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Popular Edible Plants With Origins You Would Not Expect

Today, we’re accustomed to eating a wide variety of plants. However, many of these plants, including some of the most popular foods in the world, originate from areas that you might not expect.

Plants provide us with a large portion of the calories we consume daily. Many of these edible plant species have become famous and have ties to specific cultures and cuisines. However, several of the plants we’ve come to associate with a certain country or community may have unexpected origins.

Potatoes are a perfect example of a crop plant that comes from an unexpected region. Today, many of us associate potatoes with certain European countries, such as Ireland. Events such as the famous Irish Potato Famine, which lasted from 1845 to 1852, have led us to build this association. We also recognize that potatoes have become a staple ingredient in many dishes throughout most of the European continent. However, the origin of the potato plant is nowhere near Europe and is not even in the same hemisphere.

Instead, potatoes come from areas of South America, including modern-day Peru. In that region, potatoes have undergone significant cultivation for thousands of years. Evidence suggests that the Incan civilization grew potatoes for harvest as far back as 1,800 years ago. Only after European explorers arrived in the “New World” did potatoes gain an introduction to the Eastern Hemisphere. Since that introduction, the versatility and reliability of the potato plant have led it to become a main fixture in dishes worldwide.

Tomatoes are edible plants that share a similar history to the potato plant. Many people recognize tomatoes as a core component of Italian cuisine. Italians use tomatoes to create red sauces that appear in many popular dishes, including pizza and pasta. Ironically, this go-to Italian ingredient does not come from the Italian peninsula or any of the surrounding Mediterranean regions.

As is the case with potatoes, tomatoes also come from South America, in the Andes Mountains area. Both wild and cultivated tomatoes grew in that region well before “Old World” explorers arrived. The lower altitudes of that mountain range provided the ideal climate in which tomatoes could grow. That environment was neither too hot nor too cold for wild tomatoes to grow abundantly. Indigenous people in the region also created cultivated tomato varieties for centuries. It was not until the 1500s that the tomato plant made its way across the Atlantic Ocean and eventually became a common part of the European diet.

Another widespread edible plant with a surprising origin is the apple tree. There are many associations between apples and the United States. Cultural tales, such as the story of Johnny Appleseed, seem to imply that apples have long been a feature of the North American landscape. Other stories strengthen these beliefs, such as the idea that apple pie has become an emblematic feature of traditional American life. But, yet again, this delicious fruit is neither endemic to the United States nor the entire Western Hemisphere.

The original apple tree species come from areas of Central Asia near the Caspian Sea. Today, countries such as Kazakhstan occupy the region. Interestingly, the name of Kazakhstan’s capital, Alma Ata, translates to mean something along the lines of “full of apples,” which indicates the importance and long history of apples in that area.

However, apples did not remain exclusive to the Central Asian region for very long. The best estimate of researchers suggests that apples were a food source for hunter/gatherer societies more than 700,000 years ago during the Paleolithic Era. Following their discovery, apples underwent cultivation and became popular in many ancient civilizations, such as Egypt, Rome, and Greece. In the 1500s, the Spanish chose to bring apples with them on their voyages across the Atlantic Ocean. This transfer caused apples to become ubiquitous throughout the Americas and ultimately led many people to hold the false belief that apples have their origins in America.

The strong cultural ties that many edible plants have today cause many people to confuse their true origins. As the information above shows, many of the most popular plants come from places that you would not guess first. Potatoes, tomatoes, and apples are among the many edible plants with surprising origins. But through exploration and the transfer of goods between cultures, these foods have become famous globally.

13 Ways to Add a Beautiful Border to Your Garden

Garden borders help bring attention to your garden while keeping a divider between grass and your plants. Create a unique, eye-catching boundary using any of these 13 creative ideas.

When you take the time to install or build a garden bed, you want to go the extra step to distinguish it from the lawn. Installing edging of some sort makes a significant impact on your yard’s aesthetic. There are many ways to create boundaries in your garden, ranging from simple plastic edging to installing renewable bamboo fences.

Choose one of these exciting options to infuse a sense of style into your outdoor space.

Benefits of Having Borders in Your Garden

Adding garden borders is helpful for many reasons.

