sunny@sun.uucp (Ms. Sunny Kirsten) (03/08/85)
I'm interested in alternate names for the following plants,
information about their medicinal properties, and sources
for seeds or young plants:
Commelina pallida (styptic)
agave (fungistatic, antibiotic, bactericidal)
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{ucbvax,decvax,ihnp4}!sun!sunny (Ms. Sunny Kirsten)mrh@cybvax0.UUCP (Mike Huybensz) (03/10/85)
In article <2033@sun.uucp> sunny@sun.uucp (Ms. Sunny Kirsten) writes: > I'm interested in alternate names for the following plants, > information about their medicinal properties, and sources > for seeds or young plants: > > Commelina pallida (styptic) > agave (fungistatic, antibiotic, bactericidal) > -- > {ucbvax,decvax,ihnp4}!sun!sunny (Ms. Sunny Kirsten) The best reference for information about plants is Hortis III. It's subtitle is "A Manual of Cultivated Plants" (or something like that.) The author(s) are Bailey and the Bailey Hortorium at Cornell. Hortis has information on ANYTHING you are likely to encounter in horticulture anywhere. Including the tropics. Under most of the names (excluding those recently coined by the industry.) It is expensive (about $100), but a fundamental for any horticultural or botanical reference library. (I used to work for the authors at Cornell, while an undergraduate.) I haven't yet bought a copy: I think I will this year. Commelina's in general are commonly called dayflowers. They are distinguished from the closely related Tradescantia and Zebrina (the taxonomy is confusing) by modified third petals. Agave is a large genus, commonly called American aloes or century plants. -- Mike Huybensz ...decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!cybvax0!mrh