botany

Beloved Leader Kim Jong-Il's Flower Is World's Best Flower, Say Unbiased Experts

Hamilton Nolan · 09/25/12 04:00PM

His magisterial highness the beloved democratic leader KIM JONG-UN today happily ruled over the smiling people's kingdom of the DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA, where great tributes and praise for the beloved memory of the late heroic kindly leader of the people in perpetuity KIM JONG-IL, father of beloved current leader of the happily satisfied people and animals alike KIM JONG-UN, are routinely the order of the day. In what way was the memory of the highest imperial democratic inspiration KIM JONG-IL praised today, by the industrious citizens of the world, according to the DPRK's official news agency?

This Man Had a Plant Growing Inside His Lung

Max Read · 08/10/10 08:59PM

When Massachusetts man Ron Sveden was rushed the hospital after spending months coughing, he expected to receive a cancer diagnosis. So you can imagine his relief when it turned out to be a "half-inch" pea plant growing in his lung.

Scary 20-Foot Weed Invading Ontario Can Blind You

Max Read · 07/12/10 01:04AM

Giant hogweed, an enormous plant whose sap can burn skin—not to mention cause blindness—has been found in Ontario. If you see it, contact the authorities, and maybe try shooting at it with a gun, or something. [CBC via]

Cops' 400 Pot Plants Turn Out to Be Horsemint

Max Read · 05/23/10 09:28PM

Cops in Corpus Christi, who are clearly very well-intentioned but maybe not the sharpest tools in the police shed, seized some 400 marijuana plants from a city park. Only, they were not marijuana, so much as, "horsemint."

Emily Gould · 10/25/07 02:40PM

When we were discussing what celebrities blog about, we somehow neglected Martha Stewart, and this is why we shouldn't have: "This most unusual perennial, Gomphocarpus physocarpus, is called the balloon plant. I like to call it hairy balls. A species of milkweed, it is often used as an ornamental plant and is striking in cut arrangements." [The Martha Blog]