Transcript
Alexis : It's a spooky episode. We're talking spooky things today.
Jessica : oooooooooooooooooooo
Alexis : Everybody's spooky. I'm gonna say spooky a lot. Say spooky again.
Plant People: This is spooky multiple times.
Jessica : Hehehehe.
Alexis : Spooky!
Jessica : yeah
Plant People: October is a spooky season. I mean, any season could be spooky if you make it weird enough, but October particularly, yeah.
Alexis : If you... Well, OK, I have a question and I want to know if this is just me who feels this way or if this is like a universal truth.
Plant People: Hmm.
Plant People: We will try not to make you feel weird.
Alexis : I feel like I can ask you all and probably a lot of our listeners will relate because they are up early and.
Plant People: okay
Plant People: ah
Alexis : outlay and growers and blah, blah, blah.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : Why is it that morning darkness feels less i mean to me at least feels less scary than nighttime darkness like like evening darkness
Jessica : Why is that?
Alexis : Like.
Plant People: I think it's because the light is coming.
Alexis : Okay, is that do you all feel that way too?
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: The light is coming.
Alexis : The light is... You know, it's on its way, but like.
Plant People: Yes.
Jessica : Right.
Alexis : Just from a strictly, let's say...
Jessica : It's very poetic
Alexis : it's yeah it's the i mean it's the darkest points right like it's well before and well before first light an hour plus before first light but i can like walk to my barn and not feel an ounce of fear and complete blackness
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : Mm -hmm.
Jessica : is it Is it maybe because we've seen the sunset? Right? I don't know.
Alexis : i don't know I don't know what it is, but there's just like
Jessica : There is something about that.
Alexis : I guess I just figure like anybody who's like out to get me is gonna not is not awake at 5 a .m.
Plant People: It's going to be at 2 a .m.
Jessica : they've they Yeah, they've already gone home for the night, right?
Alexis : I don't know.
Plant People: Now, if it's five I feel like 5 a .m.
Jessica : They've already done their evilness and I'm gone.
Plant People: is morning. I mean...
Alexis : Well, that's what I mean. That's mourning.
Plant People: I kind of feel that.
Alexis : and I feel like...
Plant People: That feels like morning.
Alexis : But it's completely dark outside right now at 5am.
Plant People: I think your feeling of superiority over the general human race that's not up at 5 a .m. trumps any fear you might have. You're like.
Alexis : That must be what it is.
Plant People: It's that feeling of righteousness, that superiority combat.
Alexis : You're like um
Jessica : I haven't.
Alexis : Only...
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : Only the righteous are awake at 5am.
Plant People: Yes. Thank you, Alexis.
Jessica : That's right. Right.
Plant People: We have we have solved this conundrum.
Jessica : That is. I will tell my children now that now that we have our new school schedule of waking up where every morning they wake up and they cry that the sun is not up and they say they go, it's still nighttime.
Plant People: Done. Yeah.
Alexis : a
Plant People: yeah I do too. Hmm.
Jessica : And I'll be like. But it's not.
Alexis : But it's not.
Jessica : It's morning.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : And they're like, there's no sun.
Plant People: I do that.
Jessica : And so.
Plant People: When you go to work and it's dark and you come home and it's dark, I cry maybe a little bit in my car too.
Alexis : Yeah. A little bit.
Plant People: either in the evening or the morning.
Alexis : a little bit.
Plant People: So, yeah.
Alexis : Yeah.
Jessica : But it does feel safer in the morning darkness than it does in the nighttime darkness.
Plant People: It does.
Alexis : Yeah.
Plant People: yeah
Alexis : There's just like a safety. I guess you just figure if there's any murderers out there, they would have murdered you already.
Plant People: If anybody's up to anything.
Alexis : They're not gonna murder you at 5 a .m.
Jessica : This is... Like you're thinking like, the you know, the creatures, the critters. they've you know as the sun is setting they're waiting you know to finally emerge out by yeah but then by like morning they're like tired from all their shenanigans and
Plant People: The nocturnal.
Alexis : yeah
Jessica : or They're like retreating back to their dens.
Plant People: i Mean they they don't they they don't want to be they don't wanna be out
Alexis : The spookies are retreating because sun is on its way.
Jessica : Right.
Alexis : Right, right, right, right.
Plant People: Yes.
Jessica : Great.
Alexis : Okay, I just didn't know if that was like a universal feeling or not.
Jessica : Well glad we got that figured out.
Alexis : Yeah. yeah and the stars are always super bright and like you know dark of darkness in the morning anyways um it's spooky and we're gonna talk about spooky plants today um of all kinds and versions and um lore and I love it. So yeah.
Alexis : Spooky.
Jessica : Cool.
Plant People: ah Yeah, that was we were when we ah were taught you you were forming this concept and we were like, oh yeah, spooky season, we have to talk about spooky plants and growing things and biology and botany and all this stuff. I was like, this could go so many different directions. i mean What make is something objectively spooky or does the form of the plant make it spooky or the fact that it's poison enough to burn your skin off or kill you?
Jessica : Yeah. There's...
Alexis : Where you're at. Right.
Plant People: Yeah, I mean.
Alexis : What is...
Jessica : Right. There's so many things of just like.
Plant People: What?
Jessica : From like, you're right, you're like things that are poisonous, right?
Plant People: Yeah. Mm hmm.
Jessica : To like things of just like. Here's one. Celosia. It can kind of look like a brain. Does that freak some people out?
Alexis : yeah
Jessica : Maybe they might say that's spooky, right? So there's so many different ways you can go with this.
Alexis : Yeah. Very true. Very good point. Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : Ray, you've kind of... ah You've got some Appalachia lore along with your spooky plans, don't you?
Plant People: Yeah. yeah You know, being in the woods, I kind of grew up in the woods, but I'm going to take a different direction for my first one. But, ah you know, being comfortable and I loved, and you know, trails when I was younger and a grew up with, you know, fairly significant tracks of woodlands around me in a in a county that.
Plant People: you know had a fairly small population so lots of woods it was not uncommon for my brother
Alexis : more trees than people kind of situation.
Plant People: Yes, many more trees for my brothers and I at the end of the day, or I would just go off by myself a couple miles into the woods. You know, you're nine, 10 years old and mom's like, well, make sure to take the dog with you because the dog would watch for snakes and protect me from snakes more than anything else.
Alexis : mm -hmm Mm hmm.
Plant People: But ah yeah, the woods is it's got its own lore. You know, it's sort of a psychology sort of thing, which. relates to my first plant that you may not think of but Yeah, the woods.
Plant People: Being isolated, being rural, that whole thing with just the woods.
Alexis : m
Plant People: But I guess I would make my first example. Jessica and I were talking on the show that related to the woods, even though I'm fairly comfortable. you know, in the woods after dark. But when it does get quiet, I get quiet too.
Plant People: Reed asked me, well, he says, why do you stop sometimes, Dad, when we're walking and it's dark?
Alexis : mm -hmm
Plant People: I said, well, when it gets quiet, I get quiet too, because that's what animals do. You listen when everything gets quiet. But I had an experience once, as speaking of spooky plants, that really was shouldn't have been spooky, but it was.
Plant People: but I was telling Jessica this story when I was... um in the gorge area and i've you know listeners that have listened to the podcast but before know that you know i love to walk in the red river gorge national recreation area but it was dark one night and of course i did not have a flashlight because i knew the trail well and i was coming down i thought i knew it well i came down a side shoe to the the trail.
Plant People: And it was leading into a big ravine and the sun had already set and it was getting fairly dark. and I could not place what the heck it was off to the right as you went over the slope, something just off the trail that was white, and I saw movement, and so I stopped and watched, and I was like, what is going on?
