Adventitious plantlets and kitchen cupboards

[lblanchard]

081025multiplierplant
Originally uploaded by lb_philly.

I learned a new term today, one that I like a lot: adventitious plantlet.

That would be those little baby plants growing along the sides of the leaf of this guy, which I believe is some species of Kalanchoe. Back in August Roy admired some of these at the Horticultural Center and allowed as he had a mild case of plant lust. Being as they've dropped their babies all over one big raised bed, I didn't feel any compunction about picking up a couple that had dropped onto the floor.

The two plants were smaller than an eraser head then, and look at them now! And they've been throwing off adventitious plantlets with mad abandon. See the couple of dozen I have in a container on the windowsill? Heck -- see the adventitious plantlet on the windowsill!

Today was rainy so I did not do the things I wanted to do -- I did not go to the dedication of the W.E.B. duBois mural at 7th and South, nor did I gawp at the parade of giant Dracula puppets that the Rosenbach Museum had planned. (Actually, when I talked to the Rosenbach's director, who is my board chair, yesterday, he warned me not to ask about the parade, which was a sore subject on account of the weather.)

Instead, I did one of my least favorite things, which is going through all the kitchen cabinets looking for things that maybe could be thrown away. Roy had his eye on a herd of one-quart yogurt containers that has been multiplying like adventitious plantlets, but I convinced him that they could be repurposed as plant pots, semi-disposable food containers, etc.

However, I did find several things that are straddling the fine line between kitchen equipment and tchotchke and made up a box to go to a thrift shop or yard sale at some point. And I did get rid of a collection of containers without lids, and lids without containers. Roy was pleased.

Comments

[greenshadows.livejournal.com]

The kalanchoes that do that often bear the common name mother-of-thousands, and they've got a horrible reputation in southern climes where they're hardy (a bit like shotweed). I LOVE 'em, though...what a wonderfully bizarre way to reproduce!

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

I feel like the sorcer's apprentice, though.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

Dang! I was hoping to post first--this is one plant I recognize. I did find another picture, however, along with the Latin name: Bryophyllum diagremontianum.

(http://www.roccosplace.com/plants.html, 2nd from the bottom.)

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

I don't want to get into the taxonomy wars, which give me a stomach ache. Some folks say Bryophyllum, some folks say Kalanchoe. Botanical names seem to mutate and unmutate in a bewildering fashion. Is my favorite Nopalxochia phyllanthoides really a Nopalxochia? Or is it a Disocactus? Are my Christmas cactus Schlumbergeras or Zygocactus?

But thanks anyhow.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

Oh, the only reason I was delighted to find the Latin name is because I thought you liked them. (You use them a lot more than I do.)

I only know what kalanchoe are because I live in Texas.

[arianadii.livejournal.com]

Lids without containers are good for putting under the plants.

Those look so healthy. I can't grow anything on my windowsills.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

I have a great morning-sun windowsill in my office.

[pameladean]

Aha, more invasive thugs!

P.l

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Not outdoors in Minneapolis! They're only hardy in Zone 10. (They're native to Madagascar.)

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

I'm in 8b, and they grow wild here--I had some in my back yard at some point.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

You mean teh Intarwebs lied to me????