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[kimklarin]

Sandbox Tree (aka Dynamite Tree)

The Sandbox Tree (Hura Crepitans) grows primarily in South America, the Amazon rain-forest and certain parts of North America. 

This tree is completely dangerous. The pumpkin shaped fruit it grows causes (upon consumption) vomiting, diarrhea and cramps. The sap from the tree is toxic and was once used to poison the tips of darts for combat. It can also cause blindness if it comes into contact with the eye.

The really cool (and also dangerous) thing about this tree is how the fruits explode. When they’re ripe, the hardened seed capsules explode and send flat, hard seeds over a 60 feet radius at 150 MPH (~240 KPH).

SOURCE

[kimklarin]

Attention!

Important! They are ALL FRIENDS!

Most of the time they’re just happy to get on with their business around humans. Sometimes they get a little too curious, usually after a minute they’ll realise you’re not food or a good place to sit, but if they bother you then it’s best to just move away.

Remember they sting to defend themselves or their nest, and from their point of view humans are gigantic, unpredictable and potentially very dangerous creatures.

It’s understandable if you’re scared of them, but please don’t say they’re evil!

[kimklarin]

Ok so like, did you know wheat is a fruit? Bc like, it kinda makes sense with corn also being a fruit but that’s just wild to me and I don’t understand it completely(or at all) Also that it’s a legally vegetable in New York and New York only.

OKAY so here’s the deal with fruit/vegetables, as described by my botany professor: 

if the plant has to have sex to make it, it’s a fruit. if the plant doesn’t have to have sex to make it, it’s a vegetable.

by this (admittedly more scientific) definition, a lot of stuff that’s colloquially referred to as one category suddenly becomes weirdly put in the other. corn? wheat? both technically fruits. 

also….’corn is legally a vegetable’…..i would love to see what happened to make the state of New York specifically define that in legislation. 

[kimklarin]

from the 1938 book ‘Cacti for Amateurs’

[kimklarin]

Recoil-operated’s $12 traditional mead:

So one of the most common things I see on my Mead posts is “I’d love to do that, but I don’t have the stuff”

We’ll sit down and buckle up. Because I’m about to show you how to make a $12.56 traditional mead.

Here’s the recipe:

1 gallon Deer Park/spring water. You don’t want distilled.

3 lb or 32 fluid ounces honey.

One package of yeast.

a party balloon.

The cost total is $13.49, but you only need one pack of yeast. So -$0.90.

Let’s begin:

Everything together on a clean work surface, you will need a clean glass. And while not entirely necessary, a measuring cup will be handy.

Pour a cup of water for yourself and drink it. Hydration is important. Also this will allow you headspace.

Remove about ehhhhh, a quart or so of water to drink later.

Trust me. You’re going to want it

Wash your drinking cup and mixing about a teaspoon of honey.

[kimklarin]

Circus Tree: Six individual sycamore trees were shaped, bent, and braided to form this.

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[kimklarin]

Fritillaria meleagris Fritillaria meleagris is native to Europe and western Asia but in many places it is an endangered species that is rarely found in the wild but is commonly grown in gardens. In Croatia, the flower is known as kockavica and is associated by some with the country's national symbol. It is the official flower of the Swedish province of Uppland, where it grows in large quantities every spring at the meadows in Kungsängen (Kings meadow), just outside Uppsala, which gives the flower its Swedish name, kungsängslilja (Lily of Kings meadow). It is also found for example in Sandemar Nature Reserve, a nature reserve west of Dalarö in Stockholm Archipelago. #nature #just taking photos #endangered species

[kimklarin]

It’s fairly common knowledge that some species of ants “farm” aphids, feeding on the honeydew the aphids secrete from their abdomens. In return, the ants protect them from predators.

There has been an ongoing war on some of the citrus plants in my work  greenhouse between the ants and the ladybug bennies we released a few weeks ago. The ladybugs seem to be winning. 

Did you know that female aphids can produce live clones of themselves in the absence of a male? A single female can live for about a month. During this time, she can produce up to nearly 100 new aphids. Spring and summer reproduction occurs asexually like this. This is the primary reason why you see one aphid, blink, and suddenly there are 50.

There is a generation during the fall that include males. This is when mating and egg production occurs. The eggs overwinter and compose the first springtime generation.

Aphids can be born with or without wings. “Wingedness” is triggered by a lack of space/food on the host plant. New aphids are born with wings and can fly to new hosts and form new colonies.