Trees & Plants

Although it doesn’t produce coffee beans when grown as a house plant, the Coffee Tree, with its glossy green leaves. It is an ideal choice for a strong display of foliage. The Coffee Tree makes a dramatic feature on its own or in combination with foliage or flowering plants. The Coffee Tree originally from Africa was introduced to Europe in...

Stevia rebaudiana No plant offers as much sweetness as stevia, and no plant produces as safe a sugar substitute for diabetics as Stevia rebaudiana. Stevia syrup is nothing short of fabulous, unlike the fresh and dried leaves. Stevia flowers are preserved in honey by Brazilian visitors to the Herbal Center gardens as a winter medicine. The origins of Stevia can...

Well, everyone knows what a Maples Leaf looks like, right? It is the leaf on the Canadian flags as well, the one that lends its shape to maple sugar candies. Well, yes and no? While most maple leaves do have a three-lobed outline, they vary enormously in size and shape. Therefore, with some the lobes are barely indented with...

A beginner garden wants to know, what is Succulent plant. Well, the succulents have moved in and out of American gardens and homes on the tides of popularity. They are dramatic, exciting, and always interesting. A succulent garden can be a beautiful landscape specimen that blends perfectly with contemporary architecture, a beautiful house plant that requires almost no maintenance,...

The albino redwood tree (Sequoia sempervirens) is a rare and unique form of the coast redwood tree. Due to their lack of chlorophyll, albino redwoods have white or yellowish needles and bark. A green pigment is known as chlorophyll aids plants in the process of photosynthesis. Albino redwoods cannot survive without chlorophyll. The albino redwood is an intriguing and fascinating...

WHITEBEAMS, Sorbus species Deciduous, Zone 5-6, H6-7 History and origin: There are many species of Sorbus in the family, including the rowans and whitebeams. Whitebeams are mainly small trees from open landscapes in Europe and Asia. Description: Trees that grow to a height of 10 m (33 ft), and sometimes larger to 15 m (50 ft). Rowans have compound leaves, whereas whitebeams have simple...

Description Coccoloba gigantifolia is a rare and unique plant species that boasts the largest leaf in the world. This magnificent plant belongs to the Polygonaceae family and is native to the rainforests of Central and South America. Coccoloba gigantifolia, also known as the "giant-leaved" sea grape, is a rare and magnificent plant. Its massive leaves can grow up to 3...

Bleeding Tooth Fungus (Hydnellum Peckii) is a type of mushroom that is commonly found in North America, Europe, and Asia. It is known for its distinctive bright red color, which is due to the presence of heme compounds in its tissue. The red sap produced by the Bleeding Tooth Fungus is a result of excess moisture generated through respiration...

Ginkgo or Maidenhair Tree Benefits: the long history of Ginkgo biloba shows it is one of the favorite trees. Ginkgo is a slow-growing large perennial tree that can live to a hardy old age. Ginkgo biloba trees grow to heights of 30 meters (98 ft) with trunk diameters of up to 3 meters (9.8 ft). It is also known...

Plants You Need in Your Bedroom to Beat Tight Chests, Insomnia, and Colds. NASA scientists say, that you need to keep plants in your bedroom to beat different diseases, i.e. colds, tight chests, and insomnia. Although plants look very beautiful in gardens scientists maintain that we can reap plenty of health benefits from plants by bringing them indoors. Researchers...

The miraculous survival of a tree in the desert is the pure power of nature. The Tree of Life, or Shajarat-al-Hayat, is an astonishing natural marvel in Bahrain. The tree is situated 10 kilometers from Askar and 3.5 kilometers west of Jaw. This 32-foot-tall Prosopis cineraria has been making a seemingly impossible living out of dry sand for roughly 400...

There’s a tree in Brazil called "Jabuticaba", whose fruit grows directly from the trunk and branches of the tree. It can be found in the states of Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo, in the south of Brazil. Jabuticaba's popularity has been likened to that of grapes in the United States. The name Jabuticaba is derived from the Tupi words...

The Octopus Tree of Oregon is a huge Sitka spruce situated a few hundred feet from Cape Meares Lighthouse on the Oregon Coast, in the United States. The massive tree is shaped similar to an inverted octopus with branches growing like giant tentacles from its 50-foot base. The octopus tree has no central trunk. Instead, six candelabra limbs extend horizontally...

Xylaria polymorpha, generally known as dead man's fingers, is a saprobic fungus. The plant habitually inhabitant of forest and woodland areas, normally growing from the bases of rotting or injured tree stumps and decaying wood. The Xylaria polymorpha is a very rare and distinct species of fungus that is widely distributed throughout the deciduous forests of North America and Europe....

The Pando or “The Trembling Giant” of one tree forest is a massive grove of quaking aspens that takes the “forest as a single organism” metaphor and literalizes it. Although, the grove is a single organism, roughly 47,000 trees are genetically similar to having a single root system. However, various trees spread through flowering and sexual reproduction; quaking aspens...

Cerbera odollam, is a dicotyledonous angiosperm, commonly known as a suicide tree. The tree is also called pong-pong and othalanga and this plant belongs to poisonous Apocynaceae family. The plant yields a potent poison that has been used for suicide and murder, which includes the yellow and common oleanders. The seeds are excessively toxic, containing cerberin as the main active...

A rare sight of a double tree of Casorzo growing atop another tree Of course, it's not a sight that you get to see every day. But here you can learn about a unique tree growing between Grana and Casorzo in Piemonte, Italy, recognized as the “Double Tree of Casorzo” or Bialbero de Casorzo in Italian. This is a...