Botanical Bits
25 Feb
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43
Title image above is copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos
First published 25th February 2026
People always do a double-take whenever I mention that I have carnivorous passionfruit! Though apparently it is more accurately a protocarnivorous passionfruit. Here is the flower of the protocarnivorous passi..
31 Dec
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210
Title image above is copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos
First published 31st December 2025
Happy New Year!
copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos..
10 Dec
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385
Title image above is copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos
First published 10th December 2025
Did you know that there are carnivorous bromeliads? Not too many, only three or four in the entire Bromeliaceae (Bromeliad) family of roughly 80 genera and 3,700 species. (How I would love them to all be here ..
09 Dec
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305
Title image above is copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos
First published 9th December 2025
Here we are going to explore the botanical structure of a sugarcane stalk. These parts are common to all stems and branches regardless of species, but they are particularly distinct here in sugarcane (and the s..
10 Aug
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865
Title image above is copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos
First published 10th August 2025
Bromeliads have the most amazing infloresecences* (flower spikes*), and the inflorescence of the pink-and-blue matchstick bromeliad (Aechmea gamosepala var. gamosepala) is no exception!
* A more accurate descrip..
03 Aug
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1634
Title image above is copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos
First published 3rd August 2025
The Araucaria genus comprises twenty species, now native only to the southern hemisphere, though they were once worldwide from 66 to 200 million years ago.
The Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwillii) and Hoop or Moreton..
11 Jun
1
986
Title image above is copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos
First published 11th June 2025
Introduction to the Structure of Sugarcane
Sugarcane is super easy to propagate — possibly the hardest part is deciding which of the three different ways suits you best!
(There is a fourth way not covered here, a..
01 Jun
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830
Title image above is copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos
First published 1st June 2025
Botanical Bits
Botanical name: Smallanthus sonchifolius
Family: Asteraceae (the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family: includes daisies, sunflowers, Curio sp. succulents)
Growth: Herbaceous (no woody stems)
..
06 May
1
2532
Title image above is copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos
First published 6th May 2025
On Bulbs
“Bulb” in the botany world has a very precise meaning — it is the underground stem (yes, stem) of a plant, made of fleshy leaves and used for food storage during dormancy.
A bulb is an organ. Other plant or..
07 Apr
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1051
Title image above is copyright © The Caledonian Tree Co. Ltd
First published 7th April 2025
Air-Pot containers are the original and the best air-pruning containers around, and here you’ll learn how to get the most out of them, visually!
Everything below is also on The Air-Pot System: Diagrams and ..
30 Mar
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1423
Title image above was created by Kristi Ellinopoullos from images copyright © The Caledonian Tree Co. Ltd
First published 30th March 2025
Introduction to the Air-Pot Bonsai Training Pot
Air-Pot® bonsai training pots are phenomenal containers designed specifically for bonsai enthusiasts:
• their sq..
29 Mar
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1375
Title image above is copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos
First published 29th March 2025
Using an Air-Pot® requires a different approach to that of regular pots, and I wrote of this here.
In this older post I mentioned how quite a bit of medium will fall through the bottom until a natural bridge form..