10 Creepy Plants That Shouldn't Exist. We spend a lot of time here at Cracked pointing out horrors of nature that slither on the land and lurch through the sea.
But staying under the radar in nature's landscape of nightmares is the twisted carnival of things that grow out of the ground. Like ... Bleeding Tooth Fungus The bleeding tooth fungus looks kind of like a wad of chewing gum that leaks blood like a rejected prop from The Shining. They're also called the strawberries and cream, the red-juice tooth, and the devil's tooth. Oh, and they are listed as "inedible," which implies that someone attempted to eat one at some point.
Chinese Black Batflowers There's a good reason that Batman uses bat imagery to strike terror into the hearts of Gotham's criminals, rather than, say, some kind of shrew. It is kept as an ornamental plant by gardeners who prefer to cultivate nightmares, and have the balls to live in the presence of a plant that looks like it crawled out of a Bosch painting and wants to plant its young in their head. Bonsai Trees. A bonsai, literally translated to “tree in a pot”, is simply a potted miniature version of its normal sized counterpart.
Originating from China and Japan, bonsai trees were originally cultivated from trees growing in the wild. Over time, the practice of bonsai trees gained popularity as an art form. Perhaps, the beauty and discipline of bonsai trees stemmed from the desire to control something as grand as a large tree into such a small pot. The hobby of bonsai trees migrated to the West and quickly became a hobby because of the various methods of training and shaping a bonsai tree. Many bonsai tree enthusiasts enjoy the hobby because of the tranquil feeling experienced when caring and maintaining the bonsai tree. Various species of bonsai trees became signature bonsai subjects including Junipers bonsai trees, Elm bonsai trees, Ficus bonsai trees, and Olive bonsai trees. Of them, the Juniper bonsai trees is one of the most desired to due to its flexibility and ability to be trained. Bonsai styles, shapes and forms explained.
Over the years many styles to classify Bonsai trees have been advanced, closely resembling circumstances in nature.
These styles are open to personal interpretation and creativity, meaning that trees do not necessarily need to conform to any form. Still, the styles are important to gain a basic understanding of shapes and should serve as guidelines to successfully train miniature trees. Bonsai styles movie The Bonsai styles More information Check the image of all the Bonsai styles.Read about the history of Bonsai or about the meaning of BonsaiReturn to the Bonsai homepageWritten by: Oscar J. Synsepalum dulcificum. The berry itself has a low sugar content[7] and a mildly sweet tang. It contains a glycoprotein molecule, with some trailing carbohydrate chains, called miraculin.[8][9] When the fleshy part of the fruit is eaten, this molecule binds to the tongue's taste buds, causing sour foods to taste sweet.
At neutral pH, miraculin binds and blocks the receptors, but at low pH (resulting from ingestion of sour foods) miraculin binds protons and becomes able to activate the sweet receptors, resulting in the perception of sweet taste.[10] This effect lasts until the protein is washed away by saliva (up to about 60 minutes).[11] The names miracle fruit and miracle berry are shared by Gymnema sylvestre and Thaumatococcus daniellii,[2] which are two other species of plant used to alter the perceived sweetness of foods. History[edit] For a time in the 1970s, US dieters could purchase a pill form of miraculin.[15] The idea of the "miraculin party"[15] was conceived then. Characteristics[edit] Uses[edit]