Garden borders add an extra aesthetic element to the space, helping to keep the area tidy.
Borders create a fantastic boundary between your lawn and garden, helping keep the grass where it belongs. A flat edge allows you to cut the grass right up to the border, eliminating the need for a string trimmer.
Landscape edging keeps plants in the garden instead of creeping onto pathways or the yard.
Garden borders can be used to create separate spaces or “rooms.”
Boundaries help keep people out of specific areas if need be.
Edging defines areas, highlighting a particular plant or memorable tree.

Creative Border Ideas for Your Garden

Budget-Friendly Plastic Landscape Edging

One of the cheapest and simplest border options is using plastic landscape edging that you can purchase at your local garden center. It is available in long lengths that you cut to fit your space. Drive the metal or plastic stakes into the ground, securing the edging into place.

Highly Customizable Edging Stones

Many people use edging stones or landscape rocks to build borders in their gardens. Stones are available in a wide selection of colors and sizes, allowing you to opt for a well-manicured look, or you can stack thin landscape rocks for a rougher aesthetic.

Ground Cover Plants

Low-growing plants are often used to create a natural border in front of shrubs or taller ornamentals. Choose something with a strong scent (like thyme or marigolds) to keep insect predators and other pests from bothering other plants in your garden.

Poured Concrete Edging

Concrete edging or curbing is an efficient way to create a permanent border in your garden. It isn’t a DIY project, but it isn’t overly expensive, and the concrete can be colored or stamped to create a unique look.

Create Drama with River Rocks or Boulders

Line your gardens with large, impressive rocks if you’re up for some heavy work or have access to a skid steer. Stones won’t degrade over time as plastic or concrete may, and they serve as a great way to keep people out of a designated space. Large boulders are often used along driveways and parking areas.

Simplistic Pea Stone or Gravel Pathways

Laying stone or gravel to create borders helps delineate a space while keeping weeds at a minimum. Before spreading rocks, lay landscape or weed-block fabric to keep grass and dandelions from sprouting up in your garden beds.

Metal Pieces That Age with Time

Using metal features in your garden brings an industrial look to your space. Create borders using sheet metal bent to your needs, or cut industrial pipe in short sections, driving one of the open ends into the ground. Over time the material will rust or patina to bring beautiful color to your yard.

Living Evergreen Shrub Hedge

For a good reason, shrubs are commonly used in public gardens as borders. They are relatively low-maintenance, but you can also choose to alter the height as your garden plants grow behind them. Plus, they work well as a deterrent to keep visitors out of the garden.

Sustainable Bamboo Border

Creating a garden border with bamboo is common in areas where bamboo grows rampant but is popular everywhere because of bamboo’s sustainable nature. Using a miter (or hand saw), cut bamboo poles to the desired length and then drive one end into the ground, so they stand vertically. The stakes can be left free-standing or lashed together for stability.

Wooden Palisade for a Natural Look

Wood is often used in borders to create a boundary between walkways or turf and garden spaces. Since logs are naturally found outside, they simultaneously define different areas while blending in. You can choose from pre-manufactured wooden borders or use a saw to cut logs down to size, creating your own.

Container Plants for a Changeable Look

Using container plants as a border for your garden or flowerbed offers you plenty of flexibility without committing to a long-term border option. The pots allow you to change out plants every spring, going with a different color scheme or type of plant. You can paint terra cotta or plastic pots to add extra color to your garden or mix and match shapes and sizes for variety.

Woven Branch Lattice

It’s common in English cottage gardens to form borders or fences by intertwining or weaving thin branches together. When young, twigs are pliable, allowing you to shape them into curves around your garden to create an undulating border. This lattice option is also a fantastic way to use downed branches.

Double-Duty Border Using Cinder Blocks

Place cinder blocks around your garden to create a sturdy retaining wall while giving your more planting space. Set blocks with the open sides facing upwards and fill with soil. Use this space for planting herbs, ground cover plants, or flowering annuals for extra color.

Adding a border to your space has many benefits. Whether you want something inexpensive and easy to install, or a more elaborate garden border sure to draw attention to itself, numerous options are available.

