This week, Quiche Moraine brings you a recipe for Quiche Botanique, the main course made entirely of plants.

First, a little bit of orientation. This is the 19th edition of the blog carnival Berry Go Round, which is a blog carnival dedicated to writings of any aspect of plant life from the blogosphere. Although the carnival is called “Berry Go Round” you should know that we refer to it affectionately as “the Berries.” I also want to let you know that the previous edition of Berry Go Round, number 18, is here, at Foothills Fancies.

Now, on to the recipe….

This recipe is entirely 100 percent natural. So we’ll begin by asking … Is there a natural diet?

The idea that our preferences and appetites were shaped some time ago is a common one, and in diet gives rise to ideas like the Pleistocene Diet. As Ford commented, his theory suggests a new explanation, for humans, of chemicals plants make to defend themselves against insects, the very chemicals that breeders are trying to increase in some varieties.

Well, maybe not, but this shall not deter us.

OK, so now, we need some ingredients. First, in picking ingredients, make sure you avoid the weeds.

….the Phactor recommends you come to terms with weeds on a philosophical level. Such an attitude adjustment is greatly aided by sitting back and enjoying your garden with the help of a tall, cold mojito.

OK, so maybe avoiding the weeds is not necessary. But let’s have a look at the other ingredients:

Buttercups, which are always yellow …

But the white flowers were something I hadn’t seen before. They’re all over the place up there right now … the Marsh Marigold isn’t a member of the Rose family. Rather it’s a member of .. The Buttercup Family, Ranunculaceae.

Well, OK, so they are not always yellow. (see Uintas Hiking, Flowers, Chipmunks and 2 Cool Things About the Remarkable Buttercup Family)

Asparagus, which I’m sure has some fancy Latin name no one can pronounce.

Know your genera – Lesson 1: Asparagus: Asparagus. How easy is that? You thought botanical Latin names were so difficult, but …

That may look familiar to you, recipe collectors! Oh. OK. Whatever. Well, the next ingredients are wild flowers. Select Five New Wildflowers:

The upper Mill Creek flowers right now are fantastic. Even if you know absolutely nothing about flowers, you can’t helped but be blown away up there right now. The trails are lined with touches of almost every color- white, blue, purple, yellow, red, pink- and every open meadow is just an explosion of color. It just doesn’t get any better than right now.

Some wild rice (as discussed by the Senate):

Funding for wild rice and forestry research cleared a Senate committee hurdle last week, said U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, DFL-Minn.

Some mystery plants:

It’s almost anticlimactic now to tell you that these are the …. [click here to find out]

Garnish with butterflies:

When we were first being shown around our cottage by our potential landlord, Robert, he pointed out a large buddleia bush (a Buddleia davidii) in one corner of the garden and asked us not to cut it down. Apparently the last tenants had been a touch over-enthusiastic with the trimmers and Robert was a big fan of this particular buddleia. We assured him there was no way at all that we would be hacking it down. Why, you ask? Because those in the know – er, know that the buddleia’s alternative name is [click here to find out]

Then, we need to place the mixture in the oven and bake it for nine minutes, using one of these clocks.

Linnaeus’ floral clock on the island of Mainau

-or-

The Sundial Floral Clock at Kirstenbosch

Then, digest:

Digesting Annals of Botany: Annals of Botany have what I think is quite an innovative feature where they ask Prof. John Bryant of the University of Exeter, UK to take “a closer look at some of this month’s Original Articles.”…

perhaps by taking a walk to Visit Your Local Arboretum!

The arboretum is quite small, but it’s got a good representation of the region’s plants and habitats and fantastic demonstration gardens for people who want to use less water and native plants.

And then …

Take some nice pictures of the final product.

@}--;---`----

Not everything in Texas is secessionists, disgruntled Republicans and Creationists, as is demonstrated by the excellent photography and writeup, Torrey’s Yucca: great natural history, at Flora of the Texas Rolling Plains:

Torrey’s yucca, Yucca torreyi … I was out botanizing yesterday south of Abilene (Texas,USA) in Abilene State Park and found a good number of these monocots in full flower.

I love the term “botanizing.” The Yucca, an agave, has some interesting behavior and evolution that you can read about in this post, in particular an intimate relationship with a moth…unsurprisingly known as the yucca moth.

@}--;---`----

Another example of mutualism is covered at Denim and Tweed, in Ants trim trees for more living space:

The ant species Allomerus octoarticulatus is part of a classic protection mutualism with the tropical tree Cordia nodosa, in which the plant grows structures called domatia that provide shelter for a colony of ants, and nutrient rich “food bodies” for the ants to feed on. The ants, in turn…

@}--;---`----

Everything you want to know about Mutualism vs. Parasitism is now available at Locust Blog. In summary form.

@}--;---`----

The species of the week at Yips and Howls, for some week in mid-April, was the Ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens). The author was able to photograph the elusive flowers.

I snapped numerous pictures of what must seem as common in the Sonoran desert as Douglas firs in the Pacific Northwest….Ocotillo is brilliantly adapted to its environment. It grows easily from seed and for most of the year looks like brown, dead stalks. But photosynthesizing tissue coating newer stalks converts sunlight into sugars.

@}--;---`----

The plant evolutionary story is getting some revision. Note the following from ScienceNews:

Newly discovered fossilized pollen spores suggest that modern plant life evolved earlier than previously thought… Until now, the earliest fossil evidence of vascular land plants — plants with special tissues to efficiently transport water, minerals and food — came from the early Silurian period, which started about 444 million years ago. Now, fossils have been found that show vascular land plants existed in the mid to late Ordovician period, as early as 450 million years ago, the scientists say.

Paleoblog has this covered in Origin of the Earliest Vascular Land Plants.

@}--;---`----

Peter Raven is on the lecture circuit, and one of his talks was blogged by Becky Robert at The Scott Arboretum’s blog: Why Plant Conservation.

@}--;---`----

Huckleberry Days blog has Bloodroot: a wild ‘poppy’.

Bloodroot is an easy species to identify, with its single, eight-petalled, white flower cupped by the rounded, lobed green leaves. But in case you aren’t certain what you are seeing, take a closer look at the leaves. Bloodroot is in the poppy family…

And while you are over on HDB, have a look at instructions on “How to hunt for truffles“. I know, I know, truffles are not plants, but the roots they grow on are plants. Plant roots, actually.

@}--;---`----

And now a little Applied Plantology culled from the spam:

Organic Health tells us How to start an organic garden.

Acai Berry Info Blog tells us How To Buy Acai In Its “Best” Form.