Category Archives: Solanales

Capsicum annuum

Cayenne pepper
7″ x 14″, 2018

The mention of chilies instantly conjures up an aroma of spicy, piquant food from Asia to Mexico and North Africa. For millennia Asian cuisine was spiced with ingredients such as ginger, assorted radish, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, mace and cinnamon and black peppercorns, but with no trace of chilies whatsoever. A 180° longitude west, in Mesoamerica and parts of South America, the chili plant had been cultivated for over 5,000 years. So how did this remarkable ingredient become such a vital ingredient in the diet of people half-way across the planet? more…

Ipomoea purpurea

Ipomoea

Morning Glory
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Because the flowers open at night or in diffuse light and last only a single day, saluting the sun, the name is well-deserved—though quite a contrast to “worm-like”! more…

Datura stramonium

Datura

2008

The genus name is from the Sanskrit dhatt?rah (plant, thorn apple) and stramonium is originally from Greek, strychnos for “nightshade” and maniakos for “mad”. It is also known as Devil’s Apple, Apple of Peru, Stinkweed, Jamestown-weed. Jimson-weed, Devil’s Trumpet & moonflower. Little wonder that Susan spent days researching the correct identity of her daunting spiny seedpod, before confirming it as D. stramonium. more…

Ipomoea purpurea & Convolvulus sepium

Ipomoea purpura and Convolvulus sepium

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Ips is the Greek word for worms. Ipomoea, or worm-like, describes the twining growth bait of this genus. However, it has undergone many name changes in its history. Starting off as Pharbitis purpurea incarnate, then Convolvulus major, followed by Convolvulus pupurea, it was only in the 20th century that the Morning Glory earned its current name. Because the flowers open at night or in diffuse light and last only a single day, saluting the sun, the name is well-deserved — though quite a contrast to ‘worm-like’! more…