poisonshroom

Looks like some of the iboga are ready. They still have leaves and they dont move when tugged gently - not game to take them out of the pots to check though because i dont want to damage any new roots. Still heaps left (especially cacti)

hahaha I can assure you I'm none of those things, so maybe Im not the best candidate I dont know how many professional botanists wear suits either lol maybe a safari suit

Im a botany student (or was until my university cut botany as a major this year, but I still do mostly plant related subjects in a bachelour of science), which will make me a 'professional' in the future. Id like to help out as much as I can (even if its just with checking references and proof reading or perhaps getting assistance/info from real 'professionals'), but being all the way up in North QLD, it makes it a bit more difficult at the moment. Maybe by the time I finish my degree this will be all up and running and expanding, and I could contribute as a professional. At the moment Im an amateur, but I still have access to scientific literature and could one day be regarded as a professional, so although at the moment things are a bit turbulent (for me personally) Id still like to help out in any way I can, and one day help bring this up north or wherever I end up. This is a cause I strongly believe in, and would like to see it gain momentum and hopefully make a difference, so for now Im happy to help in any way I can, and hopefully one day be able to contribute a lot more.

Just started skimming those articles, interesting the first one mentions it's endangered, but everything else Iv seen and read seems to indicate a weedy habit. The ones in my yard popped up out of nowhere, and I recall Torsten mentioning once that he gets them popping up in pots randomly from time to time too. The berries look well suited to being dispersed by birds or small mammals and the seeds have a high viability and survive a long time - My potted ones took months to sprout, and the seeds were mouldy looking when I dug them up several times to check on them.

I was picking black sapotes in my yard today (the tree is in a chook pen), and I decided to look on the side that was up against the fence, and I came across this 6 foot tall R. tetrophylla tree! I couldnt figure out where it came from, being so large (my potted ones are only about 30-40cm tall), but i remembered that I left a bunch of berries tripsis gave me a while ago out in a dish to dry out more, and they kept going missing. The culprit was most likely rats, and this happens to be against the fence I often see rats running along. Just thought I'd share - I didnt think rats would do too well eating the berries, but obviously they are good at distributing the seeds. the other possibility is birds eating the berries off my potted ones, which always have fruit. Im also interested in knowing more about the plant and its uses, there doesnt seem to be all that much out there.

That should be fine - there's plenty on there. I also noticed one in my front yard this morning. Definitely got some weed potential, but according to the James Cook Uni website its already a weed in townsville, but Iv never seen one wild anywhere here apart from my yard. The weed potential is pretty much what stopped me from planting out one of my potted ones into the ground (we get flooding in our back yard from a creek that runs along the street behind the houses, and I was worried flooding could spread the seeds further (the creek connects to the bohle river), and create ideal germination conditions - I usually soak them before planting to increase germination. At least they dont look too bad - nice soft leaves and attractive flowers and fruit (they kind of remind me of young Alstonia muelleriana plants - similar leaves, but smaller), but a weed is a weed. Perhaps I should pull them up and dispose of them thoughtfully Anyone know much about them (including uses - traditional or otherwise)?

Hopefully they'll be ok. I got them out a bit late too, so they were in the mail over the weekend, which isnt ideal. Thanks for buying =] let me know how they go

Is basellia the ceylon/malabar spinach? That stuff is great (if you have space for it and a tree/structure you dont mind getting completely overrun). In the tropics it grows like crazy even from tiny pieces that fall on an area that gets occasional water, and it seeds prolifically. It has invasive potential here, but its easy enough to pull up because it has soft stems and doesnt appear to sucker much. The fruit also have potential as a dye, but not sure if they are toxic or not - all i know is after pulling a bunch of it off a tree it smothered I had purple spots all over me for a week lol The young leaves are nice and succulent and have a pleasant taste, and the two colour varieties make it a good addition to salads and stuff to add some colour and different textures. Egyptian spinach is another one that goes wild and will self seed all over your yard. Doesnt taste too bad either and the leaves have some kind of mucilage that can thicken sauces and stuff. In the tropics cherry tomatoes are pretty handy too, because they self seed and can tolerate humidity, drought, heavy clay soil etc where most other varieties can only be grown in winter. Pretty much every time I go for a walk anywhere here I see wild cherry tomatoes, and they always taste amazing