Rafflesia Arnoldii: An Unique Plant With Gigantic Blooms

There are countless ways that flowers catch our eyes, whether through their color, shape, or some other quality. But have you ever wondered what flower has the biggest bloom of all? If so, this article will end your curiosity.

The plant that holds the biggest bloom in the world is a species called Rafflesia arnoldii. The flowers that appear on this plant can grow to be nearly three and a half feet in diameter. That massive span also makes for a considerable total weight for this flower. In some cases, a Rafflesia arnoldii flower can weigh as much as 24 pounds at maturity. However, the size of this flower is far from its only remarkable quality.

Rafflesia arnoldii comes from rainforest regions on islands such as Borneo and Sumatra. Interestingly, this plant grows in a way that is unlike that of most plants you’re likely familiar with. In contrast to many of the most prominent plants in the world, Rafflesia arnoldii lacks leaves and roots. While those plant structures are what allow most plants to absorb light and nutrients, Rafflesia arnoldii finds a more unique way to survive.

This species belongs to a group of plants known as obligate parasites. Obligate parasites don’t have the ability to survive without the help of a host plant. Without the support of a host plant, an obligate parasite will have no means by which it can continue its life cycle and reproduce. The Rafflesia arnoldii plant has one specific group upon which it depends, which are vine species within the Tetrastigma genus. Tetrastigma vines live in the same region as Rafflesia arnoldii and supply the world’s largest flower with the moisture and fuel it needs to survive.

With no need for leaves, roots, or any other common plant structures, the Rafflesia arnoldii plant can dedicate nearly all of its biomass toward growing a single gigantic flower. When this plant finds a suitable host and growing conditions, it will begin the months-long process of flower development. This process begins with the emergence of the flower bud. That bud itself is also the largest flower bud in the world, with the largest specimen occurring in Sumatra in 1956, measuring about 17 inches in diameter.

After the long effort needed to create a Rafflesia arnoldii flower, that flower will typically last for no more than a few days. But during that short existence, this flower makes itself known in more ways than one. Not only is the Rafflesia arnoldii flower larger than any other, but it also gives off an incredibly unsavory scent that has led many to call this plant the corpse flower. But that stench has a purpose as it attracts flies and other pollinating insects. If those insects manage to visit both a male and a female Rafflesia arnoldii plant, fruit in the form of seed-filled berries will emerge, allowing the flower to reproduce successfully.

As you can now see, the Rafflesia arnoldii plant has many qualities that make it different from most other plants. Among those distinguishing traits is the fact that this plant creates the biggest bloom in the world. But as the information above shows, the growth habit and means of reproduction these plants rely on are quite interesting as well. As such, Rafflesia arnoldii has earned recognition as one of three official national flowers of Indonesia and continues to gain renown throughout the world for its enormous blooms.

The Most Poisonous Plants in the World

Upon first glance, most plants appear to pose little threat to our health. But the truth is that some can be incredibly dangerous. Read on to learn all about the most poisonous plants in the world.

While many of the plants we enjoy in nature and our gardens are harmless, others contain harmful poisons that can be fatal in worst-case scenarios. Poisonous plants come in many forms, each of which may contain a unique mix of toxic chemicals that can cause different symptoms to occur. The plants come from many parts of the world, posing a threat to those who touch or ingest them. Let’s consider a few of the most prominent examples of these notorious, poisonous plants.

castor oil plant

The castor oil plant, Ricinus communis, likely hails from tropical Africa and contains a protein called ricin. Ricin is well known as one of the most poisonous toxins in the world. Anyone who eats the seeds of the castor oil plant may experience anything from muscle tremors to gastrointestinal and cardiovascular complications that are fatal more often than not. The only way to treat someone who has ingested castor oil plant seeds is to induce vomiting in the hope that the ricin poison hasn’t already spread through the body.

Oleander

But while the ricin content of the castor oil plant is quite alarming, the plant that most often carries the title of “most poisonous plant in the world” is the oleander or Nerium oleander. This plant has spectacular flowers and grows throughout the Mediterranean region. Oleander also contains several potent toxins but has a surprisingly low fatality rate for those who ingest it. The reason for this is that oleander also has a repulsive taste that prevents humans and animals from eating a lethal dose. However, in high enough quantities, oleander results in many physical problems, including bloody diarrhea, nausea, and death.

