article from the telegraph about Aubrieta. interesting and helpful article. thanks to the author.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/8458972/How-to-grow-aubrieta.html

text from wikipedia. my note.

Apomixis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apomixis

In botany, apomixis was defined by Winkler as replacement of the normal sexual reproduction by asexual reproduction, without fertilization. This definition notably does not mention meiosis. Thus “normal asexual reproduction” of plants, such as propagation from cuttings or leaves, has never been considered to be apomixis, but replacement of the seed by a plantlet, or replacement of the flower by bulbils are types of apomixis. Apomictically produced offspring are genetically identical to the parent plant.

In flowering plants, the term “apomixis” is commonly used in a restricted sense to mean agamospermy, i.e. asexual reproduction through seeds.

Apogamy is a related term that has had various meanings over time. In plants with independent gametophytes (notably ferns), the term is still used interchangeably with “apomixis”, and both refer to the formation of sporophytes by parthenogenesis of gametophyte cells.

my friends often ask me why you like alpine flowers or plants? well, because it’s beautiful !! but, more than that, I was amazed by alpine flowers or plants. alpine plants is the life on the edge. some of them survives above the treeline. different from normal environment in climate or other natural conditions, it is ultimate environment for life. because they maintain their lives in ultimate natural environment, I think their appearance is also different. that’s why alpine plants and flowers attract me. I think.

photo and text from wikipedia.

Great Masterwort

Great Masterwort (Astrantia major) is a plant of the family Apiaceae. A native of Europe and Western Asia, it was introduced into the British Isles and is well established in various localities. Its types include “Ruby Cloud”, “Rubra”, “Snow Star”, “Sunningdale Variegated”, “Lars” and “Rosea”.

photo and text from wikipedia.

Melampyrum nemorosum

Melampyrum nemorosum is an herbaceous flowering plant of the genus Melampyrum in the family Orobanchaceae.

It is native to Europe. In Sweden, it is called “Natt och Dag” meaning ‘Night and Day’, due to its combination of bright yellow and dark blue colours. They flower between June to July, and are annual plants. The newest leaves are blue and turn green as they mature. They are usually toothed towards the base of the leaves.

text from wikipedia.

Rumex crispus

Curled Dock (Rumex crispus), also known as Curly Dock, Yellow Dock, Sour Dock, Narrow Dock, sometimes as “narrow-leaved dock” (which properly refers to a variant of Sorrel), and ambiguously as “garden patience”, is a perennial flowering plant in the family Polygonaceae, native to Europe and Western Asia.

The mature plant is a reddish brown colour, and produces a stalk that grows to about 1 m high. It has smooth leaves shooting off from a large basal rosette, with distinctive waved or curled edges. On the stalk flowers and seeds are produced in clusters on branched stems, with the largest cluster being found at the apex. The seeds are shiny, brown and encased in the calyx of the flower that produced them. This casing enables the seeds to float on water and get caught in wool and animal fur, and this helps the seeds to spread to new locations.[1] The root-structure is a large, yellow, forking taproot.

Curled Dock grows in roadsides, all types of fields, and low-maintenance crops. It prefers rich, moist and heavy soils.

Dianthus alpinus

photo from wikipedia.

text from wikipedia.

Scaevola hookeri

Scaevola hookeri (Creeping Fan-flower or Alpine Fan-flower) is a prostrate perennial herb in the family Goodeniaceae. It is native to eastern Australia. Leaves are 6 to 50 mm long and 2 to 15 mm wide. Flowers are white or blue with a yellowish throat and appear between December and March in the species native range.[2] The species was first formally described by W.H. de Vriese in 1850 in Nederlandsch Kruidkundig Archief and given the name Merkusia hookeri. The species was transferred to the genus Scaevola in 1856. It occurs in grassland and woodland in high altitude areas in Victoria, New South Wales and also South Australia where it is listed as “endangered”.

from wikipedia. my memo.

Historical use of Spikenard

The oil was known in ancient times and was part of the Ayurvedic herbal tradition of India. It was obtained as a luxury in ancient Egypt, the Near East, and Rome, where it was the main ingredient of the perfume nardinum. Nard was used to perfume the body of Patroklos by Achilles in Book 18 of Homer’s Iliad. Pliny’s Natural History lists twelve species of “nard”, identifiable with varying assurance, in a range from lavender stoechas and tuberous valerian to true nard (in modern terms Nardostachys jatamansi).

Nard is mentioned a number of times in the Old Testament. It was used as one of the Eleven Herbs for the Incense in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. And it is mentioned twice in the biblical love poem, the Song of Solomon (1:12 and 4:13).

In the New Testament John 12:1-10, six days before the passover Jesus arrives in Bethany. In Bethany, Mary, sister of Lazarus uses a pound of pure nard to anoint Jesus’s feet. Judas Iscariot, the keeper of the money-bag, asked why the ointment wasn’t sold for three hundred denarii instead, (About a year’s wages, as the average agricultural worker received 1 denarius for 12 hours work: Matthew 20:2) and the money given to the poor. Two passages in parallel (Matthew 26:6-13, and Mark 14:3-9) speak of an occasion 2 days before the passover, in which an unnamed woman anoints Jesus’s head. The costly perfume she used came from an alabaster jar, and contained nard according to the passage in Mark. On this occasion, the disciples also protest, saying that the perfume should have been sold to benefit the poor.

The powdered root of spikenard is also mentioned in some Islamic traditions as the fruit which Adam ate in Paradise, which God had forbidden him to eat.

Spikenard is also used to season foods in Medieval European cuisine, especially as a part of the spice blend used to flavor Hypocras, a sweetened and spiced wine drink.

Spikenard was also used from the 17th century as one of the ingredients for a strong beer called Stingo.

text from wikipedia.

Globularia

Globularia is a genus of about 22 species of flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae, native to central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwest Africa and southwest Asia. They are dense low evergreen mat-forming herbs or subshrubs, with leathery oval leaves 1–10 cm long. The flowers are produced in dense inflorescences (capitula) held above the plant on a 1–30 cm tall stem; the capitula is 1–3 cm in diameter, with numerous tightly packed purple, violet, pink or white flowers.

Globularia species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Coleophora virgatella.

Several members of the genus, such as Globularia cordifolia and Globularia punctata, are cultivated and sold for garden use.

Under the old Cronquist system of plant classification, they were treated in their own family, Globulariaceae, but genetic evidence has shown that the genus belongs in the family Plantaginaceae.

Most species are known by the scientific name as Globularia. They are also sometimes known by the name “globe daisy”, a confusing name as they are not closely related to daisies.