Got plenty of stuff left - except kava. Psychotria and iboga cuttings are going well, and looks like most (at least the psychotria) should take, but in my experience iboga looks healthy and like its growing until it just suddenly rots away in like one day, but i have my fingers crossed ;)

Thats where I got mine. I think they have limited stock in summer, but it sells out quickly. same with Herbalistics

Not sure about unrooted (probably not well), but once they have roots they seem to be ok. Both mine arrived safely when i first got them. They do tend to lose their leaves and grow new ones though because they dont seem to like change in conditions. they are quite hardy and recover well though, and generally adapt to their new microclimate well (mine have small thick leaves because they are in almost full sun, but they had large soft ones when i first got them)

here it is! 2x ~25cm 'eileen' 3x ~25cm T. Scopulicoula 3x ~25 cm Superpedro x Psycho0 2x ~25cm Pachanoi x Superpedro 5x TBM (sizes ranging from about 5cm-10cm) 2x 30cm T. peruvianus 'medicine garden red spine' 2x pc pach pups (~25 and 30cm) 6x Opuntia macrocentra pads (~5-10cm diameter) 3x Echinopsis (trichocereus?) sp. KK337 Stapelia cuttings (I think theres a photo of the flower in my gallery) 4x Trichocereus macrogonus(?) KK1422 4-5 tabernaemontana australis suckers 1x ~20cm T. santaensis 2x ~20cm T. peruvianus 'gnosis' All cactus cuttings are unrooted unless you want to wait for me to do that (could take a while) and are a lucky dip of tip and mid cuttings (some im saving the tip). I also have a couple of unrooted brugmansia 'ceulebra' cuttings available, and a lot of white B. aurea and apricot B. candida requests for things will be best done through pm so i can keep track of everything. ps. bread filter thats an excellent idea. just pm me and we'll work something out

Hey guys - Im considering moving in the next few months, and I figure it will be easier if I dont have to worry about lugging big plants around (stumps are easier/lighter). I also could use the extra dollars - my work is quite unreliable, and I need to get my car working and so on. Some of the plants and cuttings I would be looking at getting rid of would include: Various cacti cuttings (mainly trichocereus -including hybrids and maybe seedlings -, but others too) Psychotria (various) - Would people be interested in unrooted cuttings or would it be better to try and get a bunch started? (postage would probably be cheaper for unrooted) Succulents (delosperma and sceletium mainly) - probably also unrooted cuttings, but they are quite easy to strike, so I could do some of each) Brugmansia - a few different species/varieties and hybrids Possibly some Iboga cuttings - I think id try and get them rooted first, because they can be a pain to strike, and I wouldnt want people to feel they have been ripped off, when they cant get them to strike) Various fig cuttings Possibly some kava cuttings (again, might be best if i get them started first, rather than send unrooted cuttings) Probably some other things too, but its too hot to go outside at the moment lol Anyway, basically I want to know what the demand for such items are before I go cutting everything down - like I assume most people here would agree, mutilated cacti dont look as nice even after a few years when they grow back more vigorously as they do if they are left to do their own thing. Its also a lot of effort and may mean I'll have even more stuff ill need to take with me. Im also considering starting a bunch of seeds so there will be even more to chose from later on. Also anyone in the Townsville area might be interested in some of my bigger plants (like my Voacanga africana, which is as tall as me), which I couldnt really send, and definitely cant take with me. Im also after some suggestions as to how I can move my plants with me (they are pretty much all in pots) safely and ideas for other people or groups who may be interested or interesting ways to make things more appealing (for example auctions, or bundling things together) Anyway - Ill be checking back here over the next few days and probably adding more possibilities and if I get enough interest ill start preparing things, then probably place an ad in the classifieds section as well as this subforum. Also what's people's opinions on how legislation changes will affect this kind of thing? I dont want it to come back and bite me in the ass big time (like a lot of the things i do tend to -_-) or anything. Would receipts or something be a good idea? That way I can at least keep track of where everything went, but its also a record that may become incriminating at some stage, which by the sounds of it is up to the feds and the government if and/or when that happens. Looking forward to the responses

