 227-228 https://www.jstor.org/stable/23293612
• https://keyserver.lucidcentral.org/weeds/data/media/Html/erythranthe_moschata.htm
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythranthe_moschata

I’ve been humming “Every Rose Has it’s Thorn” for a week. 🌹🌹🌹

Music by James Milor and LuminousPresence from Pixabay

Information provided by:

• Flowers and Their Meanings: The Secret Language and History of Over 600 Blooms by Karen Azoulay (2023)
• Herbaceous: Growing, Harvesting, and Using Herbs by Sarah Baker (ed.) (2003)
• https://bouqs.com/blog/roses-meaning-symbolism-what-roses-signify/
• https://www.britannica.com/plant/rose-plant
• Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs (2nd ed.) by Scott Cunningham (2014)
• Botanical Curses and Poisons: The Shadow Lives of Plants by Fez Inkwright (2021)
• https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/rosa/
• The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World’s Greatest Drinks by Amy Stewart (2013)
• Genetic relationships and evolution of old Chinese garden roses based on SSRs and chromosome diversity by Jiongrui Tan, et al. (2017) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-15815-6
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_symbolism

Let’s take a Peyote trip (sort of)! 🌵 This cute, little, hallucinogenic cactus was one of the first plants I put on my list when I started this podcast. It's had a special place in my heart since my college ethnobotany class.

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

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This plant is deadly poisonous. But there seems to be some disagreement on how deadly, which seems like something that would be easy to come to a conclusion on. Just don’t eat it.

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

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You remember that time I forgot to plug my microphone in? 😅 Well, I didn’t do that again, but I think I didn’t have the recording settings correct because the audio sounds like it recorded through the laptop mic. Which is to say, it's terrible. The script will be publicly available on Patreon, for free, for anyone who has trouble hearing/understanding this one.

That aside, this week, we’re going to take a shallow dive into a very large and diverse genus of plants by meeting three of its most popular species.

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Fun Fact: Sweet Gum seeds were carried onboard the space shuttle in 1984. The seeds were brought back down to earth and planted, and the trees survive to this day.

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Let me tell you a little story about how star slime took over the world.

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Happy Holidays! This tree tastes like gingerbread!

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It’s festive Friday the 13th! Today we’re looking at English Ivy, a plant that makes me want to rage.

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I’m returning to my tradition of wintry and holiday-themed plants for December. You can call it a tradition once you’ve done it two years in a row, right? First up is Holly, which I’ve always considered a bush, but apparently it’s a tree? Maybe it’s just a matter of perspective.

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

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