{"id":47093,"date":"2014-09-09T12:42:22","date_gmt":"2014-09-09T16:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nybg.org\/plant-talk\/?p=47093"},"modified":"2014-09-09T13:38:04","modified_gmt":"2014-09-09T17:38:04","slug":"a-thriving-bundle-of-twigs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/2014\/09\/horticulture-2\/a-thriving-bundle-of-twigs\/","title":{"rendered":"A Thriving Bundle of Twigs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christian Primeau<\/a> is the NYBG<\/a>\u2018s Manager of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory<\/a>.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\"The<\/a>
The stick plant (Cynanchum marnierianum<\/em>) in bloom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The following is an excerpt from a conversation I had with my lovely wife regarding one of my favorite plants:<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it\u2026dead?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it\u2019s not dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you sure?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it\u2019s what I do for a living, so yes, I\u2019m sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think its dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI assure you it is alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just saying it doesn\u2019t look that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

As thrilled as I\u2019d be to title this blog post \u201cThe Time I Was Right,” let me set aside petty triumphs (I\u2019ll celebrate later) and address this mystery plant that looks dead, but isn\u2019t. You don\u2019t often stumble across Cynanchum marnierianum<\/em> for sale and very rarely will you see it on display. The reason is fairly evident\u2014most people wouldn\u2019t consider a plant that looks like a bundle of dead twigs all that stimulating.<\/p>\n

Call me a contrarian, but when I hear someone exclaim how ugly a plant is, it makes me love it that much more. Let us save the pretty plants for those with no imagination! I think maybe Proust said that. I appreciate conventionally beautiful plants as much as the next person but, like Grumpy Cat or Adrien Brody, some things appear so bizarre one can\u2019t help but love them.
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\"Garden<\/a>
Garden staff display a deceptively healthy stick plant<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

Cynanchum marnierianum<\/em>, or \u201cStick Plant,\u201d is certainly a fascinating oddity. In the arid scrub forests and dry plateaus of Madagascar where it is native, plants have evolved to be tough, to take advantage of scarce resources and, above all, to protect themselves against predation. Herbivorous animals enduring the same harsh conditions would love nothing more than an easy meal. While Euphorbia<\/em> species from these areas produce a caustic sap, and plants such as Pachypodium<\/em> and Alluaudia<\/em> are armed with vicious spines, Cynanchum<\/em> takes survival strategy a step further: it plays dead<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A stick plant flower<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The thin, roughly-textured, rambling olive drab to brown stems camouflage the plant perfectly amid dry grasses, stone, and scrub. Any hungry creature looking for a nutritious entree would certainly pass over the decidedly unappetizing dead \u201ctwig\u201d and continue on, hoping for greener pastures. Each October, however, Cynanchum<\/em> breaks character and emerges from obscurity. Intricate golden-green flowers resembling miniature Chinese lanterns burst forth along the entire length of the stem, emitting an intoxicating perfume reminiscent of Froot Loops cereal. I ask you, does it get any better than that? This cereal-loving horticulturist doesn\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n

I encourage plant enthusiasts to give a few \u201cunconventionally beautiful\u201d plants a chance now and again\u2014they just may surprise you. Like many succulents, Cynanchum marnierianum<\/em> requires only a well-drained soil mix and good sun to thrive. The absolutely spectacular 25-year-old specimen cared for by NYBG\u2019s dedicated Nolen Greenhouse staff is living proof. Key word “living!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What would appear to be a bundle of kindling is one of Madagascar’s greatest deceivers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":177,"featured_media":47094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[3824],"tags":[2927,4187,282,3100,4188,2058],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/cyn3.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/ph0lU-cfz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47093"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/177"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47093"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47103,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47093\/revisions\/47103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}