Comments on: On-line Natural History

On-line Natural History

OmieWise — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 07:16:03 -0800

Wayne's World (an unfortunate name for a great website) is "An On-line Textbook of Natural History." I went looking for information on Vanilla, which I knew is the only commercial food product of an orchid, but which I didn't know is hand-pollinated, and found information on so much more. There are several extensive courses available on basic biology and botany, a huge section on chemicals in plants and animals, and tons of fun stuff like "The Truth about Cauliflory" and "Bat-Pollinated Flowers Of The Calabash & Sausage Tree." The index is extensive and covers everything from "Absinthe: An Herb That May Have Poisoned Vincent van Gogh" to "Ziricote: Beautiful Caribbean Hardwood In The Borage Family."

By: mediareport

mediareport — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 07:32:52 -0800

I just had to see the professor behind this. Be sure to click the image for his post-retirement pics. Stunning site, OmieWise; thanks so much for posting it. The sausage tree alone is worth a visit.

By: aldus_manutius

aldus_manutius — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 07:59:39 -0800

..."Vanilla, which I knew is the only commercial food product of an orchid,..." Actually, orchids are used in Turkey for a food product that is decribed as "like ice cream"...these are not, obviously, the same species as Vanilla. Orchids have a surprising number of commercial uses, but clearly, Vanilla is the one that everyone recognizes. (Yes, I grow orchids, including Vanilla.) Cool site, great find.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 08:23:55 -0800

aldus_manutius writes "Actually, orchids are used in Turkey for a food product that is decribed as 'like ice cream'" I'd love more information on this, as the vanilla-orchid connection has been one of my favorite little facts (factettes) for a while. I know that there is a use of orchids for food by some jungle tribes in SA, but I don't know much else about that either (but that's why I said commercial food use, although clearly I'm wrong about that).

By: vaportrail

vaportrail — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 08:31:44 -0800

The name may be unfortunate, but it is Wayne's Word, not worLd.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 08:51:03 -0800

vaportrail writes "but it is Wayne's Word, not worLd." Your right. What a putz (me, not him).

By: cavalier

cavalier — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 09:25:20 -0800

Aw. And here I was about to break into a Party Time - Excellent chant..

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 13:10:27 -0800

it is Wayne's Word, not worLd In the beginning was Wayne's Word, and the Word was with Wayne, and the Word was Wayne?

By: aldus_manutius

aldus_manutius — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 14:29:20 -0800

OmieWise: it's called "salepi dondurma" and here are a couple of links to check out... http://www.friedchillies.com/review.php?id=122 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3126047.stm http://www.orchidgreenhouse.com/helpfuls.cfm?Page=ice-cream (this is an article by Eric Hansen, author of the book "Orchid Fever") http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1134/is_n3_v106/ai_19441247 Hope this leads in the right direction!

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 16:51:14 -0800

Thanks for the links.

By: peacay

peacay — Fri, 05 Aug 2005 00:48:16 -0800

Jesus! That's a dbase & a 1/2! I've just been wandering around for an hour or so. Wow. So Santa Claus derives from an Amanita muscaria magic mushroom trip by lapland shamans eh? Learn something new every day. Cheers.