Natural Science Forum / Biology / Botany / May 2004

I found this plant in our apartment garage recently. It is about five
feet
tall. All of the top leaves are sort of brown at the top. Growth is
sparse. There is some new  unhealthy looking growth on bottom

How does one determine why a plant's scientific name has been
changed in recent years? Is there some journal (online or not)
that is the official record-keeper of these changes?
I saw an usual vine in flower yesterday, and could not find it

Came across a patch of 3 lobed maple trees. They look like amur maples.
They are mature and small in size, however they are never red in Fall
color. So I wonder if there is a species of 3 lobed maples that is
absent of red Fall color.

What is this palm? At least, I assume it is a palm.
It's in a Sydney garden.
http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~richwrig/Palm.jpg

Ouch, this was painful, because it was some kind of cactus !
Ouch !

A mini "Frequently Asked Questions" for sci.bio.botany
This is an unmonitored ("feral") NG that is irregular in all other respects
as well, foremost in the frequency of postings. The topic is botany, in all
its aspects, but excluding topics covered in other newsgroups, such as

Yesterday visited my plum trees and noticed a few of the small fruits
having blown up like a tire empty of a seed and pale in color. It
reminds me of a similar thing in corn where the kernels puff up almost
like popcorn on the ear.  So I wonder if the corn disease is what causes

In case anyone cares. You will recall I was trying to remember the name of a
houseplant which is one of the OSX screen images. It is a hybrid, Pilea 'Moon
Valley.' The Russians have a similar cultivar called 'Norfolk.'
Iris,

At the moment I have 3 groups of cuttings that I am experimenting with.
I have the Crimson Red Norway maples and the shiners blue spruce and the
Sunburst honeylocust. I have called them "cuttings" all of my life but
see another term for this practice as "soil layering" or "tissue

A large orange flower with a blue like center arising from a single
stem. It is the most brilliant orange flower I have seen. The leaves
look almost like a thistle leaf but they are hairy and not thorny. I am
guessing they are a sort of poppy flower but that is a guess.

Does anyone know if airport X-ray machines affect cuttings (or plants in
general)? Are the effects of luggage X-rays similar to that of  X-rays for
humans, i.e. safe, when only done once in a while , or  is there a serious
increase in the chance of  damage to the plants' genetic ...

I've posted some photos of some unidentified landscape items on my web
site:
http://members.rogers.com/ruminda/gardens2.htm
I moved in last July and most of the trees/shrubs/plants, etc. were

Please identify the two trees/shrubs whose photo webpages are posted
here. The photos were taken mid-May around a library and an apartment
complex in northern New Jersey.
Tree 1, five photos. My guess is chokecherry, however the trunk does

ID this tree for me, growing in Santa Fe. Quite a lovely specimen. Needles
are prickly and dense, closely protruding branches.
May be a Spruce.
http://home.earthlink.net/~gnarlodious/MysteryTree/

One of the reasons I want white ash is for its Fall color of leaves with
purple. But last week I ventured down a road which had two trees of
purple leaves and I presume for all of the season and not just during
Autumn. So I ask myself the question of why bother with a white ash