Plant People: and i stood there and there you know i the everything but i didn't have the creepy vibes other than i saw something white and it was dark and there was some movement that i could tell and i heard rustling i'm like What is the wrestling?
Plant People: And it turned out to be a big tooth aspen. We have those native in Kentucky, not quaking aspen. But because it was dark and it was a young tree and it was ah singular, it was not in a grove.
Plant People: They typically don't form big groves. The big tooth aspen don't. But I just was not expecting an aspen there. So I saw the white and I saw the movement of the leaves.
Plant People: And that's kind of creepy if you're not familiar with aspen.
Alexis : mm -hmm
Plant People: The leaves seem to, even when it's a very still day, the leaves all move. because they're on flat patios, and they move very easily, just with the slightest breeze that you can even feel.
Alexis : mm -hmm
Plant People: So I saw all this movement in the dark and this white, and that was the trunk of the tree.
Alexis : right It's a ghost.
Plant People: So, yeah, I was like, it's definitely a haint.
Alexis : It's a ghost. It's definitely a ghost.
Jessica : Definitely.
Plant People: It's a haint. It's a ghost in the woods, and I'm in the gorge far, and I was probably three miles out.
Alexis : It's a hint.
Plant People: you know, in the middle of nowhere is trying to get back and it's already getting dark and reflecting on my life decisions.
Jessica : Oh, fun.
Plant People: But yeah, that was ah one of those spooky little things that catches you off guard. And I, you know, I've been a plant nerd after the fact. I was like, that's so very cool. First of all, I'd never see Aspen there.
Plant People: But that that was super cool. But that's one of those things where you see a plant that may be not creepy, but you put it in a certain context, in the woods, being isolated, off by yourself, reflecting on life decisions, of hiking in the dark without a buddy.
Alexis : Mhm.
Alexis : Why didn't I bring a flashlight? I know it gets darker in the woods earlier.
Plant People: Why did I not have a headlamp? or
Alexis : yeah
Plant People: Yes, but a beautiful day, and here's this thing off the trail, but it's one of those things where it's about context as much as the plant. So was a bigtooth aspen objectively creepy?
Plant People: No, they're very nice trees, but in that specific situation, yeah, that was a spooky factor, and I've had that out west.
Alexis : Fook Factor.
Jessica : laugh han
Plant People: More with the sound.
Alexis : a
Plant People: ah Like when you go to Colorado, you get in these big groves. But if you're not accustomed to that, it sounds like whispering. It does. When everything is quiet.
Jessica : That would be creepy.
Plant People: It either sounds like whispering or when you stop.
Alexis : Hmm.
Plant People: you can it sounds like rustling quiet footsteps rustling whatever wherever your mind goes if you're not you now i think it's the coolest thing ever but when you're in an aspect particularly quaking aspen.
Alexis : o
Plant People: uh just if you're ever in one of those situations be very still and very quiet and you will just hear that that kind of rustling just constantly from the grove. And it is a pretty, it's pretty interesting. It's pretty cool effect, but if you're not expecting it, it's kind of a weird effect.
Alexis : It's a spooky effect
Plant People: It is.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah, so
Jessica : Very spooky.
Plant People: Yeah. So yeah the the Aspen spooky tree. No, but spooky situation when I was not expecting an Aspen. Yes. So.
Alexis : I always say that about... um beaches in the winter when oh beach trees because they hang on
Plant People: Beaches are one I was thinking of too. The beautiful white bar yeah and the leaves.
Alexis : yeah they have that white bark but then they hang on to their leaves almost all winter and so everything else
Jessica : It leaves, yep.
Plant People: Yeah. Yeah. And the form of beaches, if you think of the form, yeah.
Alexis : Yes. And they're just.
Jessica : Little... I'm a ghost!
Alexis : they're they they looking at them they look kind of spooky and i always i always call them little ghosts like when you're driving on the highway and you're just kind of looking
Plant People: who Beaches are one of my absolute favorites.
Alexis : out yeah i was like look at the little ghosts because they're just little these little white things in the in the woods yeah but they're like cute spooky they're like
Plant People: Yeah. And they wave and flutter, yeah.
Plant People: And if you see them by themselves in the woods, they stand out against the background of the woods.
Alexis : Yeah.
Plant People: If you're looking at oaks and maples and mixed hardwoods, a beech will stand out every single time, especially if it's a younger one. And you'll see it it has the same effect if it's almost dark, but where they're lighter colored and smoother bark.
Alexis : Mhm.
Plant People: Yeah, it's pretty cool.
Alexis : Mm hmm.
Jessica : well
Alexis : Little, little spookies.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : Spooky babies.
Plant People: Spooky, spooky. Normally during the daytime hour, there's a lot at night that. could be a little bit spooky in the plant world that would not be during the day yeah
Jessica : Right.
Plant People: Yeah. How about you guys?
Alexis : Yeah.
Plant People: What's your spooky plants? What's your vibes?
Alexis : Oh, I was going to talk um a little bit about. carnivorous plants because carnivorous plants are spooky
Plant People: Oh.
Jessica : That's cool.
Plant People: Of course you would. Talk about plants that could eat you, sure.
Alexis : And I like carnivorous plants. I think they're fun. I've talked about them a little bit before, but I think this is hilarious. So the. um carnivorous plant society the international carnivorous plant society has they talk about like, what is what are plants, right? On this, on this site in just very simple terms, but they have they have a, what is carnivorous plants? And, you know, basically that's just a special set of characteristics that allows a plant to.
Alexis : Like. also use animals for food right they still photosynthesize they still do all the things that regular plants do. They are a plant. They just can break down animals, but they have underneath them. and sex A little sentence called.
Alexis : murderous plants and i want to read it to you because i think it's funny it says
Jessica : Oh.
Plant People: Oh wow.
Alexis : Many plants kill animals in a body -present way. That does not mean they are carnivorous or semi -carnivorous or proto -carnivorous or whatever carnivorous, they are just murderous.
Alexis : ah
Jessica : Oh.
Plant People: They actively seek out.
Jessica : Do they have...
Plant People: yeah
Jessica : They have examples of murderous plants.
Alexis : They they did not list them, but I just thought this is like The international plant. or carnivorousplantsociety .org.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: It's almost sounds judgy. Yeah.
Alexis : And for them for them to have that great sentence.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : And then they talk about there's like trapping mechanisms and digestion and absorption and the cost of carnivory.
Plant People: Mhm.
Alexis : But the fact that there's just like the sentence for. murderous plants are different than carnivorous plants is
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : mm -hmm
Alexis : chef's kiss um to me.
Plant People: Yeah, it's ah almost like they're actively seeking out the destruction of another organism.
Alexis : Yeah, I think they're I think there were I would say what they're referring to is more like Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : Carnivorous plant is more murderous where they're seeking.
Plant People: Hmm.
Plant People: Little Shop of Horrors was sort of murderous.
Jessica : Little shop of horrors, yeah.
Alexis : Yes, Little Shop of Horrors.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : more than anything but um yeah so carnivorous plants we do have some that are native to Kentucky I know a lot of us think about carnivorous plants we think about like you know, hot weather and tropical plants, but they're actually can, you can find a lot of them in like the bogs of like New Hampshire and up North and areas like that.
Plant People: oh
Alexis : So there's different types of like sundews and little pitchers.
Plant People: oh
Alexis : And any of you who are. passionate about spooky carnivorous plants will be like she's not saying all these things right because there are a lot of different kinds but um i'm generalizing here roll with me because i'm still learning about carnivorous plants i made my own i think i've told you guys before I made my own little bog, like a little bog in a big pot.
Alexis : And I was like, I'm i'm a bog witch now. I can call myself a bog witch now.
