Wild Flowers Archives

10 Neat Things about Plants that Kill

Plants don’t always live up to their gentle, green reputation. Some have evolved lethal mechanisms to survive, capturing prey, and

By Shauna Dobbie When I was a young child, I was allowed to pick pansies and tulips sometimes, crocuses never,

1. Typhoid saviour. One of the native wildflowers, Joe Pye weed, boneset to some, and botanically Eutrochium (reclassified from Eupatorium a few

Hosts Dorothy and Shauna Dobbie talk to Kelly Leask about the wonderful world of wildflowers. Wildflowers nourish bees and other

1. It saved an emperor. Four-leaf clovers stand for luck and it was extremely lucky for Napoleon Bonaparte when he

Purslane 1. Move over spinach. Purslane, sometimes called portulaca, is an edible weed. It has 10 times the Omega 3

1. Bat flower. One of the scary plants, the handsome Tacca chantrieri flowers are almost black and a little reminiscent

1. The strawberry isn’t a berry. It isn’t even a fruit. Botanically speaking, the strawberry is a false fruit because

1. Flowers on spikes. Spiky flowers could refer to flowers with spikes or flowers that form on a spike-like stem;

1. Love in a mist. (Nigella.) This freely self-sowing, cheery annual takes its romantic love name from the airy, lacy bracts