Herbarium of the Bizarre – Details, episodes & analysis

We’re getting a bit of a head start on Spooky Season. Poisonous mushrooms! Political intrigue! Murder most foul! Like, seriously. So foul. And I’m pretty sure this is at least the second time Nero has come up on this show. I can’t escape that guy.

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

1. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/05/17/1175494500/new-hope-for-an-antidote-to-death-cap-mushrooms-and-other-poison-fungi
2. https://www.britannica.com/science/death-cap
3. “Death Cap mushrooms can kill” from British Columbia Centre for Disease Control
4. https://www.akcchf.org/canine-health/your-dogs-health/death-cap-mushrooms.html
5. https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/news/mushroom-poisoning-has-unreported-consequence-dog
6. The death of Claudius, or Mushrooms for murderers by R. Gordon Wasson (1972)
7. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_phalloides

Happy Friday the 13th! This plant has nothing to do with that, I just wanted to say it. We’re actually talking about Sunflowers, because they’re seasonal and they have taken over our front yard for some reason.

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

1. https://gardencollage.com/change/sustainability/scientists-using-sunflowers-clean-nuclear-radiation/
2. https://www.kew.org/plants/sunflower
3. https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/gardening/a32638/sunflower-fun-facts/
4. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-sunflowers-are-ukraines-national-flower-180979850/
5. The National Sunflower Association (https://www.sunflowernsa.com/)
6. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/helianthus/
7. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-disaster-sunflowers-idUSTRE77I0PG20110819/
8. https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/helianthus_annuus.shtml
9. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_sunflower

We haven’t done a fungus in a while, and this one was separately sent to me by both of my parents. So, it was practically an order from on high.

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

1. https://www.purdue.edu/fnr/extension/dead-mans-fingers-purdue-landscape-report/
2. Xylaria polymorpha (Pers.)Grev. (Dead man's fingers) and its ethnomycological study by Ganesh Hedawoo (2021)
3. https://www.allianceforthebay.org/2019/10/from-the-grave-dead-mans-fingers/
4. https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/dead-mans-fingers
5. https://first-nature.com/fungi/xylaria-polymorpha.php
6. https://extension.psu.edu/spooktacular-flora-and-fungi
7. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylaria_polymorpha
8. https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/dead-mans-fingers/
9. https://woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/fungi-and-lichens/dead-mans-fingers/

I was hoping this plant was going to be a little more explode-y, but you can paint and make cheese with it, so that’s pretty cool.

I didn’t really think about the fact that my day off was also the day everyone sets off fireworks (even though they’re illegal in North Carolina) before I decided it would be a good time to record. At least it’s kind of on theme.

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

1. Prokinetic and Laxative Effects of Chrozophora tinctoria whole plant extract by Ayaz Ali Sher, et al. (2022) https://doi.org/10.3390%2Fmolecules27072143
2. https://discoverpollinators.org/all-about-pollinators/ants/
3. A review on medicinal aspects of Chrozophora tinctoria (L.) A. (Euphorbiaceae) by Sumaiya Fatima, et al. (2022)
4. Desert Plants of Egypt’s Wadi El Gemal National Park by Tamer Mahmoud
5. Pharmacological evaluation of Chrozophora tinctoria as wound healing potential in diabetic rat's model by Harikesh Maurya, Monika Semwal, & Susheel Kumar Dubey (2016) https://doi.org/10.1155%2F2016%2F7475124
6. The book on how to make all the colour paints for illuminating books: unravelling a Portuguese Hebrew illuminators’ manual by Maria J. Melo, et al. (2018)
7. https://www.maltawildplants.com/EUPH/Chrozophora_tinctoria.php
8. A 1000-year-old mystery solved: Unlocking the molecular structure for the medieval blue from Chrozophora tinctoria, also known as folium by P. Nabais, et al. (2020) https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fsciadv.aaz7772
9. Phytochemical analysis, antiproliferative and antioxidant activities of Chrozophora tinctoria: a natural dye plant by Feyza Oke-Altuntas, et al. (2017) https://doi.org/10.1080%2F13880209.2016.1277767
10. https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/wildflowers/pollinators/who-are-the-pollinators/ants
11. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrozophora_tinctoria

I’m trying a new thing today. Y’all will get to hear my “radio voice.” Is that a treat or a punishment? You tell me.

