Natural Science Forum / Biology / Botany / July 2006

A gardener I know reckons that rain falling during a thunderstorm will
carry an electrical charge that's especially beneficial to the plants it
falls on, even waking them from a kind of dormancy.
Sounds like rubbish to me but I'm no scientist. Are there any facts for or

I have been hiking in Norway and I could identify 2 plants:
http://me.metaflow-project.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=436
http://me.metaflow-project.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=442
Can someone help?

Would anyone have advice on how the bending stiffness of a fiber-matrix
composite depends on the angle of the fibers? Should be a pretty basic
problem, but I could only find information for the stiffness in tension,
not bending. I would need this to discuss the influence of ...

Piedmont area of SC, Aiken county, USA.  Xeric pine-hardwood forest.
Sandy soil.
Labeled Mystery1, Mystery2, Mystery3 at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/raphanus97/

Should be easy.  Very plentiful here (Piedmont SC, xeric pine-hardwood
forest, sandy soil.)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/raphanus97/
I've been waiting for a flower - but have waited and waited and waited.

I was wondering if plants can act as a guage of soil pH rather than
scientific testing of soil samples. Whether if one sees a plant X
growing on the lot indicates the soil must be of a constrained pH.
The reason this question arises is because I was under the impression

Can anyone help me idetify the wild plant pictured at
http://www.putfile.com/cpal
(the first 5 photos - Plant 1--5).
I live in Northeast Ohio.  I find it in my wooded

We've recently moved to NE Washington state and would like to purchase
a book to help me identify local wildflowers.  Would appreciate your
suggestions on which one you would recommend.  So far I'm considering
"Washington Wildflowers" and "Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest".

I have ivy that climbs up the wall, over the kitchen window sill, and up the
glass until I cut it back. All fronds grow vertically ove rthe glass except
those within a foot or so of being under an extractor fan mounted in the
glass and used daily. Those fronds grow unerringly ...

Could someone tell me what vine this is?  I'm assuming it is in the
Cucurbitaceae. It's scrambling around an old stone wall in West Virginia.  
The flowers had fallen off and I neglected to get some good close-ups - but
thought the plant was probably distinctive enough to get an ...

My colleagues are looking for a simple photosynthesis lab for nonmajors
biology that does not use sophisticated equipment.  We are looking for
something other than a computer simulation, or separation/chromatography of
pigments, or the Hill reaction lab using DCIP ...

My colleagues are looking for a simple photosynthesis lab for nonmajors
biology that does not use sophisticated equipment.  We are looking for
something other than a computer simulation, or separation/chromatography of
pigments, or the Hill reaction lab using DCIP ...

I am interested in finding out medicinal properties of various cool
looking plants/weeds in backyard.  Please advise as to an efficient way
to get some pertinent information.

  Why is it that food plants often do not have enough of the key nutrients
they provide, and we are told we have to supplement with vitamins, minerals,
or herbs?
 Does this mean that in the distant past the food plants DID have enough

  Why is it that food plants often do not have enough of the key nutrients
they provide, and we are told we have to supplement with vitamins, minerals,
or herbs?
 Does this mean that in the distant past the food plants DID have enough