There are so many different names for plants that we are familiar with. So I propose a game where in someone uses a common name for a plant and we guess what it is. I'll start.... Pie Plant.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2002

Answers

Rhubarb!

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2002

That was SO easy!! Not fair!! Might take me awhile, but I'll come up with something (maybe)!

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2002

Johnnie-Jump-Up

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2002

Violas!!!!! here's one...Virgin Mary

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2002

Woah! I hadn't a clue on that one, so I decided to snoop the 'Net. No definitive answer (yet), but check out this URL for the many plants associated with Mary:

http://www.udayton.edu/mary/resources/flowers.html

Is this going to be a plant we recognize when we actually find out what it is?

*******************

After I posted Johnnie-Jump-Up, I checked it on the web. There are a lot of violas that they people call Johnnie-Jump-Up! I was thinking of viola tricolor, also known as heart's-ease, love in idleness, wild pansy, and (my favorite) pink of my john. I would love to know how it got that last name! See a picture here: http://hortiplex.gardenweb.com/plants/p1/gw1042251.html

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2002

Oh crap!!1I never was very good at games!!I misread the article that I took the name from,it is a plant in honour of the festival which celebrated the Virgin Mary...and now you;ll get this one for sure marybud,or marygold.....calendula!!!Also called summers bride,poor mans saffron,holigold and husbandmans dial.

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2002

Oh yeah, marigold, i.e. Mary's gold, was in that article I referenced.

This one should be easy: Patience plant

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2002

I got it....Impatiens!

How about "dumb cane"?

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2002

Dieffenbachia, I think. Is that right? Also sometimes called "corn plant"?

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2002

Joy...You're right about the dumb cane...alias diffenbachia, but the corn plant is a different plant (dracaena).

How about the Swiss cheese plant?

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2002

Swiss cheese plant: Any plant in my garden not surrounded by slug bait...

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2002

Oh yeah, that's right, draecena is the corn plant. See why I learn the Latin names? At least those don't change (not too often anyway).

I think Sheepish got it! :-D Actually, I remember hearing "Swiss Cheese plant", but can't remember what it goes with.

Bonus question: Camel Plant (very difficult, since it's one I came up with when I couldn't remember the "real" common name. HINT: We had a discussion of this plant just recently). Julie gets no bonus points for getting this one!

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2002

Sheepish...actually my second crop of radish leaves could pass for Swiss cheese plants right now!! Dang flea beetles!

I'll let the Swiss cheese question linger a little longer. Maybe someone else will get it.

The "camel plant"....hmmmm, maybe the jade plant?? Just a wild guess since they seem to never need water!

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2002

split leaf philodrendron?

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2002

BINGO Aunty Em!! Technically called "monstera deliciosa".

Gotta tell ya, folks...I'm getting these plant names out of a circa 1972 book! Is that cheating?? I have a few more, but I'll wait to see if anyone else has a good one to post :-)!!

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2002

The "camel plant"....hmmmm, maybe the jade plant?? Just a wild guess since they seem to never need water!

Yep, that's right! I could never seem to remember "jade plant" and somehow fastened on the juicy leaves, holding water like a camel's hump. I finally remembered jade plant.

I can't think of any others right now . . . .

Hey, the '70's! No wonder these sound familiar, that's when I started learning about houseplants!

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2002

Soldiers and sailors.........

-- Anonymous, June 02, 2002

Dates for "hens and chickens"??? Sorry...couldn't resist! This one is a hard one, Alison!

-- Anonymous, June 02, 2002

Good..I was embarrassed to have the first one guessed so quick. Hint: it blooms in early spring and is a perennial plant.

-- Anonymous, June 02, 2002

Is it perennial here...where you and I live?? I think I'm "fishing" for hints :-)!!

-- Anonymous, June 02, 2002

Alison...I think I have it!! Talked to my mom tonight (about plants!) on the phone and she said that her aunt in Vermont used to have a plant called "lungwort" in her perennial garden. She said she thought she remembered it being called soldiers and sailers. She also remembered that it would have two different colored blossoms on it at the same tim...hence the name! Am I right??

-- Anonymous, June 02, 2002

You got it Marcia Marcia Marcia. Pis En Lis or Piss A Beds.........

-- Anonymous, June 03, 2002

I used to have a Diefenbachia (sp?) named Robert Plant...first home away from home, 1970...

-- Anonymous, June 03, 2002

Soldiers & Sailors = Lungwort, aka Pulmonaria because they start out pink and turn blue.

Pis en Lis, Piss the Bed = Dandelions (Dente de Lion, Tooth of the Lion)

'Beautiful Lady', anyone? (not hard)

-- Anonymous, June 04, 2002

We had a Prime Minister called Diefenbaker....maybe they're cousins, Sheepish? ;op Beautiful Lady: moi, perchance???! (with much Miss Piggy hair tossing and flouncing)

-- Anonymous, June 04, 2002

How about "Birth Root", also called "Beth Root"? Hint: it's a woodland wildflower that blossoms in the spring.

-- Anonymous, June 04, 2002

I think I've got both of them . . . .

Beautiful Lady = Belladonna means beautiful lady, i.e. Deadly Nightshade! Or did you mean just Belladonna Lily = amaryllis belladonna?

Birth Root is Wake Robin, Stinking Benjamin (I have NO idea why!), wait, er, TRILLIUM!

How about Millfoil, or if you prefer, Milfoil? :-)

And if that's too easy, how about "Traveler's Friend"? Which, BTW, Julie, is "a useful bug repellant, and smudge sticks made with it can be burned around a campsite to keep mosquitoes away."

-- Anonymous, June 04, 2002

Millefoil -- million leaves, aka Yarrow! (easy!) Good for staunching nosebleeds & other wounds. (sometimes called Woundwort)

Well I cheated a bit -- I had to look up what Traveler's Friend was, since the mosquitos and gnats have been threatening to overdraw my account at the blood bank lately. But I won't say, I'll wait and see if anyone else gets it. Too bad I haven't seen any growing around here.

Here's another one -- Lion's Tail.

Or how about 'Gill-Go-Over-The-Ground'?

-- Anonymous, June 06, 2002

Here's one I like: Belly Flowers

-- Anonymous, June 06, 2002

Geesh!! You guys are losing me with some of these plant names! So much for my old book :-)! Milfoil totally threw me off since I thought it was the milfoil that this state is hoping to keep out!! Milfoil around here is the stuff that is being transported by boats and boat trailers from lake to lake. Once established, it chokes out natural vegetation and even kills off the fish. So far...Maine is milfoil-free!!

Now I know that I've heard of "belly flowers" before!! Hmmmmm...let me think...

-- Anonymous, June 06, 2002

How 'bout "Sally Go Round the Roses"?

-- Anonymous, June 06, 2002

I thought belly flowers just meant any lil ol kinda tiny flower that grows close to the ground?

-- Anonymous, June 06, 2002

Would "belly flowers" be another name for May flowers?

-- Anonymous, June 07, 2002