The Gents DUT

 Plants are living organisms that cover much if not most of our precious Earth, you just see them everywhere. This include grass, trees, flowers, bushes or shrubs, ferns, mosses and many, many more. These plants are mostly from a kingdom called 'Plantae' and are mankind's best resort, nature. On the following post, we explore just a part of that nature as we bring together some a few of the plants we found to be interesting.

 A species of Banana-like plants with erect woody stems which reach a height of about 6 meters and spread as far as 3.5 meters. The inflorescence of the plant is composed of a dark blue Bract, white sepals and a bluish-purple tongue. Green leaves arranged like a fan at the top of the stem. Restricted to evergreen coastal forest and thicket of Eastern South Africa.

 This plant is endangered! A multi-stemmed species of cycad in the family zamiaceae with a lead stem of 1-2 meters long and is 200-300 mm in diameter. The lead stem often lies on the ground covered in sand and leaf mould.  This species lives in densely wooden dune habitat and shrubs.

 The woody vine is up to 60 cm long; it climbs over adjacent shrubs or the lower branches of trees using tendrils. The spines and bristles become dark brown or black with age. The pistillate flowers develop into fleshy berries. The leaves are deciduous and fall to the ground during the fall. It's cultivation preference is light shade to partial sun, moist to mesic conditions, and a fertile loamy soil.

A low branching evergreen tropical shrub with complexly branched multiple trunks and grows to a height of about 5 meters. It contain lectins which are toxic to cancer cells myrectin, lupeol and ferulic acid.  The shrub's year-round nectar and pollen attracts wildlife such as lorikeets and fruit bats. The leaves are bipinnate with the flowers presenting as globose heads with small green petals and calyx.

Prayer plant. There are several dozen of species in this genius. They do not do well in full sun, which can hurt their leaves. Calathea foliage is of important to some herbivores. Due to habitat destruction, several species are threatened with extinction.

A vine with opposite, pinnately compound leaves, on climbing stems. The blooms are nicely fragrant and visited by bees, in late fall, the fertilized flowers become fruit (seed) clusters of 5-6 fruits. They bloom on new growth and there are no serious insector disease problems. This plant prefers full sun, but will prosper and bloom in partial shade.

 They are tuberous tropical plants that are grown for their spectacularly colorful vegetation. They blossom in warm, humid shade, and astonish in shade. They do not do well in full skin, which can hurt their leaves. Caladiums can be a skin irritation and are poisonous if ingested.

 An evergreen shrub growing to 1 meter tall and wide, with leathery leaves and clusters of fragrant. The flowers are often followed by red berries. A species of flowing plant in the family thymelaeaceae, that is native to tibet. This plant has gained the royal horticultural society's award of garden merit as D. Tangutica Retusa group.

 Produces an edible, starchy corn. They grow in open areas of the forest and on the banks of rivers and go dormant during the dry season. Pet poisonous and that poison runs on the entirety of the plant. Often interplanted within reforestation areas to control weeds and provides shade during the early stages of growth.

 A species of evergreen holly to the coastal plain mostly found in sandy woods and peripheries of swamps and bogs. Grows to between 5-8 meters tall and can spread by root suckers to form colonies. Leaves are spineless, flat, ovate to elliptic and are glossy dark green leaves and have sooth marginal teeth near the apex. White flowers appear in winter and are at times inconspicuous and if pollinated. Pet poisonous as it has toxic parts which are the berries the plant bears.