Before the written part of today's entry, a couple comments re: BPotD: you'll likely have noticed fewer entries lately, as well as long load times / stalled loading of images. We've determined that the garden's web server is starting to fail, so I'm trying to minimize the load on the server while we work to replace it (and one way to do so is to reduce traffic to the site). Unfortunately, we're not going to be able to move the whole site to the new server until after I take a couple trips that I had planned months ago. I suspect BPotD will continue to be infrequently published until mid-October (and let's hope the server lasts until then).
This month's biodiversity series is about "Tropical Biodiversity". Thank you to mondomuse@Flickr (aka Robert S. of Venice, California) for sharing today's image via the Botany Photo of the Day Flickr Pool. Much appreciated!
Furcraea foetida, known in English as Mauritius-hemp, giant cabuya or green-aloe, is native to parts of the Caribbean and northern South America. Do note that despite the common names, it is neither an Aloe nor from Mauritius. It's not a hemp, either, though it is used economically for extraction of the natural fibre fique (aka cabuya). The export of species of Furcraea from Brazil by the Dutch to its then-settlement in Mauritius eventually led to that common names.
Furcraea is named after Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy,a French chemist and entomologist. Fourcroy was one of four French collaborators in the creation of a standardized chemical nomenclature.
For additional images of Furcraea foetida, see the extensive image collection of naturalized plants in Hawaii: Furcraea foetida.
Botany resource link: A loose follow-up to the Drosera anglica entry a couple weeks ago: "Meat-eating plants losing ground in U.S.", via The Seattle Times, about the decline of carnivorous plants due to development, poaching and suppression of wildfires.
If there are fewer entries for a while and it takes until October or more to fix the server, I think we all can wait. I enjoy this site so much that I can put up with whatever it takes to keep it going. It also inspires me to perhaps be able to visit there in (BC) person one day.
Thanks for all of your hard work and letting us know in advance of the issues. Enjoy your trips.
J. Thompson
I agrre wholeheartedly with Sandy and Janeal about your very good job and hope you will have rewarding trips with many interesting pictures to come
I love the photo. I had no memory of seeing that plant before, but the Hawaii site showed a photo of the bulbils, and now I've found the photo I took of those in a private garden in Hobart. We were all very excited by the inflorescence with all those bulbils hanging on it. I thought that name seemed familiar. I didn't even photograph the base of the plant, so thanks for completing the picture for me.
Hmm - you're trying to reduce site traffic, but I get to facebook-like the posting, which puts a link on facebook, which presumably increases traffic, not that I have a lot of friends.
Best wishes for your trips, and I shall savour the photos even more for their scarcity - hope you can get it sorted out eventually without too many tears.
Hang in there, Daniel. These posts are always looked forward to and are well worth the wait. May your server hold together long enough.... : >
a wonderfully striking plant that I have in a pot on my back porch - one of my favorites!
Wendy, that was instituted with the redesign (when I was trying to determine if it was the antiquated coding running BPotD causing the problems). So, perhaps that shouldn't have gone in (in retrospect), but I didn't know that at the time.
I think you have one of the best horticultural sites around. I am a plant geek in the business of selling plants for the last 12 years, and I am more delighted by your site than just about anything else I receive industry wise. Includeing new plant catalogs which have previously been the most exciting plants stuff I get. Thanks Daniel. Wish I could have your job!
I save many of the BPOTD as I a) love the photos, b) check out the attached links later. The infinite variety of plants and their adaptations to grow, attract pollinators and produce seed is quite amazing and humbling in a way. Thanks for your efforts, Daniel.