prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (Default)
[personal profile] prettygoodword
dieffenbachia (dee-fuhn-BAK-ee-uh) - n., any of several tropical American plants of the genus Dieffenbachia with variegated foliage.


Members of the lily family. Often grown as pot plants because their striped leaves are decorative and, as a jungle undergrowth, they are shade-tolerant. Do not eat: they are caustic like taro. Named after Ernst Dieffenbach (1811-1855), a German physician and naturalist who was not the describer, as his fieldwork was done in New Zealand -- instead, it was a posthumous commemoration made around 1900.

---L.

Date: 2011-02-14 02:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] asakiyume.livejournal.com
Dieffenbachia.

Not the same old Bachia. We're talking Carl Philipp Emanuel here, not Johann Sebastian.

Date: 2011-02-14 02:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] prettygoodword.livejournal.com
You have NO IDEA how hard it was to keep from making a similar joke. NO IDEA I tell you.

---L.

Date: 2011-02-14 02:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] asakiyume.livejournal.com
You were very gracious to leave it for the first commenter!

Date: 2011-02-14 10:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] azhdragon.livejournal.com
'round these here parts the plant is usually known as "Dumb Cane". Not because it makes you stupid, but because it (supposedly) numbs the mouth so completely it stops you speaking.

Date: 2011-02-15 02:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] prettygoodword.livejournal.com
I've heard the name used. My experience with plants with raphides (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphides)* is a rather more a burning sensation than numbness.

* Badly prepared taro leaves.

---L.

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