#drimia

[ruthbancroftgarden]

Drimia media

Drimia is a genus of bulbs formerly placed in the Hyacinth Family, but with the re-shuffling of monocot families in recent years, it has wound up in the subfamily Scilloideae within the Asparagus Family. D. media forms a clump of relatively small bulbs with tufts of almost cylindrical upright-growing leaves. The slender flower stalks come in late summer to fall, bearing small off-white flowers with curled-back tips (note that the flower stalks appear in the upper photo above, but it is easy to overlook them). Though the flowers aren't showy, they are a delight if you bend close enough to see them up close. This species comes from the winter-rainfall region in the southwestern part of South Africa, but its eastern populations are in places that also get rain at other times of the year, and it does not go dormant.

-Brian

[botaniqueer]

I kept forgetting to mention!! I finally joined a plant society! They're great ways of connecting to people, getting expertise, and also trading seeds and plant material!

The one I joined is the North American Rock Garden Society, but there are a ton of different ones out there around the world. After paying all the dues and stuff, they let me put in seed repository requests! I got waaaay more than I thought I would, and a good variety of different stuff! (Unfortunately no super weird Claytonias like I was hoping :P)

Some of them have even been sown and have germinated by now! The little specks of green Anacampseros rufescens (12 days) and Rhadamanthus (=Drimia) platyphylla (12 days) respectively.

[fraenum]

Squill / sea onion (Drimia maritima) flowering stem, bulb, leaf and floral segments Colored lithograph after M. A. Burnett, c. 1847 Wellcome Collection

[cheapsweets]

The Devoted Vaegshar

My response to this week’s BestiaryPosting challenge, from @maniculum

Pencil sketch, then lines in Sailor fude nib fountain pen, using Diamine Sepia ink. Not a lot of time or energy this week, but I tried to have some fun with it :)

Thought process under the cut…

"The Vaegshar, so called from the sound it makes, [redacted], is a shy bird, and stays all the time on mountain summits and in deserted, lonely places. It shuns the houses and society of men and keeps to the woods. Even in the winter time, when it has lost its plumage, it is said to live in the hollow trunks of trees. The Vaegshar also overlays its nest with squill leaves, in case a wolf should attack its young. For it knows that wolves usually run from leaves of this kind.

It is said that when the she-bird is widowed by the loss of her mate, she holds the name and rite of marriage in such esteem, that because her first experience of love has deceived her, cheating her with the death of her beloved, since he has become permanently unfaithful and a bitter memory, causing her more grief by his death than he gave her pleasure from his affection, for this reason she refuses to marry again, and will not relax the oaths of propriety or the contract made with the man who pleased her. She reserves her love for her dead mate alone and keeps the name of wife for him."

We have a decently long description this time, and we know it's definitely a Bird, but the rest is more a description of the behaviour than any physical description.

With all this freedoms, I was actually influenced heavily by the approach of @strixcattus and their naturalist-style descriptions; rather than taking everything in the bestiary text literally, I started thinking about what kind of appearence could have caused the writers to come up with these associations (particularly the widowed/mourning aspect).

As such, the female Vaegshar has a crest of feathers that resembles a widow's cap/mourning cap, or alternately a 'Mary Stuart cap', with a peak or heart-shape, and streamers down the sides. Is this a little anachronistic? Given that the widow's cap was Victorian, and Mary Stuary lived (and died) in the 1500s, the answer is probably yes, but I didn't have the time to research medieval mourning customs in detail, and it gave me a nice visual cue to start with.

Of course, the smaller and more flamboyant male Vaegshar has a simlar crest, only the 'streamers' are longer and stand up more. I like to think that for both of them, they can lay their crests flat or raise them for display.

The rest of the birds were largely based on the Eurasian Wren (the bird with the best scientific name, Troglodytes troglodytes), including the colouring and markings (with a little extrapolation/jazzing up, as we know from the description that these birds have breeding or nuptual plumage). They are really cool, funky little birds. Reading the description back, they are probably a little small (I doubt a nestful of wren-sized birds would provide even a fun-sized snack for a wolf)!

On a slight tangent, I am pleased to find out about a plant called 'squill'! It's either Drimia (medicinal, poisonous, so seems likely given the description) or Scilla (which is amusing given that a synonym for Drimia is Charybdis...)

[noahs-art-gallery]

銀山猿子&ドリミアナナ 制作途中だけどあまりにも最近投稿できてなかったので経過でも！ ドリミアナナのはながなかなか可愛かったのと、赤いギンザンマシコが合う！　配置は微調整するけど、パターンにしたくなってきました😊 It’s been a while since I posted last time, I was painting commission wort for a week:) This pink flowers are from Drimia nana and the bird is called Pinicola enucleator. Cute bird isn’t it?! (宮城県栗原市) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpOsJJDrZc9/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[ieisia]

Albert Hofmann

Swiss chemist known for being the first to synthesize, ingest, and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide(LSD). Hofmann's team also isolated, named and synthesized the principal psychedelic mushroomcompounds psilocybin and psilocin.