Plant People: Officially. Part of the club. Yeah.
Alexis : My bog sits on my front porch with my carnivorous plants in it.
Plant People: As a warning to all those who pass by.
Alexis : As a warning to all that enter.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : it's It's in a really cute blue and white pod. It's not spooky looking at all, but um I like to pretend.
Plant People: Carnivorous plants, inherently spooky.
Jessica : Nice.
Alexis : Carnivorous.
Plant People: Inherently spooky.
Alexis : i think they are and like yeah we can grow them here like the biggest thing
Jessica : Yeah.
Alexis : if you're interested in carnivorous plants the biggest thing that people get wrong is that they try Infertilize them and they don't need fertilizer. That's why they eat insects and other things because that is there with what they use for fertilizer. So they're.
Alexis : um native to areas that have really poor soils. And so that's how why they developed this carnivory and these trapping mechanisms. So we don't want to fertilize them. Again, the experts out there will say.
Alexis : Well, you know, there are times situations for most of us who are not experts growing in greenhouses on, you know, the perfect situations. You don't want to do that. You also don't want to overfeed them.
Alexis : A lot of people want to give them way too many flies.
Jessica : People want to make them open and close too much.
Alexis : Yeah, it costs a lot.
Jessica : A lot of energy.
Alexis : It's a lot of energy, a lot of energy. um I think the picture is you can drop some stuff in there. It's not too big of a deal, but the little mechanisms where they snap shut.
Jessica : The little hairs that they hit.
Alexis : um Little hairs that little trichomes And the other thing is they will not take regular water.
Jessica : Try combs.
Alexis : They are distilled in rainwater only.
Plant People: o
Alexis : That is where most people kill their plants is they give them regular old tap water and that fluoride will kill them. so
Plant People: Oh wow.
Jessica : Can I add something to it and you can correct me because you know more about this than I do and they need a dormant period, right?
Alexis : Yes.
Jessica : They go ah cold.
Alexis : Yeah, it depends on the type.
Jessica : Right? Because I think yes.
Alexis : I've learned this the hard way.
Jessica : Yes. Yeah. A lot of times people just think they're all tropical, right?
Alexis : Mm hmm.
Jessica : But.
Alexis : mm -hmm
Jessica : The ones that depending on what you got.
Alexis : Yeah.
Jessica : They need to go because your your pots out your bogs outside.
Alexis : Yeah, yeah. Most of the... Yeah, most of your like...
Jessica : And it's going through our winter.
Alexis : pitchers your actual pitcher plants that look like that and there's some other types the um I'll have to pull up the name. I always blank on it. It's got a cute little name. It's called like pingulata or something like that. But they want a dormancy period. Yes, they don't necessarily want to freeze. You do have to keep them from freezing. Not the true dormant like that way. but
Alexis : they'll go dormant and then come back and so uh if you've grown pitcher plants before and you're like why is it unhappy it's because it wants some rest but
Jessica : It needs a break.
Alexis : It needs a break. And you're...
Plant People: Needs a little praying.
Alexis : Your other carnivorous plants will go dormant as well, but they don't want to be as cold. So they're so like a tropical dormancy where they, you know, will take in the 50s, but they don't want to get colder than that.
Plant People: Hmm.
Alexis : And those are like your Venus fly traps. Some of your sundews, that's where it gets weird because some of them like it cold. But yes, i have I have killed many and go in both directions thinking they did want cold or didn't want cold.
Alexis : So I'm like. Oops. Um,
Plant People: very specific in their needs.
Jessica : Yeah.
Alexis : But I'm confident the pitchers I have kept alive for several years now, and they do like some cold.
Plant People: I've never tried to grow any of the carnivorous plants.
Alexis : Yeah, they're fun.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : I don't I just I listen I kill every take my word take what i say with a grain of salt because every
Jessica : yeah
Plant People: You know...
Alexis : um Flycatcher the um
Jessica : The Venus flytrap.
Alexis : Dracera.
Jessica : Nope.
Alexis : I have. Yes, i kill all I've killed all of them. I don't know why. They don't like me.
Plant People: The quality of your flaws is lacking.
Alexis : they they Listen, I put them in with all the other bog plants that are happy. And they're like, immediately, no. Immediately now. don't know why.
Jessica : ah
Plant People: You know, your discussion of um I'm sorry, Jessica, were you going to say something?
Jessica : Oh, no, I was just like, ah, you win some, you lose some with plants, right?
Alexis : It's funny because the people.
Plant People: Well, especially with those.
Jessica : You find the right one.
Plant People: They're so specific. Yeah.
Alexis : The the people I have taught like I bought um a bunch of plants and did like a little bog ah a bog witch class, I'll say that, but with some friends.
Alexis : Theirs lived, mine did not. So what I'm saying apparently works, but what I'm doing apparently does not. and I don't know what the answer is.
Plant People: So you can teach it, but yeah, doing it, yeah, something.
Alexis : um Yeah, I'm basically, you know, what do they say?
Plant People: Maybe it's your microclimate, Alexis.
Alexis : the
Plant People: Let's blame it on like microclimate or something.
Jessica : There you go.
Plant People: But.
Alexis : Those who can't do teach gym, um maybe those who can't do teach class.
Plant People: Mmm.
Alexis : um
Plant People: Something like that.
Jessica : Right.
Plant People: Your, your whole discussion, I was trying to think of, and I finally remembered the name, but I love seeing it. Another spooky plant I just happened to think of, you know, along this theme of plants that get their nutrition and alternate methods is ghost pop.
Alexis : Mm hmm.
Plant People: Have you guys ever seen Ghost Pipe?
Alexis : Yeah. Ooh, yeah, that's a spooky.
Jessica : ah We have.
Plant People: Oh, my goodness. You know, I didn't even think about that. But seeing that one on the if you guys want to describe that, it's one of the coolest plants that has no chlorophyll. It looks porcelain.
Plant People: It does. And when I when I first saw ghost pop in the Appalachia, I was like, holy cow, what is that? And you can see it. You know, you can pick it out. You're like, what's wrong with that plant? Because it's not a fungus.
Plant People: It is a plant, but it has no chlorophyll.
Alexis : mm -hmm Mm -hmm.
Plant People: It has a symbiotic relationship with mycorrhizal. you know, other plant, it gets its nutrition, other methods.
Alexis : is it Is it symbiotic or is it...
Plant People: I think that it is.
Alexis : um
Plant People: I'll have to look that up. It's been years since I've looked it up, but it's totally, it's snow white.
Alexis : Yeah.
Plant People: It looks like it's porcelain. I'm like, whoa, the fairies have been here. But now that is a spooky plant, kind of like carnivorous plants. It doesn't get its nutrition, you know, through normal mechanisms as you would think of a plant.
Alexis : mm -hmm So you'll see him pop up. In the woods, usually like...
Plant People: Mhm.
Alexis : at the Is it at the...
Plant People: They're shorter.
Alexis : Yeah, and they're small. i'm I'm doing what Gabe did last time.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : I'm giving visuals for an audio. ah
Plant People: alexis is making like a six inch kind of thing maybe five inch yeah
Alexis : Yeah, so they're they're small and they're just these little perfectly white, almost like see -through white stems and like a little hood.
Plant People: Yeah. Beautiful.
Alexis : And it kind of looks like a little like pipe that's come.
Plant People: I could see why the, the pop. Yeah. They, it's sometimes called Indian pipe and I've heard them called ghost pop.
Alexis : Mm -hmm, mm -hmm. And they come up in like little clusters usually, right?
Plant People: They do, like six, eight of them, little bunches.
Alexis : like
Plant People: Yeah, but at first I thought that I was looking at like a mushroom, but no, no, it was a plant.
