Fact Archive

Browse the archive of plant facts.

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Potatoes are poisonous?!

Potatoes are members of the Solanaceae family, which are characterised by their ability to produce an array of toxins including Solanine, which is poisonous to humans. Luckily, the solanine level in potatoes is very low, but all parts of the plant apart from the tubers are toxic to humans! Other members of this family include tomato and deadly nightshade

All bananas are the same

While most fruits come in different varieties (think Granny Smith vs Gala apples), all bananas are clones of each other. While this results in bananas being one of the most consistent tasting fruits, it's causing serious issues for growers: it's much easier for diseases to infect clones compared to if every banana was unique. This is why banana-flavouring tastes so different to modern bananas: the flavouring is based on the old Gros Michel using until the 1950s

Please don't touch me!

Native to the tropical Americas, Mimosa pudica, more commonly known as the touch-me-not plant has an interesting reaction to touching its leaves: the leaves fold inwards in a domino-style reaction. Using a structure known as the pulvinus, these plants use osmotic (water) pressure to rapidly (for a plant!) open and close the leaves.