Of his decision to pursue a career as a chemist, Hofmann provided insight during a speech he delivered to the 1996 Worlds of Consciousness Conference in Heidelberg, Germany:

Discovery of LSD

In 1929 Hofmann became an employee of the pharmaceutical/chemical department of Sandoz Laboratories (now a subsidiary of Novartis) as a coworker of Arthur Stoll, founder and director of the pharmaceutical department. He began studying the medicinal plant Drimia maritima(squill) and the fungus ergot as part of a program to purify and synthesize active constituents for use as pharmaceuticals. His main contribution was to elucidate the chemical structure of the common nucleus of the Scilla glycosides (an active principle of Mediterranean squill). While researching lysergic acid derivatives, Hofmann first synthesized LSD on 16 November 1938. The main intention of the synthesis was to obtain a respiratory and circulatory stimulant (analeptic) with no effects on the uterus in analogy to nikethamide (which is also a diethylamide) by introducing this functional group to lysergic acid. It was set aside for five years, until 16 April 1943, when Hofmann reexamined it and discovered its powerful effects. He described what he felt as being:

Three days later, on 19 April 1943, Hofmann intentionally ingested 250 micrograms of LSD. This trip was not as pleasant, as he said those around him appeared to become demons, furniture shifted into wicked creatures and he himself felt demonically possessed. This day is now known as "Bicycle Day", because he began to feel the effects of the drug as he rode home on a bike. This was the first intentional LSD trip.

Hofmann's research with LSD influenced several psychiatrists, including Ronald A. Sandison, who developed its use in psychotherapy. Sandison's treatment at Powick Hospital in England received international acclaim.

Hofmann continued to take small doses of LSD throughout his life, and always hoped to find a use for it. In his memoir, he emphasized it as a "sacred drug": "I see the true importance of LSD in the possibility of providing material aid to meditation aimed at the mystical experience of a deeper, comprehensive reality."

Further research

Hofmann later discovered 4-Acetoxy-DET, a hallucinogenic tryptamine. He first synthesized 4-AcO-DET in 1958 in the Sandoz lab. Hofmann became director of Sandoz's natural products department and continued studying hallucinogenic substances found in Mexican mushrooms and other plants used by aboriginal people there. This led to the isolation and synthesis of psilocybin, the active agent of many "magic mushrooms". Hofmann also became interested in the seeds of the Mexican morning glory species Turbina corymbosa, called ololiuquiby natives. He was surprised to find the active compound of ololiuqui, ergine (LSA, lysergic acid amide), to be closely related to LSD.

In 1962, Hofmann and his wife Anita Hofmann traveled to Mexico to search for the psychoactive plant "Ska Maria Pastora" (Leaves of Mary the Shepherdess), later known as Salvia divinorum. He was able to obtain samples of it, but never succeeded in identifying its active compound, which has since been identified as salvinorin A. In 1963, Hofmann attended the annual convention of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences(WAAS) in Stockholm.

[and-martinez]

Sa Lua

(Drimia marítima)

[agavex]

New plants from the Spalding Cactus Mart: Haworthia cooperi v. truncata, Haworthia truncata v. maughanii, Plectranthus rotundifolius, Plectranthus ernstii, Dudleya farinosa, Drimia uniflora, Echeveria 'Derosa', Aeonium 'Mardi Gras', Adromischus marianae f. herrei (green form), Adromischus uitewaalanus, Pterocactus decipiens WG202. April 2019.

[qingtiger]

Дримия расцвела. #flowers #flower #drimia https://www.instagram.com/p/CiMezORIjC-/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[tkk21]

Drimia platyphylla

2018.10.20

去年の9月にまいたドリミア プラティフィラから小さな葉が出てきました。

[eriospermum]

Schizobasis intricata  (Baker) Baker

[ruthbancroftgarden]

Drimia media

This delightful bulb is native to coastal areas in the southwest corner of South  Africa, and eastward as far as Knysna. At the western end of its range, it gets almost all of its rainfall in winter, but going eastward it gets more and more summer rain mixed in. It is notable for its long narrow upright leaves and its dainty spires of off-white flowers in summer. The classification of this bulb and its relatives has recently changed; it was formerly included in the family Hyacinthaceae, but this group is now put into the subfamily Scilloideae within the Asparagus Family.

-Brian

[botaniqueer]

I am trying to decide on whether to sell my trumpet and/or DSLR camera in order to scrape up some cash for basic needs + being able to progress my gardening hobby with some upgrades.

I ended up using the camera for the first time in a while (I thought I lost the charger in a move years ago, but then just found it as I bought a new one rip) and now this decision has been complicated because I remember how much I like having a dedicated camera I have full manual control of. The quality gap between phones and dedicated cameras has been closing but I'm still able to get better quality out of my ten year old Nikon it seems. Plus I can swap lenses and take nice macros. Here are some photos I took just now!

Adenium obesum (38 months)

Monilaria sp. (81 days)

Gonialoe variegata (50 months)

Cotelydon tomentosa

Echeveria peacockii

Mother of Thousands (Kalanchoe or Bryophyllum daigremontiana?)

Drimia intricata (47 months)

Haworthia var.

[awkwardbotany]

Poisonous Plants: Red Squill

Poisonous Plants: Red Squill

Humans have been at war with rats since time immemorial. Ridding ourselves of their nuisance behavior is increasingly unlikely, and in fact, some scientists believethat, following human extinction, rats will be poised to take our place as the most dominant species on earth. Despite being thwarted repeatedly, we make tireless attempts to control rat populations. One major weapon in our arsenal is…

[anpale]

Cebolla albarrana

[paeonia-horse]

Drimia Indica