Alexis : Mm hmm.
Jessica : ah
Alexis : Yeah, they do.
Jessica : Please.
Alexis : They look like fungus because they have no chlorophyll.
Plant People: Yeah. Yeah.
Jessica : Steal steal um from trees. Mycorrhizae. fungi from trees.
Plant People: Yeah. I know it's some kind of really, so it's not necessarily symbiotic.
Jessica : so
Plant People: It's actually, yeah.
Jessica : Right.
Plant People: Theft going along with the murder thing. It's theft, you know.
Jessica : Yeah. goes along with it.
Plant People: Yeah. So, I mean, what's spookier than like carnivorous plants or plants that steal from other plants?
Alexis : and
Plant People: You know. Yeah.
Jessica : Um. Something that I have never seen. In person. And I'm kind of intrigued by that is spooky and very gross. um Are they like the corpse flowers?
Jessica : Have you seen those?
Plant People: Yeah. I've been down to the Biltmore State and saw, is it the one, the big, huge one down there?
Alexis : mm -hmm
Jessica : I haven't.
Alexis : Yeah.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : And so there's.
Alexis : They've got them in a couple places, yeah.
Jessica : Yes.
Plant People: Oh really?
Jessica : there's And there's and i have like as I have learned more about them, there are different types of them.
Alexis : Yeah.
Jessica : So some of them that don't.
Plant People: ah
Jessica : take as long or don't get as
Alexis : mm -hmm
Jessica : big right um because some of like i think the main one that we all like hear about all the time and i don't know the genus and species of it it gets pretty huge right huge like a palm almost looking kind of
Alexis : Big. mm -hmm
Plant People: Yeah
Plant People: The big, huge one.
Alexis : Mm hmm.
Plant People: It's like every, however many years. Yeah.
Jessica : But it sends up that large flower that is supposed to smell like, you know. Like a rotting... Corpse.
Alexis : Corpse.
Jessica : Right. Or the smell of death is what I like to say when you live on a farm. Something smells like death.
Alexis : Yep.
Plant People: Putrid or rancid, yeah.
Jessica : Yeah, putrid, right? So then you get a lot of flies and a lot of, you know.
Alexis : Mm hmm.
Jessica : pollinator wise, when you have stinky flowering things, you tend to see more flies than you do bees and butterflies and things like that.
Alexis : mm -hmm Mhm.
Jessica : But I've always been intrigued. To see like. I would like to at one point just be like. Let's see what it actually smells like, right? Like, does it really?
Plant People: Just give it a big sniff.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: Well, you we have stink horns.
Jessica : um
Plant People: You can go give one of those a big whiff. Similar.
Jessica : Yeah. Stinkhorns are also creepy and weird.
Alexis : Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : Bleh!
Jessica : They're funky looking. Yeah.
Plant People: And they have the same dispersal mechanism with like insects too. I guess that's their point is. They're stinky, but yeah, I guess they are super creepy.
Jessica : Right.
Plant People: And they're even, they have that brownish goop on them as a fungus when they come up, the different stinkhorns. Yeah, and and i in in fact, that's what I judged the the one at Biltmore by.
Jessica : Right.
Plant People: I don't remember smelling it because it was at a distance, but I went to see that years ago. But I was like, if a stinkhorn smells really stinky, when you get one of those, if you ever sniff it, it leaves an impression.
Plant People: That big one must stink. be like a thousand times more stinky. Whatever the one that we're talking about, the big examples that only flower once every so many years.
Alexis : Yeah.
Jessica : Right.
Jessica : right yeah it's climb up on take it's like said like They're like, get a are you eight feet tall in like 10 to 15 years.
Plant People: Yeah Wow
Alexis : Yeah, and it bloom more it blooms once and dies.
Jessica : you know, to to flower.
Plant People: Wow.
Jessica : Yep.
Alexis : Mm hmm.
Jessica : Yeah. So.
Alexis : Mm. Have you?
Jessica : um
Alexis : Okay. Speaking of like flowers that I've never seen, but would love to see and have. that are spooky looking. Look up. A bat flower?
Alexis : It's the... The genus is Taka, T -A -C -C -A. and it looks like a bat uh it is crazy to me they come in black and white and it is absolutely insane it's they have them um in florida uh so it's a tropical but it is like you can grow them you know in tropical areas they're native to asia but Uh...
Alexis : They're crazy looking and I just feel like everybody should know that they exist.
Jessica : They are.
Alexis : So those of you who are not driving or anything right now, look up a bat flower.
Plant People: A bat flower.
Jessica : That's pretty cool.
Alexis : They are creepy looking. They're spooky.
Plant People: Is it ah one of the like nocturnal flowering, did you say, plants? Or just a bat?
Alexis : no no it flowers yeah and it flowers like eight times a year um and it's kind of like a lot like long -lived while it's on the plant but it's it's just like a cool weirdo spooky plant and i just
Plant People: Okay. Okay. Yeah.
Plant People: Mm -hmm.
Alexis : I feel like everybody should know that these – I am so fascinated by, like, these plants. You know, you you see it a lot in, like, orchids and things like that. but It's like these plants. Usually we see how insects.
Alexis : like maybe modify themselves to blend in right to be camouflaged to be able to catch prey so they blend in and look more like a plant so there's like a lot of praying mantis that
Plant People: m Yeah.
Alexis : um look like you know They're pink because they're on flower pink flowering trees and they catch their prey that way, blah, blah, blah.
Plant People: who
Alexis : But it happens the other way around.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : And I don't think we think about it.
Jessica : Yes.
Plant People: Plants that look like, yeah.
Jessica : I love some of those orchids.
Alexis : Yeah.
Jessica : That look. Like little bumblebees. But then they also like release like a scent to smell like the bee pheromone.
Alexis : oh
Alexis : Yes.
Jessica : And then lure the bee in that way to get their pollen spread around.
Plant People: ah
Alexis : Yes. Yes.
Jessica : And how cool is that?
Alexis : And they're like specifically. You know, it's not just like any bee. It's specifically the female bee, you know, or whatever, like whatever insect it is.
Jessica : Right. Yeah.
Alexis : It's the female version of it. And yeah, I really said, and she's like, I'm sorry. How does a plant figure that out?
Plant People: A mimic, yeah, to be a mimic.
Jessica : Right.
Alexis : And it has to do it. It has to evolve faster than the insect is evolving. like How does that happen?
Jessica : Yeah.
Alexis : like what is i need a bo like i need I need somebody in botany to tell me how that works.
Jessica : Is this a goal? Oh. nature. Amazing.
Alexis : how that works because
Plant People: the The selective pressure over eons would have to be incredible.
Alexis : That's spooky to me like the plants are figuring out the the flesh and blood and i'm like before we know it we're gonna have plants just looking like people i don't know
Jessica : You know.
Jessica : I mean, you can even go as far as like the tree networks of all the trees talking with the mycorrhizae and all of that connection of.
Alexis : Mmm.
Alexis : The mycelia.
Jessica : there's some like cool research and books I've read of like how trees...
Alexis : What is it like the biggest organism in the world is a tree?
Jessica : trees
Jessica : Yes. uh -huh
Alexis : That's connected by...
Plant People: that was that the Is that the aspen as far as the organism?
Alexis : Yeah, it's like one giant organism.
Plant People: And I always thought that was interesting and slightly creepy because I'm a fan of horror. We were talking before we started recording, you know, I used to read a lot of, I still read a lot of. horror novels and things but i thought how cool would that be i don't think anybody's written a book about aspens and being a huge connected clonal organism like this massive thing that's really all one thing.
Plant People: This whole grove.
Alexis : Talking to each other.
