August 6. Still at the community garden."A film crew is coming to the garden this week!"
The Head Volunteer at the garden seemed more excited yesterday about the film crew than my discovery of the creeping nightshade growing on the garden walls.
I've had my eye on the plant for awhile. It seemed familiar to me, but I couldn't remember what it was. I did recall that the berries are toxic. I remember my mom shouting out the back door at us kids, "Don't eat those berries! They are poisonous!" When birds flew into the big window in our living room, my mom said it was because they ate those berries and got drunk.
Looking through field guides at home one night, I recognized a drawing of the plant. It's creeping nightshade, a relative of tomatoes and potatoes.
I like that purple and yellow flowers, green unripe berries, and red ripe berries - all those stages of plant life - appear on the creeper at the same time. And the shape of the leaves is wonderful. There's a name for that shape, but I can't remember what is it.
I couldn't wait to draw the plant on my next volunteer stint at the garden, but with the flutter about the film crew, I didn't get much drawing done before I had to put my pencils away, pull on a pair of gardening gloves, and haul stuff to the compost pile.
3 comments:
Leaves alternate, or alternate to opposite (usually alternate below, but often becoming opposite towards the inflorescence); usually spiral (at least below); ‘herbaceous’, or leathery, or modified into spines; petiolate (mostly), or subsessile, or sessile; non-sheathing; gland-dotted (rarely, e.g. Anthocercis), or not gland-dotted; aromatic, or foetid (assignment of (e.g.) Anthocercis as pleasant/unpleasant being a matter of opinion), or without marked odour (mostly); simple, or compound; epulvinate; when compound, ternate, or pinnate. Lamina dissected, or entire; when simple/dissected, pinnatifid, or spinose; pinnately veined; cross-venulate. Leaves exstipulate; without a persistent basal meristem. Domatia occurring in the family (from 4 genera); manifested as hair tufts.
General anatomy. Plants with ‘crystal sand’ (commonly), or without ‘crystal sand’.
Leaf anatomy. Stomata mainly confined to one surface, or on both surfaces; anomocytic, or anisocytic, or diacytic. Hairs usually present; multicellular. Multicellular hairs branched.
Lamina dorsiventral (usually), or isobilateral; without secretory cavities. The mesophyll containing mucilage cells (rarely), or not containing mucilage cells. Minor leaf veins without phloem transfer cells (5 genera).
I guess my eyesight is getting weaker - I hit publish rather than preview...
This is a scholarly text on the nightshade family. I have no idea which description of leaves might be what you seek, but I thought you might find that term here.
"Hastate" is the word I couldn't remember. That word describes the shape of the creeping nightshade leaf.
The plant kingdom has it's own language, and I'm conversing with words like, "green stick thing." I appreciate all the help I can get. Thanks!
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