Mr. Lake's New Orleans Forum

Anybody?

When I see my Momma I'll show her the photo -- she'll know what it's called (or at least, what she calls it) because both she and I have these growing in our gardens. I think she calls it "Bird of Paradise" but I know that AloitReadah has a real "Bird of Paradise" which looks nothing like this.

Yes- that's what we always called it but I want some and that is not a name I can take to a nursery. The one my father planted for me the day he died was lost in the freeze last year as was his. It rarely puts out a tiny red "bird" flower. It also comes in a solid green. I saw it called a hoya/wax plant (where I found this pic) but that gives me shinola on the internet so maybe that's wrong. The plant my father bought said "false bird of paradise" Every one of those on the internet look like bird of paradise and not like this. I need a real name.

edited to add: this is the link I found and the ONLY pic -don't ask how I finally found it - on the internet, so far.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/House-Plants ... kind-1.htm

Looks like a Peperomia Scandens to me.

Edited to add: I've committed negligant planticide on a few of those.

Euphorbia tithymaloides 'Variegatus' got me here----> http://jennysgarden.com/cactus-succulen ... Cactus.htm

Pedilanthus tithymaloides 'Variegatus'
(Varriegated Devil's Backbone, Christmas Candle, Jacob's Ladder, Japancese Poinsettia, Redbird Cactus, Slipper's Spurge, Zigzag Plant)

I can't tell you how hard that was.

Blooming: http://www.aogc.org/calendar/000070.html

Solid green:http://www.ehow.com/how_5383765_grow-red-bird-plant.html

MORE THAN YOU WANT TO KNOW about it's medical and hallucinogenic aspects:
"Pedilanthus tithymaloides is kind of a funny plant to research, since after you clear all the standard houseplant sites and plant sellers out of the way, what you are left with is a lot of scientific stuff that cannot be accessed without (expensive) subscriptions. So there's indication that a lot of work is being done on and with this plant . . . somewhere, but you, unless you have thousands of dollars to sink into subscriptions for publications like The Journal of Parasitology, have to make do with the abstracts, or sometimes even less than the abstracts.

So I know, for example, that Pedilanthus tithymaloides has been evaluated for use in controlling the organisms that cause malaria,1 schistosomiasis, and tuberculosis. It's been looked into as a possible renewable fuel source. Medical science is exploring it as the source of interesting anti-inflammatory drugs, or as a general antibacterial / antimicrobial. It also does something people find interesting when it's deprived of water for a while, and papers have been written about how the leaves won't change from green to pink without daily temperature fluctuations.2 And on and on in that vein.

In short, there seems to be general agreement that this plant must be good for something, or possibly many things, even, but at this point, in terms of confirmable information, we got bupkus. It'd be handy to come up with a use, since it's already invasive in India, and, you know, if it's going to grow itself without any help, it behooves us to find a way to use it all. We just haven't, you know, done that yet. (Or have we? Only the scientists know for sure. . . .)
The scientific interest mainly revolves around the sap, which is white and opaque and full of unusual compounds – granted, they're compounds produced so the plant can burn your flesh off,3 but we overlook that sort of behavior in a lot of other plants (for example, and another example, and a third example), so I see no reason to single out Pedilanthus tithymaloides4 for disapproval. As with these other plants, if you're doing some pruning or whatever, you'll want to use some common sense: take some basic precautions to keep the sap from touching your skin or eyes, and then if you get some sap on you anyway, wash it off.

Wikipedia, incidentally, makes the bold assertion "In Perú, it is called cimora misha and is sometimes added to psychedelic brews made from mescaline-containing Trichocereus cacti. Its pharmacology is unknown." So, wikiposedly,5 this is a psychoactive plant, but I suspect it's not a very good one if they 1) only use it "sometimes" and 2) the U.S. government still regards it as legal. But we can still, I suppose, add "psychoactive drug" to the list of things Pedilanthus tithymaloides maybe wants to be when it grows up, if it ever grows UP. " http://plantsarethestrangestpeople.blog ... nthus.html

organisms, isnt that what I read CopCop was experiencing recently? i will look in my plant funknwagnell.

No problem...go over to my house and whack some parts off of my plants in the back yard (I assume they can be rooted easily from "parts" -- if not, dig up one of mine and take it home).