Plant People: Yeah. I'm like, don't get that one. i I'm thinking of like J .R .R. Tolkien, which is not horror, by the way. It's more science fiction fantasy. But like it's in like an int. I'm like, oh, don't mess with one.
Alexis : Mm -hmm.
Plant People: They were.
Alexis : Mhm.
Plant People: Yeah. What's the communication going on?
Jessica : Right.
Plant People: Yeah. Yeah. ah When your imagination goes wild.
Alexis : um
Plant People: And there's so many examples you guys mentioned, like mimics and like popular culture.
Alexis : Spooky.
Plant People: And it got me to thinking like all the movies I've watched over the years where you're in the jungle, in the tomb, and there's this carnivorous plant or this vine that, you know, just gets you.
Alexis : ah
Plant People: And or or like take a plant that's, you know, we said that a lot of these creepy plants. You have to qualify what makes a plant creepy. Is it the shape of it or is it poisonous or is it situational?
Alexis : mm -hmm
Plant People: Well, situational plant. Corn. One of the creepiest no corn
Alexis : ah Corn at night.
Plant People: One of the corn and I.
Alexis : Creepy. Corn during the day, not creepy.
Plant People: and And I wrote a paper once on the psychology of the creepiness of corn and why. And I had to do a deep dive. This is before AI people. I had to go and use a card catalog.
Alexis : ah
Plant People: But in popular culture, it's a mechanism that's used a lot is corn. I'm like, why the heck would corn be like ah ah this ah creepy mechanism for writers and, you know, filmmakers to use?
Plant People: and um corn if you think about the situation where you see cornfields.
Alexis : okay
Plant People: You're in rural areas that are somewhat isolated. You take a plant. And you have tens of thousands of that plant drop somebody in the middle of a cornfield.
Jessica : And it is tall.
Plant People: It's... Yes, it's tall. You can't see. So it's simultaneously two things. You have the noise of the corn, you know, that's kind of overwhelming. At the same time, you have sensory deprivation where you have no.
Plant People: you have no directional you know awareness at all
Alexis : Yeah, how do you get out?
Plant People: Yeah. And so there's this claustrophobia and all this stuff going on. But corn, I think, is one of the the the creepiest things. So it would make sense from a psychological perspective.
Jessica : Yeah. Your parents didn't teach you all as a child if you got lost in the cornfield how to get out because my dad did.
Plant People: See?
Alexis : No, please tell us.
Plant People: Your dad must have thought, me this if this happens...
Jessica : He just saw. I mean, we didn't have thousands of acres of corn, but he was just like, if you get turned around in here, don't just keep running across the field.
Plant People: Well, I feel...
Jessica : Get in a row and just start heading one way, and eventually you're going to get out.
Plant People: Yeah, just just go down the row, yes. And when you realize, yeah.
Jessica : Okay. But it is creepy. It is. That's why they do all those court mazes, right?
Plant People: I, you know, ah it's a Halloween plan.
Jessica : They have...
Alexis : Okay.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: It's yeah.
Jessica : A lot of them We have a couple corn mazes around here in our community and, you know, they're a fun.
Plant People: One of those things.
Jessica : thing that are kind of challenging to get through during the daytime but they do at night time
Alexis : Mm hmm.
Plant People: Oh, a good corn maze is fun.
Jessica : corn maze as well and then that gets
Plant People: Do they have like people chasing you?
Jessica : Yeah, yeah, they do.
Plant People: Oh, oh oh I don't know.
Jessica : So that gets.
Alexis : No, hard pass.
Plant People: I don't know about that
Alexis : Uh -uh.
Jessica : So it's just it would be spooky enough to go.
Alexis : Mm -mm.
Plant People: I would make a new row.
Jessica : To go through the maze.
Plant People: Pew!
Alexis : Yeah.
Jessica : In the dark.
Alexis : and e this
Jessica : Right?
Alexis : Right.
Jessica : Not to actually have people in there with you too.
Alexis : Right.
Plant People: But how do you take a corn but like a plant like corn that does all this wonderful stuff for us, makes all these tens of thousands of different products, and we love it, and it's tasty with butter, and make it creepy?
Alexis : I.
Plant People: Well, situational.
Alexis : Leave it to the human race.
Plant People: situational.
Alexis : We can make it creepy.
Plant People: Leave it to the human race to make something like, but I mean, your dad told you how to get out of a cornfield because something kind of scary about that.
Alexis : Also, we just have no senses. it's not It's not creepy to anything but us because our senses are so crap in comparison to the rest of the natural world.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : um I will say.
Plant People: Maybe that's part of it, too. It's not natural to be dropped off in like this monoculture that's yeah all these acres.
Alexis : Yeah.
Plant People: Maybe that's one of the things. I don't know.
Alexis : Yeah, but it is, I mean, it's still...
Plant People: I don't know
Alexis : creepy in the woods you know it's just that it's the loneliness factor it's the like oh
Jessica : Oh yeah.
Plant People: Oh, in the woods?
Jessica : It's the sounds.
Plant People: Yeah, that's something, yeah.
Jessica : Sounds you hear Ray mentioned before we started about like walnuts that might fall off a tree and you're just like walking along and then you hear that noise and like.
Alexis : a
Alexis : What was that?
Jessica : What is that? Is somebody behind me? Right. Okay.
Alexis : oh
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah, and just You know, and like I was thinking ah about that and I was thinking, well, what makes the woods creepy? And one of the things that like, you know, Different aspects of woods could be creepy. Like you could go into a pond thick and it's dark all the time. Like, you know, when you go into an evergreen thicket or.
Plant People: you know i mentioned the gorge earlier and and i got to think about rhododendrons and laurels i'm like That's one thing that is always kind of. been a little bit spooky because, you know, they...
Plant People: They tend to be, they're low growing, so you can't see when you're in those.
Alexis : mm -hmm
Plant People: And when you're on trails that are surrounded by rhododendrons, it's sort of close. And you take that, there may be bears in there.
Plant People: you know who knows there may be other people i've ran up on hikers before did not see them at all and i was within five feet and then somebody pops out on a connecting trail and i scream a little bit and it's we all have a good laugh and then i edge myself around the trail but yeah that's one of those it's like what elements to plants you know make things creepy but it's the darkness it's those evergreen type plants that feel close now if i'm in a mature
Alexis : it We don't know.
Alexis : Oh, hi.
Alexis : Mm hmm.
Plant People: you know, like hardwood forest that I can see and it's kind of clean underneath and clear and I can run away, Alexis, quickly.
Alexis : Mm hmm.
Plant People: if if danger approaches, but that it's a, it's another thing.
Alexis : I don't know, man, and because there's like the opposite idea of like, if I can see it, it can see me. Right?
Plant People: Oh, why do we why are we having this conversation right now?
Alexis : I'm hidden by the rhododendrons.
Jessica : among
Plant People: we can take any Basically, you already said it. We can take anything and make it creepy. We can take anything.
Alexis : Any anything you make it spooky
Jessica : your mind Your mind can twist it any way, right?
Plant People: Ah. The lowly pumpkin, something so beautiful and orange.
Alexis : Hmm.
Plant People: I mean, we've we've taken that over time. It started with turnips. you know the the history of.
Alexis : Yeah, the turnip ones were creepy though, let's be honest.
Plant People: the The little turnip, the jack -o' -lanterns, yeah. And then it became pumpkins at some point.
Alexis : They're...
Plant People: I mean, we can make anything anything creepy, but what is it, the the mushroom?
