wicked plants

Our garden club took an off-the-books field trip to the Science Museum of Virginia this month.  Have you ever wondered about poisonous plants?  The new exhibit entitled Wicked Plants takes you through a home to show you some very dangerous plants.

This one didn't seem so bad.

But this tree sure did.  I believe it was called the 'sandbox' tree, also known as possumwood.  Its bark is covered by pointed spines, its sap is poisonous, and its fruit explodes shooting seeds hundreds of feet away.

Some of the kids were disappointed that most of the plants were fake.  

(I think it was for our own protection.)

The best thing about the Science Museum is always buttons to push, wheels to spin, and things to touch and do.  Here we are crowded around to watch a plant grow as we spun this mini movie maker.

These boys braved the stinkiest of smells.  If you lift the lid to those boxes, you get a whiff of the plant that is under the glass dome.  My advice....don't do it!

This room had a mystery to solve, using clues from the scene.

Our favorite part was the private cooking demonstration Sra. Melara arranged.  The chef prepared a spaghetti squash using different parts of plants...the root, the leaf, the flower, but no stem in this recipe.

We learned that anything with seeds, biologically speaking, is a fruit from the flower of a plant.  So the spaghetti squash was a fruit!  And so was the long-debated tomato. 

Many kids enjoyed the sample she provided, and some even had thirds!

We had a great time at the science museum!  The Wicked Plant exhibit will be around through May 17th if you are interested in learning more.

And I thought I'd include a shot of the old entrance to the Science Museum.  It is under major construction!  This is right where the giant pendulum used to swing.