theobromos

Is Piper auritum found in Louisiana? I am pretty sure I remember the identity of that spice correctly. So sure I am not even going to look it up. Prove me wrong. I am not sure it contains much safrole compared to the other parts of the tree. Could be more like bay leaf. I see there is an interesting new Amazonian Piper species mentioned in Flavour and Fragrance Journal (2001) 16; 113-5 They call it Piper affinis hispidinervum, but only because it was previously mistaken for P. hispidinervum and they haven't got a new name for it yet. P. hispidinervum C. DC. was said to have up to 90% safrole in its essential oil. However this similar species had 4% of the dried leaf as essential oil. Of which 52.1-90.4% was sarisan (2-methoxy-4,5-methylenedioxy-1-propenylbenzene), an intriguing isomer of myristicin. I wonder if it is carcinogenic?

I just got the new Horizon Herbs catalogue http://www.chatlink.com/~herbseed . It lists Sassafras albidum (syn. S. officinale) for the first time. I have had lots of good quality seed from this company. If they say it is "Easy." from seed then I would say it is worth the US$2.65 plus post and packing from Oregon for the ten seeds. Though they do say it has "Flowers yellow to 100 foot tall." But that is just because they are more concerned with the seeds and plants than the wording in the catalogue. Check the rest of the catalogue (not all online still?) there are some delights. Aren't the leaves essential in Creole cooking? Filo?

You are full of useful bacteria and their usual substrate Try the mimosoid genera (Acacia, Mimosa, Albizia, Paraserianthes, for example) first before the more distantly related beans. The bacteria are a little fussy.

It is probably worth trying nodules from any other Mimosoids. I believe you might have a few in Australia.

You'll be needing Arnica afterward, I hazard. Cordyceps "sinensis" is one of the many medicinal herbs that were raped from the Tibetans by the invaders. Using the cultured form from elsewhere for your athletic endeavour would be a lovely irony. Good luck.

I am in Britain, I am afraid Darklight, I was being a little silly. You have experts a little closer to home. I would be happy to lend my tastebuds if you really want my opinion. Do you have Indonesian veg markets that sell Kentjoer? As for the confusion of galangals, that should be the collective noun for them. Alpinia galanga has been called Lesser and A. officinarum the Greater, or was it the other way round? One or the other may be Laos (but I thought that was a country). And then there is the English Galingale, which may or may not have been the one used in Medieval cookery in Britain, unless the Arabs were supplying the Asian Alpinias. This one is the hardy and fragrant sedge Cyperus longus, a relative of the Chufa (Tiger Nut) and the Nut Sedge that is such a virulent weed in the Tropics. Also mild and gingery, a very strange flavour. Not as perfumy as Cyperus rotundus but still unlikely to take off except amongst the culinary section of Historical Re-enactment societies. The Chinese name (in Pinyin) for Kaempferia galanga is Shan Nai which means Mountain Endurance. Mountains are, of course, associated closely with the Immortals in Chinese tradition. Those Immortals also noted for their liking for psychoactive mushrooms. I want Alpinia formosana but don't want to pay the price from the only supplier here. Very interesting kava-like compounds in that one and some relatives of it.

I had noticed the giveaway statement that Darklight's plant had not flowered. Mine flowered without any persuasion, as a houseplant kept above 18ºC (usually 25ºC and above), high humidity and 13 hours per day lighting. My Graecised re-spelling (one cannot misspell one's one pseudonym) was due to the browser forgetting my password, which I had never looked at. This was the only time I let the cookies do my passwords and the last time I trust anything a computer tells me. I should know better by now. It lied about emailing me my password if I forgot it too. I was too lazy to email properly and desperate to post something, so I de-Latinned. What have the Romans ever done for us, after all? I always preferred the Greeks. If you look up theobromus here you will see that I got a few posts out before the change. Error, me? Inconceivable!

My first K. galanga turned out to be a K. pulchra when it flowered and I eventually got it replaced. I lost that one to a move, unfortunately. Send me a sliver of root and I will give my organoleptic analysis Many Kaempferias are used for something, if only horse medicine. I found some useful pictures: http://www.hortpix.com/pc2385.htm http://gingers.50megs.com/Kaempferia1/ http://gingers.50megs.com/OtherGingers1/index.html shows a Boesenbergia which sounded more like the one in the description above. Spikes, though? B. pandurata, the Krachai has been confused and makes a very nice aphrodisiac liqueur. Only rational doubt, of course. The French Academie denied the possibility of meteorites for many years because of the fact that rocks could not be falling from the sky and it was only ever peasans who saw them fall.