Alexis : ah
Plant People: The Jack O' Lantern.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: mushroom which by the way i've seen them glowing in the woods before and i thought whoa i am yeah they have and i come to find out and that was in the late 90s they have bioluminescence that if you look up jack -o' -lantern mushrooms ah fungus they can under the perfect conditions yeah look that up and it's been once again years and i'm pretty sure i'm not making it up but they were glowing and i had a when talked to my botany professor dr thompson and he said no they have natural bioluminescence so pretty cool
Alexis : Ma shum.
Alexis : Nuh uh.
Jessica : I didn't know they do that.
Alexis : oh
Alexis : I didn't know that
Jessica : I didn't either.
Alexis : Weird. Man!
Jessica : That's cool. I just thought they were named that because of their bright.
Plant People: uh the color primarily but it's one of these strange ones that also can glow so you see those glowing in the woods at night and i did a lot of walking in woods at night and i and i came back and when it was full dark and looked at it and lo and behold yes it had a faint glow to it it was a kind of a bluish green
Jessica : orange color, right?
Jessica : wow
Jessica : That's very cool.
Plant People: Yeah, but that's a jack -o' -lantern.
Alexis : I would have been kind of disappointed to find out that was like normal. I'd have been like, man.
Plant People: I know. I thought, man, I have discovered something from another planet.
Alexis : I totally thought it was like an entrance to a fairy portal.
Jessica : i bought a I bought a fairy forest.
Plant People: Yeah. I know. I was super excited I'd found folklore. made flesh but no dr trump's like no they'll do that sometimes but he thought it was cool so
Alexis : mm -hmm You know... yeah Speaking of... The fairy mushroom a fairy like a mushroom fairy circle that just you know, they pop up and we all know they're feeding on
Plant People: Oh yeah. Yeah.
Alexis : There's a creep factor in those daylight or not like Even and just like you see one and there's kind of this feeling there's this little thing in the back of your brain That goes maybe not Maybe not.
Alexis : You know, if you're just like, maybe I'll just stand over.
Plant People: It's a perfect circle.
Jessica : Uh -huh.
Plant People: That's not normal.
Alexis : On this side.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : That's weird. That's a weird thing to see. Like, it's just.
Plant People: You know the science behind it and still your brain wants to make it weird.
Alexis : Yes. And still there's like there, I think that's what, what do they call that?
Plant People: Wants to make it weird.
Jessica : Right.
Alexis : It's kept humans alive and um instinct.
Plant People: It's our lizard brain, yeah.
Jessica : Yep.
Alexis : There's a little instinct in you and they're just like. maybe Boop! I'll just stay over here.
Jessica : Great.
Alexis : Maybe I won't step into it.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : It's probably fine, but it just seems... it's not natural even though it's very natural but um You know. I love when you talk to people and you'd be like, oh, it's probably feeding. There's probably a tree there once. And it's like a lady who's like, I have lived here for 65 years and there's never been a tree there. And you're like.
Alexis : I don't know. i don't know why then. I have no idea.
Jessica : You're lucky! Surprise!
Alexis : Ta -da!
Plant People: Yeah, surprise.
Alexis : Maybe just like stay away from it.
Plant People: Um,
Alexis : Maybe.
Plant People: Yeah, don't don't don't mess with that. I was ah thinking of another plant that's a cool story that I hadn't thought about until we're having this conversation on the fly.
Alexis : Yeah.
Plant People: But um I thought it would have a cooler like a meaning because I thought it was a cool name and I like the plant is witch hazel. And I thought, why is it called witch hazel?
Plant People: So ah once again, in the card catalog days, I went up and, you know, did a deep dive on witch hazel was one of my like weekly we had to do featured plants. Um, But um it does have some cool aspects. But the name Witch Hazel, I thought, why is it called Witch, first of all? But it's an old English. it's um It.
Plant People: Turned into the word witch, but that's not how it started. it The old English word is W -I -C -H.
Alexis : Oh, okay.
Plant People: There's two different spellings. I forget. But it means flexible. The old English word is watch. And it was white hazel and the early settlers called it white hazel because it reminded them of the English true hazel.
Plant People: It's not a true hazel in that family of plants, ah but it the leaves of it look like a hazel tree.
Alexis : ah I am a malice.
Plant People: a hazelnut and So they called it white hazel because white meant flexible and hazel was what it reminded them of the tree. And it was also used in because it was a flexible shrub like, you know, lots of twigs.
Plant People: It was used in water dousing or water witching.
Alexis : uh -huh
Plant People: So it was a natural thing that it.
Alexis : uh -huh
Plant People: form went from one name over time till it sounded like witch but that was kind of a cool thing witch hazel
Alexis : And it has creepy flowers. They're kind of spooky looking.
Jessica : It does.
Plant People: you know it And it blooms. You guys know when it blooms, which makes it super cool. is October in our part of the state, at least. It's late September october or late October.
Alexis : Well, there's an autumn and a spring. Yeah.
Plant People: yeah oh the I always forget about the spring, or but, and they can eject.
Alexis : Mm -hmm.
Plant People: their little seed pods when they get ripe. Like I have heard antidotes of up to 30 feet. I've never seen that.
Jessica : o
Plant People: I would love to. But they I mean, if you guys ever seen those do that, I.
Alexis : Mm -mm.
Plant People: I've seen them pop a little bit and go you know two or three feet, but not 30 feet.
Jessica : I have not
Alexis : I feel like I only see the spring ones because they're, I think the showier ones.
Plant People: Mm hmm.
Jessica : Same.
Alexis : And so they're more like, like more landscape plants.
Plant People: Yeah, that's true. That's true.
Alexis : um But they've got they've got a spooky little flower. and I love them.
Plant People: uh yeah kind of a little what is it how would you describe it kind of a little stringy yellow
Jessica : string game
Plant People: is the ones I'm thinking of.
Alexis : Yeah, like ah almost kind of jellyfish -like.
Plant People: Almost like um like a...
Jessica : It...
Plant People: Bye -bye.
Jessica : I feel like if you didn't know.
Plant People: Cedar apple rust, except yellow.
Jessica : yeah that's what i was thinking like you would think it's like a fungus or something growing on on it
Alexis : Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : Yes.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : Yeah. Yeah. And they they come in kind of like some different colors.
Plant People: But which hazel?
Alexis : You know, I think the native is more like a dark red and a little bit of orangey rust color.
Plant People: Yeah. Mm hmm.
Alexis : But now they have ones that are like the... You know, if you're thinking of like a jellyfish, like the cap is like a bright red and then it's like a fluorescent yellow little tentacle looking things.
Plant People: Hmm. The yellow ones, as I've seen the cultivated, yeah.
Alexis : And you're like, what? is going on.
Jessica : then
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : Little little creepy witch hazel There's a lot of
Plant People: But some of those bloom in the fall.
Jessica : Mhm.
Plant People: Yeah, right around Halloween.
Alexis : Mm hmm.
Plant People: So that's a cool thing I'd forgotten.
Alexis : I think our native one blooms in the fall. Yeah, yeah.
Plant People: Yeah, it's there was some one on some land that I had, and it was right at the top of a hillside on an old graveyard. So keeping with the spooky theme.
Alexis : ah
Jessica : Just add to it, yeah.
Plant People: It was witch hazel, and it was a beautiful big clump of witch hazel, and it was one of those that was fall blooming.
Alexis : Uh huh.
Alexis : Hmm.
Plant People: And when you would not expect a plant to be blooming, they're sort of unique in that.
Alexis : Mm hmm.
Plant People: they bloom right around Halloween. So I thought this plant must have some kind of spooky origins. No, somebody mispronounced white and it became witch over time. And you know, that's how it got its name, but it it was used in water dousing and water divining or whatever.
Jessica : Nice.
Plant People: If some of you guys are into folklore, it was commonly used for that, but no, it was just a flexible plant. So they called it literally in old English flexible, which is white.
