| Ian Dunn
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| 520085. Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:26 am |
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Perhaps the oddest named tree in Britain and possibly in the world, the No Parking Whitebeam (Sorbus admonitor) is a tree discovered in Devon which gets its name from the fact that the type specimen, found in a lay-by near Watersmeet had a "No Parking" sign nailed onto it.
According to the Wikipedia article, which was today listed in its "Did You Know?" section dedicated to new articles:
| Quote: | | Although first recognised as a distinct variety in the 1930s (by the botanist Edmund Heff-Warburg) because of its strongly-lobed leaves, it was only accorded species status in 2009, after biochemical analysis at the University of Wales. It is believed at least 110 individuals of the species exist. The leaves of the No Parking Whitebeam have more accentuated lobes than the Devon Whitebeam, of which it was thought before to be a variety. |
The tree is officially recognised as an endangered species.
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| Posital
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| 520089. Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:38 am |
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Botanists, eh?
They know how to live it up... |
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| Ian Dunn
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| 520177. Wed Mar 11, 2009 1:10 pm |
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| Yes. Does anyone know of any other oddly names trees or plants? |
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| AlmondFacialBar
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| 520188. Wed Mar 11, 2009 1:20 pm |
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not really odddly named, but unique on earth:
the glencormac cypress. it was planted in 1874 as an ordinary monterey cypress in what was then the garden of james jameson and is now avoca handweavers in glencormac, co. wicklow. shortly afterwards it turned out that this tree is by no means ordinary but a weeping mutation - the branches point down. it's believed to be the only mature tree of its kind in the world and has been accorded its own subspecies status, cupressus macrocarpa pendula. in the national botanic gardens in dublin they're currently trying to propagate it with cuttings.
it's a truly magnificent tree as you can see in the piccie. actually the garden is well worth seeing for tree freaks anyway. they've several giant sequoias, too.
:-)
AlmondFacialBar |
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| Efros
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| 520205. Wed Mar 11, 2009 1:50 pm |
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| Toadflax is called "Butter and Eggs" in the US. The Toad bit in Toadflax is due to the flowers' resemblance to small toads, personally I think somebody was smoking something. |
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| Starfish13
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| 520214. Wed Mar 11, 2009 2:08 pm |
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The grugru palm Acrocomia aculeata of Central America and the Caribbean, is colloquially called the 'bastard tree' in Belize. This is due to the sharp spines, up to 10cm long, jutting out of the trunk, making it an extremely nasty place to put your hand when trekking through the jungle.
Another Belizean tree is the Trumpet Tree Cecropia peltata, which is a member of the nettle family. It has a hollow stem, and maintains a symbiotic relationship with aztec ants, who live inside the hollow and protect the tree from attack. I hate aztec ants. |
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| Droid
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| 520221. Wed Mar 11, 2009 2:20 pm |
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Although not oddly named +Laburnocytisus 'Adamii' is quite interesting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laburnocytisus_adamii
An example of this was recently 'discovered' in the Tapton Experimental gardens in Sheffield. Sadly my own photograph only showed yellow flowers. |
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| thegrandwazoo
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| 520330. Wed Mar 11, 2009 5:04 pm |
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Whitebeams seem to be particularly prone to hybridising and becoming new species. There was a piece in either the Times or Independent recently about a number of such new whitebeam species in Wales which make a nice example of evolution in action. It gave the example of trees in a valley which started as whitebeam/rowan crosses but are now breeding true to the new type. Apparently there was a fire which burnt away a lot of the other trees and gave these new seedlings a chance to get established.
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thegrandwazoo |
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| scubascooby
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| 520340. Wed Mar 11, 2009 5:20 pm |
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This may be one of those traps...
I saw this once on't telly. An outdoorsey Australian was showing a group of people around the forest telling them about the various trees, dangerous and otherwise.
He took some leaves or bark from one tree and gave it to one of the young ladies to rub between her hands and smell.
She burst into laughter as he explained that it's called the sperm tree. |
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| Efros
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| Ian Dunn
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| 522231. Sun Mar 15, 2009 2:30 pm |
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Sadly, it is not a plant, but this animal is also oddly named and is also quite interesting. It is the stoplight loosejaw, a deep-sea dragon fish which is unique amongst all animals in that it uses chlorophyll to see.
Wikipedia article
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My petition: Get QI Series D and onwards released on DVD
Last edited by Ian Dunn on Sun Mar 15, 2009 5:25 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| Efros
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| 522284. Sun Mar 15, 2009 5:00 pm |
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| Oooh nice one Ian, truly interesting. |
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| Ian Dunn
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| 522309. Sun Mar 15, 2009 5:26 pm |
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| Thanks very much Efros. ^_^ |
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| Ion Zone
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| 522490. Sun Mar 15, 2009 10:17 pm |
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| That is the weirdest fish I have ever seen. |
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| Ian Dunn
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| 522679. Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:28 am |
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| Indeed, weird but quite interesting. |
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