Excuse my doubting, but there is a lot ofd confusion about galangals in so many books. Is the description you give of your plant? Kaempferia galanga won't get more than a foot tall and has small numbers of flowers, pure white with a chocolate blotch per lower petal. The root of this one is called Kentjoer in commerce and is very nice as a stimulant/euphoric.

You'll need to get this tested Do dancesafe do quantitative testing? If not then several other compounds could be added at different known levels so the ordering would give the approximate concentration. One could then just make a little pill out of the plant I would like some input as to whether people think that a year will be enough for this sort of experiment I seem to remember that the amino acid feeding experiments with Coryphantha macromeris showed that the turnover of macromerine was less than a month. Perhaps wira has a similar figure for the turnover of mescaline in Trichocerei? It would be unnecessary to do the experiment for longer than this turnover period. However these experiments only showed a 1% increase in alkaloid, (say from 1% to 1.01% rather than 1% to 2% alkaloid content). It would require very controlled conditions and sensitive testing to determine such a subtle change. Some of the trace elements could be used by the enzymes. Supplementation (or elimination of a competitor mineral) might be an interesting study, if somewhat complicated. Perhaps the effect of some plant hormones could be usefully examined, (acetyl- easier to obtain)salicylic acid or jasmonic acid for example. These are used by the plant to report injury and by other plants to warn their fellows, respectively. The plant perceiving itself to be endangered generally persuades it to mobilise its chemical defences. The experiments should be done at the season of expected highest production which I believe to be November in its native land.

Cleavers (Goosegrass, Galium something, aparine?) goes very well with chickweed when lightly boiled and served with garlic, soya sauce and walnut oil. Do you have purslanes in Oz?

I had read it came from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Certainly a few of the other, more widespread, Lagochilus would still be interesting to grow. The Seed Guild finances a seed-collecting expedition occasionally. This year they went to the Tien Shan (Heavenly Mountain) range in Kazakhstan. They only got 130 species of plants as it was a very poor year. They promised to do better next year. For a little over a hundred pounds sterling you can have a share of each variety collected. It is a million-to-one chance but it might just work! If you want to encourage Duncan McDougall in arranging another expedition then have a look at Compass Seeds/The Seed Guild www.compass-seeds.com or email him at [email protected]

I'm a harsh man At least where vegetable pandas are concerned. The concept of taking a cutting from a Rafflesia is rather mind-blowing. I suppose that would have to be very high tech. The UK has recently increased fuel taxes though they were already very high. Americans are horrified by petrol prices in the UK. Wind farms are being actively researched and even the Salter Duck is being reconsidered. We are also planting huge numbers of trees, such as the Great Forest enclosing Sherwood Forest where I was born. This despite our being a very crowded little country. My local council in Manchester has been helping us with our community garden project which is semi-permaculture. We already have a few dozen trees and are about to receive more, as well as the seedlings that are being raised. As far as I know the UK is not blocking international agreement on CO2 release.

Yes, reville, that was a dig. If amateur gardeners want to help save some endangered species they should, in my view, be concentrating on the flora of low-lying islands. These are the ones that will be disappearing first due to Lupus' government's lack of concern about CO2 controls. As Rafflesia are dioecious several hosts would have to be grown. Say it is a 30 metre tall vine and assume the root system must be unconfined and at least of that spread. Say 20 plants to ensure that there is at least one male. Unfortunately even in its habitat the plant is totally unpredictable in its flowering time. The likelihood of seed being obtained therefore seems very low even with a four acre greenhouse 100 foot tall even if the perfect conditions are chanced upon the first time. I wonder how many years they will take to come to maturity. Who will look after the plants after Lupus dies? Unless Lupus happens to be in one of those numerous rainforest areas of California. I can't help wondering how many parasitic plants Lupus has practised on before engaging on this project, let alone the commoner (less famous and smaller) members of the Rafflesiales like Cytinus. He certainly doesn't seem to be aware that many such plants are host-specific and that Tetrastigma has hundreds of species. T. voinierianum is from Vietnam, it may not be suitable and his "experiments" could lead to the loss of seed material that would be better used by someone with some idea of what they are doing. Or left within the ecosystem it evolved in and which appears to be still functioning. Perhaps this is due in part to the economic value of "the panda of the plant world". I would be interested to hear what the scientists of Sarawak have to say to a proposal from Lupus.

Is that a "National Park and Wildflower Cash'n'Carry" or the sort where they are trying to protect rare and endangered local flora from insane over-consuming plant collectors?