Holy crap guys! I come back from work and my inbox is full of requests and plenty in this thread too!! On sunday I'll make a full list of what I have on offer and post it here and the classifieds section and send a copy to anyone that pm'ed me. Ill probably work out prices on a case by case basis for most things, because by the looks of it most people are interested in multiple items, so it'll be easier to do it that way i think. And you're right trichpatch about ebay - its where my first one came from, and you see them there all the time. As for the brugs I have White B. aurea, white ceulebra (not much though), peach/apricot B. candida (i think) and the hybrids are from seed I got from Incog I think, which from memory was a cross between a white and a pink - unsure of the species though, and I have two small individuals, which ill probably sell the whole plants - never had flowers on them though as they are too small. Ill have a crack at some more iboga cuttings, the last ones I only got one out of 3 to take, but Iv refined my technique a bit and should have more luck. They wont do well in temperate (or even cool climates - they suffer in townsville winter), but if you have a hot house or your house is warm inside you can bring them in over winter (they like humidity though, so keeping them enclosed is a good idea). I would make a bush garden, but the soil here is solid clay, that turns to mud when we get our month or two of continuous rain in summer. The rest of the year its so desolate the soil is hydrophobic and rock hard. Im probably going to try and keep a cutting or two of everything for myself, or just the stumps, so they should grow back, but if I lose anything in the process Ill probably hit you guys up to try and buy some cuttings back =] Thanks again guys - I love this place XD Ps I can send to WA and tassie and maybe overseas, but of course this is at the buyers risk (but Im pretty sure everything Iv sent to all of those places has made it in the past)

Looks good - I was going to sign up for it too Some of the other Biology ones look interesting as well

Atlas of living Australia and the state herbariums also have pretty good online resources. Also (not online), a lot of the capital cities (as well as cairns) have herbariums with public sections that you can look at actual preserved specimens and identification books/field guides

Lets all go to Bolivia And whitewind, interesting suggestion - Id be part of that. Im a botany/science student and my goal in life is to investigate plants for new medicines and/or alternative food crops and farming practices, and all this not only affects my collection, but also possibly my future/career/hobby/passion. I guess we just have to wait and see what actually comes of this. Its sad that itll probably take someone getting hurt to find out just what this means for us as collectors though (ie we probably wont know what kind of punishment people will face until someone gets their door kicked in and dragged through court)

You would think, but the tropanes in brugmansia and datura are very potent (a couple of mg could kill you)

Black cockatoos come in and rip peoples trees up here too. They seem to like terminalias and things with soft wood and open structures. Im pretty sure they just do it for fun, because when they are in the trees they basically just chew the branches off and drop them and have a go at the seed pods, but not actually eat them. Then they go down to the ground under the trees and start chewing up the fallen branches and just leave them there

Awesome =] thanks for the info. If you could collect some seed Id definitely be interested in giving some a shot. I like terminalias and most species are edible in one way or another (the gum that exudes from the stems, the seeds etc) and they usually look nice too, except when they start to go deciduous and the leaves go all blotchy lol

Cereus peruvianus I think. Not sure what the one on the top is though

Not sure about how well it grows in other climates and so on, but I think the mega high vitamin C content was only detected in one fruit sampled (out of i think only 2 or 3), and the others had lower amounts or none at all. A lot of Australian food plants are known to be low in nutrients and the ones with high levels of vitamins and minerals tend to vary quite a lot in their contents. Having said that Im still interested in growing some of these things. Rahli - do you know how far south these guys grow (are they even in QLD?)?

EDIT: - just realized I'v already posted pretty much what i was going to say I shouldnt post things first thing in the morning

Iv seen the same thing with a gecko - its kinda funny, but brutal. Spines are a cactus' main defence mechanism

He mentioned a bit earlier he is going in during the day then somewhere else (home i guess) at night, but will probably end up sleeping there when he is too weak to set stuff up every day. Good luck greg - although Im not sure i support your entire movement (at least the religious/spiritual aspect) its good to see someone actually getting out there and trying to do something, unlike the majority of us. Hopefully you can help get the wheels of change turning (finally)