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

1. https://www.carnivorousplantresource.com/the-plants/triffid-triffidus-celestus/
2. Steve Sekeley (Director). (1963). The Day of the Triffids [Film]. Security Pictures, Ltd.
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triffid
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Triffids
5. The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham (1951)

Our plant this week is Desert Cotton, which is also known as Kapok Bush. It turns out there is also a Kapok Tree, and that was totally not confusing at all when we were researching this episode. 😵‍💫

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

1. Association of Morphological, Ecological, and Genetic Diversity of Aerva javanica Populations Growing in the Eastern Desert of Egypt by Noha A. El-Tayeh, et al. (2020) https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10030402
2. Desert Plants of Egypt’s Wadi El Gemal National Park by Tamer Mahmoud
3. A Review on the Pashanbheda Plant “Aerva javanica” by Vinit Ravjibhai Movaliya and Maitreyi Zaveri (2014)
4. https://www.purdue.edu/hla/sites/famine-foods/famine_food/aerva-javanica/
5. https://www.enature.qa/specie/tuwaim/
6. Phytochemical Analysis of Anastatica hierochuntica and Aerva javanica Grown in Qatar: Their Biological Activities and Identification of Some Active Ingredients by Vandana Thotathil, et al. (2023) https://doi.org/10.3390%2Fmolecules28083364
7. https://www.medicinalplants.doh.gov.ae/en/Encyclopedia-of-medicine-plant-of-UAE/Aerva-javanica
8. https://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Aerva+javanica
9. https://keyserver.lucidcentral.org/weeds/data/media/Html/aerva_javanica.htm
10. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerva_javanica

Our plant today symbolizes both war and healing. It’s been used to make beer, soup, and tea, but if you see it in the wild, you would probably just think it’s a weed. Which it is, but a useful one.

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

1. Flowers and their Meanings by Karen Azoulay
2. https://www.almanac.com/yarrow-and-its-medicinal-uses-healing-garden-herb
3. https://www.almanac.com/plant/yarrow
4. https://www.botanical.com/~botanid5/botanical/mgmh/y/yarrow02.html
5. https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/herb/yarrow
6. https://santafebotanicalgarden.org/march-2011/
7. “Yarrow” from University of California Master Gardener Program
8. https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-151/yarrow

I forgot to mention this in the episode, so bonus fact: mad honey poisoning can theoretically be fatal, but no one has actually died from it since the 1800s. These days, we have treatments for severe poisonings, one of which is actually atropine!

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

1. https://theapiarist.org/mad-honey/
2. https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/mad-honey-red-hallucinogen
3. Risks for human health related to the presence of grayanotoxins in certain honey by the European Food Safety Authority (2023) https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2023.7866
4. Grayanotoxin poisoning: ‘Mad honey disease’ and beyond by Suze A. Jansen et al. (2012) https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs12012-012-9162-2
5. https://bigthink.com/health/mad-honey/
6. https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/hidden-poison-rhododendron-nectar
7. Mad honey: uses, intoxicating/poisoning effects, diagnosis, and treatment by Sana Ullah et al. (2018) https://doi.org/10.1039%2Fc8ra01924j
8. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_honey
9. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhododendron

Featuring several detours into catmint, which is almost, but not quite, the same thing.

Article on catnip from my defunct blog: https://encyclopaediafelidae.com/crazy-for-catnip/

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

1. Catnip: Its raison d’être by T. Eisner (1964)
2. https://www.bhg.com/gardening/flowers/perennials/catmint-vs-catnip/
3. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181211103125.htm
4. https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/catnip-nepeta-cataria/
5. https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=e433
6. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/nepeta-cataria/
7. Catnip and oestrous behaviour in the cat by G. F. Palen and G. V. Goddard (1966) https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-3472(66)80100-8
8. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010828075659.htm
9. Inheritance of the catnip response in domestic cats by N. B. Todd (1962) https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a107121
10. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-how-does-catnip-work-on-cats/
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catnip

It’s one of history’s favorite poisons, Deadly Nightshade! It’s also one of my favorite plants, because it is both pretty and horribly toxic. The flowers are my favorite color!

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

1. Atropa Belladonna intoxication: a case report by Mohamed Adnane Berdai, et al. (2012)
2. https://www.europeana.eu/en/exhibitions/magical-mystical-and-medicinal/belladonna
3. https://sites.evergreen.edu/plantchemeco/deadly-nightshade/
4. https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/deadly-nightshade-botanical-biography
5. https://www.rxlist.com/how_do_anticholinergic_agents_work/drug-class.htm
6. An Evidence-Based Systematic Review of Belladonna by the Natural Standard Research Collaboration by Catherine Ulbricht, et al. (2004)
7. https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/ethnobotany/Mind_and_Spirit/belladonna.shtml
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticholinergic
9. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atropa_belladonna
10. https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/deadly-nightshade/