Featuring several detours into catmint, which is almost, but not quite, the same thing.

Article on catnip from my defunct blog: https://encyclopaediafelidae.com/crazy-for-catnip/

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

1. Catnip: Its raison d’être by T. Eisner (1964)
2. https://www.bhg.com/gardening/flowers/perennials/catmint-vs-catnip/
3. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181211103125.htm
4. https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/catnip-nepeta-cataria/
5. https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=e433
6. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/nepeta-cataria/
7. Catnip and oestrous behaviour in the cat by G. F. Palen and G. V. Goddard (1966) https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-3472(66)80100-8
8. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010828075659.htm
9. Inheritance of the catnip response in domestic cats by N. B. Todd (1962) https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a107121
10. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-how-does-catnip-work-on-cats/
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catnip

It’s one of history’s favorite poisons, Deadly Nightshade! It’s also one of my favorite plants, because it is both pretty and horribly toxic. The flowers are my favorite color!

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

1. Atropa Belladonna intoxication: a case report by Mohamed Adnane Berdai, et al. (2012)
2. https://www.europeana.eu/en/exhibitions/magical-mystical-and-medicinal/belladonna
3. https://sites.evergreen.edu/plantchemeco/deadly-nightshade/
4. https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/deadly-nightshade-botanical-biography
5. https://www.rxlist.com/how_do_anticholinergic_agents_work/drug-class.htm
6. An Evidence-Based Systematic Review of Belladonna by the Natural Standard Research Collaboration by Catherine Ulbricht, et al. (2004)
7. https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/ethnobotany/Mind_and_Spirit/belladonna.shtml
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticholinergic
9. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atropa_belladonna
10. https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/deadly-nightshade/

There is COVID in our house, and I still have to get up at 5 a.m. tomorrow. I can’t think of a clever description, but I managed to make an episode on time, so be proud of me, please. This tree is named after intestines. That’s pretty interesting, right?

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

1. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FR372
2. https://apps.worldagroforestry.org/treedb2/speciesprofile.php?Spid=734
3. Chemical composition, secondary metabolites and nutritive value of elephant-ear tree (Enterolobium cyclocarpum (Jacq.) Griseb): A review by N.J. Ekanem, Udoh Inyang, & Kingsley Ikwunze (2022) http://dx.doi.org/10.51791/njap.v49i2.3489
4. Enterolobium cyclocarpum Seed Passage Rate and Survival in Horses, Costa Rican Pleistocene Seed Dispersal Agents by Daniel H. Janzen (1981) https://doi.org/10.2307/1937726
5. https://www.govisitcostarica.com/blog/post/elephant-ear-tree-history-costa-rica-national-tree.aspx#
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterolobium_cyclocarpum#cite_ref-14
7. https://winrock.org/enterolobium-cyclocarpum-the-ear-pod-tree-for-pasture-fodder-and-wood/
8. Tropical Plants of Costa Rica by Willow Zuchowski