Alexis : Flexible hazel.
Plant People: So yeah, I don't know.
Alexis : Interesting.
Plant People: Yeah. Flexible hazel. That's right. So that's one that's spooky, not spooky, I guess.
Jessica : Yeah. What?
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : I know, it's like the the idea of it is spookier than the actual truth of it.
Plant People: yeah i know and then i started i was like oh that that that's really why that is yes at darn darn
Alexis : Done it.
Jessica : One of... Ones we kind of mentioned before we got on here talking about like ones that might be extra pokey and kind of scary looking.
Alexis : ah
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : Devil's walking stick is one.
Plant People: That's a really good one.
Jessica : There you go.
Alexis : hu
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : oh
Plant People: Just the name of that plant is super cool.
Jessica : Um, Right. And then one that I've like come across a lot is a honey locust. And it has this giant.
Alexis : hu
Plant People: Oh. Oh yes.
Jessica : Thorns, not the black locust that also has thorns. Nice little thorns that you can't see.
Plant People: Yes.
Alexis : Yeah.
Jessica : you will easily grab and hurt.
Plant People: Polite little thorns.
Alexis : Yeah.
Jessica : But the big, the big one that almost looks like. bird talons or something like that, like claws.
Alexis : Mm hmm.
Plant People: Oh, what are you talking about, Jessica?
Alexis : Yeah, they're like six inches long.
Plant People: Six, eight inch thorns.
Jessica : Yeah.
Alexis : They're crazy.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: It is incredible.
Alexis : Yeah.
Jessica : Makeover.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : And. Like we were talking about. Bray was like, yeah, I had a bike tire popped. And I was like, we've had the experience of a tractor tire being popped by them.
Plant People: Yeah. I mean, anything that... a
Jessica : That's how, that's how.
Plant People: And that's crazy. Yeah.
Jessica : Yeah. But...
Plant People: And that now they that's legitimately creepy. If you bump into those not knowing what you're doing, that can do some serious bodily harm.
Jessica : Right.
Plant People: ah Those guys can.
Jessica : of me
Plant People: Then there's one at our 4 -H camp and it's on the trail. And we have this whole, I always stop groups there for nature hikes. And we talk about like natural defenses and, you know, what its role in nature is.
Plant People: But they're always just, I'm like, do not touch that. And there's always somebody that goes over there and goes, boop. And then gets poked and like, I'm bleeding. I'm like, why did you touch that?
Alexis : But I'd literally told like look at it don't touch it
Plant People: But yeah. Yeah, but they are so incredibly sharp. And I mean, it's just like a needle. And like you said, there's six, eight inches of thorns on those are just.
Jessica : mm -hmm
Alexis : And they they cluster up in like kind of a creepy looking way.
Plant People: crazy
Jessica : Right.
Alexis : You know, it's like.
Plant People: They do. yeah
Alexis : They're... Um. I always feel like they're just out, like just above. for the most part like my head like it's like if you're on if you're on something like riding something they'd be like at your level but I feel like the ones I grew up with they were luckily all of the thorns were kind of a little bit above where I was my head was as a child um but they were like these like just big clusters of them so like if you fell down the hill oh that's not good
Plant People: Hmm.
Plant People: Oh man.
Jessica : Right.
Plant People: Yeah And they were in an early succession tree, so there's ah reclaimed mine areas, and you saw those. I guess they... Planted them or they got started on mine spoil and they're one of the trees that'll grow early on in the cycle.
Plant People: And man, there'd just be like dozens of those. And we just wouldn't go around them as kids because you couldn't walk safely. They would go through your shoes if you had on regular tennis shoes.
Alexis : Mm hmm.
Plant People: And we just didn't go near them.
Jessica : huh
Plant People: That is one spot that we were like, we threatened to push each other over the hill by the entrance to this.
Jessica : Oh.
Plant People: You know, we're like, oh, we're going to push you into the locust meadow. And they're like, no, you know we'd give each other a hard time.
Alexis : not the locust
Plant People: Yeah. I think of other pokey plants, Jimson weed.
Alexis : o
Plant People: If you guys, if you don't know what that looks like, if you look at the seed pods on, I mean, that is something for the spooky garden. Not only is it poisonous.
Alexis : mm -hmm
Jessica : gyms Yes, I was there.
Plant People: is that and it has these really cool yeah datura it has this really cool what what would you describe darkest purplish green foliage when it's real healthy and the seed pods
Alexis : Datura.
Alexis : Yeah.
Jessica : Mm -hmm.
Alexis : and it's like these big leaves it's like kind of like umbrella shaped like they just
Jessica : Big leaves.
Plant People: Yeah. That is straight.
Jessica : Yep.
Plant People: I call it the witch's plant.
Alexis : It kind of looks like a bat or like a like a bird, like when they kind of like flex their wings up out like a vulture or something.
Plant People: Everything about this plan is spooky.
Alexis : That's what I think of.
Plant People: Everything is spooky.
Jessica : Not encouraging.
Alexis : Yes, everything about it is spooky.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah, it's a it's out and a big, big white flowers.
Alexis : And it's poisonous.
Plant People: Yes.
Jessica : it It is.
Alexis : Yeah.
Plant People: these
Alexis : nick And yeah, the flowers are.
Jessica : It is.
Alexis : really pretty which um which makes it creepier because it's like
Plant People: Okay, the flowers are pretty. Makes it even worse. Yeah.
Alexis : luring you're in you know
Jessica : And you can get, off speaking from experience from my husband, um who was weed eating a bunch of it once, had a piece get in his eye.
Alexis : Yes.
Plant People: Oh gosh.
Jessica : And his eyes became extremely dilated.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : and and and And it ended up being from that plant.
Plant People: Central nervous system effects. Yeah.
Jessica : and Bless him. He went to the eye doctor because at the time we hadn't put two to two two and two together and the eye doctor just kept asking.
Plant People: Wow.
Jessica : Did you take anything? Did you take anything? And he was just like, no, I don't. I don't do that. I don't. I don't you know.
Alexis : I don't do drugs.
Plant People: I was weed -eating and minding my own business.
Jessica : I don't do no drugs. And then finally we realized it was that plant and it had caused his, one of his eyes to become. completely dilated like his front and it was from that jimson weed
Plant People: That is wild.
Jessica : which also that like kind of carries into like, there's all these other plants out there that might just be, there's so many toxic plants in our environment.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : Right. Cause like if personally, my family and stuff, my dad gets really freaked out about you. about taxes and because it's toxic to live, it's really toxic to livestock, right?
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : um
Alexis : mm -hmm
Jessica : But there's so many other things that we plant in our landscape all the time that we're like, this is a lovely plant. That could be something extremely deadly, right?
Plant People: A lot of the laurels, yeah, they're all toxic, yeah.
Jessica : So there's several things out there too in the landscape. Some things. Some things we get a lot of calls about Poison Hemlock.
Alexis : Yeah.
Jessica : you know, in this line of work, but poison hemlock's been around. for a very, very long time.
Alexis : For like a hundred years. yeah
Jessica : Yeah, it's just... i Social media has caused a resurgence of panic, I think, about it.
Plant People: Now, if you're weed eating and you don't know what that stuff is, you that's one you'd kind of have to be careful of a little bit. ah Kind of like the Jimson weed.
Jessica : Right.
Alexis : Yeah, like don't open your mouth while you weedy.
Jessica : It's just like, yeah, the Jimson weed.
Alexis : I'm good.
Plant People: Yeah. Yeah.
Jessica : um But yeah, there are so many things if you go that route.
Plant People: Uh,
Jessica : that are we have toxic ones in our
Plant People: Objectively kind of scary.