Hemlock

Another famous example of a highly poisonous plant is Conium maculatum or hemlock. This plant has white flowers similar to that of Queen Anne’s lace and gains its notoriety by being the plant that killed the prominent Greek philosopher Socrates. Socrates was sentenced to drink poison hemlock after receiving a guilty verdict for impiety. When one ingests this plant, the toxins within it will affect the nervous system. Eventually, this causes the lungs to cease their function, resulting in death.

Rosary peas

Known scientifically as Abrus precatorius, is another plant that poses a significant risk to human life. This plant contains a toxin known as abrin, which is actually significantly more deadly than ricin. With less than three milligrams of ingested abrin, an adult will die. The entire rosary pea plant is full of abrin, but the berries contain the most. Oddly, these black and red berries are commonly used in jewelry making, which is dangerous as these berries give off their poison any time their skin is damaged.

Deadly nightshade

Our final example of a highly poisonous plant is the deadly nightshade, or Atropa belladonna, which is a perennial species growing throughout Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia. The foliage and fruits of the deadly nightshade are both poisonous and can cause a wide range of effects. What is perhaps most concerning about this plant poison is that its effects are somewhat unpredictable. Symptoms can include hallucinations and seizures. Again, this poison is somewhat famous as it was featured in the Shakespearian play Macbeth and plays a role in one of the most memorable scenes.

By now, you can see that plants can be shockingly potent when it comes to their poison content. Knowing about a few of these most poisonous plants should motivate you to know how to identify them and avoid them. If you don’t, you risk falling victim to the toxic effect of poisonous plants such as the ones described above.

The Big Debate Over the World’s Fastest-Growing Plants

Many plant species can grow incredibly fast, but a few have significantly quicker growth rates than the rest. However, knowing which plant is the fastest-growing is more difficult than you might think and depends on how you classify growth.

Of all the plant species, only a handful make a competitive case in the race for fastest-growing plant in the world. However, while this distinction may appear easy to determine, deciding which plant grows the fastest is a more nuanced task than you would expect. The main issue in this debate is whether you classify growth speed by how much a plant can add to its height or if you place more value on increasing sheer biomass.

For example, if you think the honor of fastest-growing plant should belong to the plant that can increase its height the quickest, then bamboo would be the winner. There are numerous species of bamboo plants, and several of them can grow nearly three feet in one day. Amazingly, these plants can register a speed of growth of around .00002/mph. While that speed seems inconsequential in most other contexts, seeing a plant with a growth rate that is reasonably measurable in miles per hour is a testament to the speed with which bamboo grows.

However, if you believe that the plant that can increase its biomass most quickly is the fastest-growing, then bamboo does not earn the top spot. Instead, by the biomass metric, a plant known as duckweed is likely the fastest-growing plant. Duckweed plants, which include 11 species in the Wolffia genus, are tiny aquatic plants that grow on the surface of the water. These plants are not only small but are also incredibly simple as they each consist of a single stem and leaf with no roots or any other physical features. When a group of duckweed plants grows in ideal conditions, it can double its mass in just 16 hours. That astounding growth rate has yet to be matched by any other plant species on Earth.

Many other plants deserve mention among the fastest-growing plants in the world. One such plant is the kudzu plant, which is a vine species that can grow about one foot in a single day. Other plants, such as annual and perennial flowers, herbs, and vegetables, are known to grow incredibly fast from seed. While these plants don’t come close to matching the size of a fast-growing vine or a bamboo plant, they do achieve their mature sizes at an impressive rate.

While the fastest-growing plants in the world are worthy of praise for their growth rates, they can often cause a lot of damage to ecosystems as well. Many of the fastest-growing plant species are also highly invasive and will wreak havoc when they expand beyond their natural growing ranges. These rapid growth rates and a common ability to adapt to generally poor growing conditions allow invasive plants to easily outcompete beneficial native species, which can have a dramatic effect on local food chains.

Still, knowing the topic of fast-growing plants is a fascinating one and is a worthy area of study. Just remember that deciding on which plant species are the fastest comes down to whether you measure an increase in height or an overall growth in biomass. In the former case, bamboo plants prove to be the fastest, while duckweed is the plant variety that can increase its mass most quickly.