Since the beginning of written history, people have tried to categorize things, organizing the web of life into a wide range of classifications to better understand the world. This was the beginning of taxonomy, or the science of naming things.
One spring morning, eight botanists packed into carpools and drove to a small town on the far edge of western Massachusetts to find a small white butterfly, Pieris virginensis, and its host plant, Cardamine concatenata and C. diphylla.
This morning, a news story broke that a rare palm was found to flower and fruit underground. This is an incredible story of a modern scientific discovery in several ways:The New Discovery This story comes with two new discoveries. First, a species of palm that is...
You can identify wild ginseng by following the information laid out in the article below. It is important to be able sift through your own natural underbrush to identify the ginseng crop, so let’s learn a bit about how to distinguish the plant before we go digging up our cultivated crop.
You might think that an oak is an oak, and there’s nothing else to it – but as a beginner botanist or curious naturalist, you might start to take a second look at those trees, however, and notice that they are all different. Red and white oaks are not just individual trees, but separate groups that contain different species. Fortunately, there's an easy way to tell them apart...
Roots are almost always underground, but these hidden systems are responsible for a range of functions from securing the plant in the soil to absorbing water and nutrients. You can think of the root system as the foundation of a building: it's what keeps the plant stable, nourished, and capable of growth throughout its life cycle.
Let’s pretend the latest James Bond villain had a How To guide to climate change. This villain wants nothing more than to see the world burn – in a figurative, but also very literal sense – so how would he do it?
In this article, HerbSpeak author D.K. Hall addresses the importance of climate action, several recent and significant climate events, why you should care about it, and why it is happening at such a rapid pace.
Chances are, while you are in lockdown, you’ve popped up a bird feeder, or you’ve taken to birdwatching, even if it’s off-and-on from your new home office window. You might have even found yourself asking “have these brightly-colored birds always been here?” They...
Over the last few years, a lot of people have begun turning to alternate methods of gardening. One ‘alternative’ method is planting native plants in lieu of the typical garden plants we might be familiar with today. Let’s take a look at why – and how – this can be...
Is Panax Ginseng the Same as Ginseng? Yes, Panax ginseng is commonly referred to as Ginseng, and it is considered the original ‘true ginseng’. Also considered a true ginseng is American ginseng, also known as Panax quinquefolius. The name ginseng may also refer to...
In this guide, you will learn how to identify the different ginseng lookalikes in the native habitat of your crop, allowing you to avoid painful rashes and crop loss when pulling unwanted plants from your wild simulated patch.
You might be surprised to learn that the Venus Flytrap does not have such an innocent name as many people have been led to believe in recent years. In this article, HerbSpeak dives into the sheepishly dirty and downright lewd origin of the Venus Flytrap’s name.
Eating microgreens is a great way to add variety and nutrition to your diet. But these days, you’ll spend a pretty penny stocking up on greens at the grocery store every week. If you’re anything like us, you’ve started wondering about growing microgreens yourself....
Interested in getting into the microgreens market, but worried if they’ve lost their popularity and profitability? Learn what you need to know here.
People who buy microgreens want to improve their diets in a sustainable way. If your packaging is the wrong shape, size, or material, you’ll struggle to turn a profit, let alone stay open for business. By the time you’re done reading, you’ll understand the importance of great packaging and the best options for every scenario.
Keeping houseplants is a hobby that is on the rise in recent years. The more time you spend at home, the more you want to fill your home with beautiful foliage. In fact, plants are great at helping reduce the stress we experience on a daily basis. But what do you do if you also have pets?
New England has a range of habitats, making it a prime place for nature enthusiasts to spend their time. Unfortunately, it can also be a little difficult to find information about New England botanical gardens. In this list from HerbSpeak, explore several botanical...
Tucked neatly at the base of the Berkshire mountains of western Massachusetts, Nasami Farm is a unique native plant nursery with a wide reach. What makes this nursery so special? Let’s take a look:Spotlight: Native Plant Nursery in Massachusetts As a local plant...
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