Jessica : landscape.
Plant People: ah it could Potentially a little bit scary, yeah.
Jessica : Yeah.
Alexis : Yeah, they're scary not spooky.
Jessica : No. Not spooky.
Alexis : This is spooky plants
Jessica : spooky
Plant People: Spooky plants, but the...
Alexis : Spooky plants.
Plant People: All the thorny plants. I'm thinking, I'm looking at you power cancer. You're kind of creepy, but not really creepy, but it's definitely thorny. so
Jessica : Yeah.
Alexis : Mm hmm. Mm hmm. mm -hmm
Plant People: I'm trying to think of what else. I mean, the fungi, we we touched on that.
Alexis : Ray, or is there any other plants that have like a spooky lore to them that you grew up with?
Plant People: all the
Plant People: You know, pokeweed is a good one. I like pa almost forgot about that one. But pokeweed's interesting um because I grew up eating it, which I will not recommend on this show because there's very specific ways, apparently, and stages where you can fix that.
Plant People: so not
Alexis : We will have a. guide coming out shortly. um
Plant People: Oh.
Alexis : on how like wild foraging and poke is a plant and so they'll have a recipe and how to how to collect it and stuff like that um for a couple wild plants
Plant People: Mm -hmm. Yeah.
Plant People: And there's a very specific way that you go through to eat that because it is toxic.
Alexis : Mhm.
Plant People: yeah It contains toxins.
Alexis : Yeah. Yeah. And it's a set. You have a salad, not a salad, right?
Plant People: Yeah, we always made it like croquettes.
Alexis : a poke It's a poke salad.
Plant People: so Mom fixed it a specific way, like and I did not know what a croquette was until I came to Central Kentucky.
Alexis : A croquette. Okay.
Plant People: We called them poke patties. But um yeah, it's one of those plants, and you get them on you, the berries.
Jessica : That is.
Alexis : I like that better.
Plant People: First of all, the plant's beautiful. It can grow up to nine feet tall.
Alexis : Mm hmm.
Plant People: It's purple. If you don't know what poke looks like, you can go look up a picture of that. It's really a cool -looking plant, but it stains your hands, and it's ah I guess, can it be used as a natural dye?
Plant People: I know it was used in different ways historically in Native American culture.
Jessica : it It dyed my kids' clothes like a week ago.
Alexis : Yeah.
Plant People: It doesn't come out.
Alexis : Yeah, I think, yeah.
Plant People: It doesn't come out But I don't know if it's like something that can be used or not.
Alexis : Yeah, I used to. I had a white horse and I used to paint her with the pokeberries. when I was young.
Plant People: Oh.
Jessica : ah
Alexis : Yeah.
Plant People: I would put them in and smash them on my brother, my older brother, and then run away because we knew that you don't wash it off. You have to wear it off. You have to wear, you cannot, it's, it's a bit so poke is one of those things.
Jessica : Mm -hmm.
Alexis : Yeah, the same.
Plant People: I think of that some of the lore with that it's poisonous, but at the same time you can eat parts of it. And, you know, it had all these. these uses. You know, folklore around witch hazel.
Plant People: We didn't talk about that in Native American culture as an astringent. That was something that.
Alexis : yes
Plant People: um was used. um You know, yeah and there's an interesting story behind like witch hazel, talking about the medicinal properties of that for skin and stuff that's to this very day.
Plant People: There's companies that, you know, talk to Native American ah people in that culture, the different cultures, Iroquois, Cherokee.
Alexis : mm -hmm
Plant People: and then they learned how to distill like the astringent properties of witch hazel so there's this whole back story.
Alexis : it's good facial toner
Plant People: Yeah. and it did And they learned how to like stabilize that and sell that. And some of those companies have been around since way back when.
Alexis : mm -hmm
Plant People: selling that stuff. But as as far as lore, you know, we touch bases on like water dowsing, like using witch hazel for that. Now it's got a cool name. So, Hey, it must be able to find water.
Plant People: But that's some folklore around that. um I'm trying to think of specifically other than just. like a you know local legends and communities that i grew up in like don't go next to the
Alexis : um
Plant People: the the wailing tree and it was just a big and it just it was a beach and it was hollow and had and if the wind blew just right it would make a moaning sound and it was the wailing tree and we were all scared we were all scared of that and in fact ah
Jessica : That's spooky.
Alexis : Yeah. Uh, yeah, as you should be.
Plant People: And there was a book that made it all okay. Mom's like, here, read this book. And I was like, what? It was the Bernstein's bear, the old spooky tree. and
Jessica : Read that recently.
Plant People: It's one of my favorites. And you know, I read that book.
Jessica : It's a good one.
Plant People: Yes. Read that book and I still have it. It's a hard, but the hardback large edition. And I wasn't afraid of the spooky tree that and that moaned at night, you know, and Chris George had a similar thing where there was an old welling tree and it was like that, but.
Plant People: I think about some of the trees like that, that would, you know, make noises or whatever that's hollow and mom to make it. Okay. She just, you know, let me read these kids books. And I was like, Oh, so that's kind of what it is.
Plant People: And it was okay. So the kids would be like, Oh, don't go next to that. And I would be that kid at midnight to run up and touch it because I knew then. I was like, it's okay.
Alexis : It.
Plant People: I was like, i would you have no power here anymore.
Alexis : You are the cool kid.
Plant People: And so. Yeah, and little did they know, I was like, Mom made it.
Alexis : You're not scared of the tree.
Jessica : The brave one.
Plant People: I read The Old spy Spooky Tree by the Bernstein Bears. Um, But yeah, lots of lots of lore around a lot of this stuff. When you think about like... It's not really Appalachian lore, but like garlic and...
Plant People: The antimicrobial properties that, you know, translated to, you know, clarification of blood issues, which, you know, translated to, oh, then it must kill vampires, another mythological creature.
Alexis : Obviously.
Plant People: But the connections there, yeah, it all connects at some point.
Jessica : It all connects.
Plant People: So lots of lore in horticulture. um
Alexis : spooky, spooky plants.
Plant People: Yeah, spooky stuff.
Alexis : Well, we kind of covered a... physical the The physical spooky, the hypothetical spooky, the...
Plant People: Metaphysical, spooky.
Alexis : the metaphysical spooky um around plants so hopefully you're feeling in a in a warm but spooky vibe and you're gonna get you a ah nice spooky warm drink and um hopefully it's
Plant People: Psychological spooky.
Alexis : By the time you listen to this, it hasn't frosted. I'm not ready for that yet. But I also am glad that... It has cooled down a little bit and we can drink warm drinks. and and get a little get a little spooky up in here in these bird months that we have so Anyways, we appreciate you guys joining us today. We hope that you'll join us next time. You'll give us five stars. and you know if you got If you got your own spooky stories, send them to us. I think i feel like I want to do a ah lot of podcasts.
Alexis : listener tales or or stuff like that. But we want we want to know about your spooky plants.
Plant People: Oh, yes, please.
Alexis : um So send those in.
Plant People: If we get them quick enough, we could get them in on October.
Alexis : I mean November can be a spooky month. It's spooky all the way up until Thanksgiving.
Plant People: Oh it's spooky. Oh yeah.
Jessica : hey
Plant People: The beech leaves will still be on the trees and certain oaks.
Alexis : It's very neat. the Yeah, if the if the beaches look like little ghosts outside, it's still spooky season.
Plant People: so Yeah.
Alexis : That's that's how you can tell.
Plant People: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Alexis : Anyways, we appreciate you guys joining us. Follow us on Instagram at HortCulturePodcast or shoot us an email at HortCulturePodcast at gmail .com. And we appreciate you being here with us today. Have a great one.
