Mother-in-law's tongue

JohnWaterman

5-10-2008 1:29 AM

345 views

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/8ece50d3-bfa7-4fe0-bd0e-55ac8afa0067/1993DF1A-9B1A-4734-BBB6-D5981450006F/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.null-hypothesis.co.uk/science/strange-but-true/item/weird_strange_plants_dumbcane_dieffenbachia" href="http://www.null-hypothesis.co.uk/science/strange-but-true/item/weird_strange_plants_dumbcane_dieffenbachia" style="font-size: 11px;">www.null-hypothesis.co.uk</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.null-hypothesis.co.uk/science/strange-but-true/item/weird_strange_plants_dumbcane_dieffenbachia"><STRONG>DUMBCANE </STRONG>or<STRONG> MOTHER-IN-LAW'S TONGUE</STRONG></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.null-hypothesis.co.uk/science/strange-but-true/item/weird_strange_plants_dumbcane_dieffenbachia"><EM>Dieffenbachia picta</EM></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.null-hypothesis.co.uk/science/strange-but-true/item/weird_strange_plants_dumbcane_dieffenbachia"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.null-hypothesis.co.uk/img/CE65467A-2B2E-422B-BA9B-7E9675BB84AB" alt="Batty Botany" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.null-hypothesis.co.uk/science/strange-but-true/item/weird_strange_plants_dumbcane_dieffenbachia">The leaves contain barbed, double-pointed, needle-like crystals of calcium oxalate which get shot into the soft mouth tissues of anything unfortunate enough to try eating it. The plants house these sharp crystals within specialised cells called idioblasts which act like microscopic blow darts when broken.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.null-hypothesis.co.uk/science/strange-but-true/item/weird_strange_plants_dumbcane_dieffenbachia"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.null-hypothesis.co.uk/img/18B3D317-CD24-4947-A258-7ABD78023CE3" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.null-hypothesis.co.uk/science/strange-but-true/item/weird_strange_plants_dumbcane_dieffenbachia"><table background="undefined" bgcolor=""><tr><TD><STRONG>Dumbcane: can deploy chemical weapons within a fraction of a second.
</STRONG><FONT size="1">Click image to enlarge.</FONT></TD></tr></table></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.null-hypothesis.co.uk/science/strange-but-true/item/weird_strange_plants_dumbcane_dieffenbachia">
To make matters worse, the oxalate crystals have grooves running down their sides which channel an enzyme similar to those found in scorpion and snake venoms deep into the wounds</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.null-hypothesis.co.uk/science/strange-but-true/item/weird_strange_plants_dumbcane_dieffenbachia"><DIV>
All this causes a severe burning sensation, paralysis of the mouth (hence the plant's common names) and the occasional hideously painful death. </DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.null-hypothesis.co.uk/science/strange-but-true/item/weird_strange_plants_dumbcane_dieffenbachia">
Despite its rather warlike defences, dumbcane is a popular houseplant</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/1993DF1A-9B1A-4734-BBB6-D5981450006F/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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