Plants and Root Beer

Plants and their integration into one of our favorite beverages - root beer - is one of those recipes that has evolved over the years. Original root beers were a bit different than today's versions. Most of today's versions predominate with wintergreen, and some vanilla. Centuries ago they may have contained ginger, licorice, juniper berries, and usually predominated with Sassafras and Sarsaparilla. The common theme though is that the drink varied by culture and locale and took on its own unique characteristics. It is difficult to find commercial versions of root beers made with these organic plant materials today, but some smaller companies are doing it.

Technically, Historically, Interesting Flowers

I stumbled upon a new, and somewhat technical flower blog the other day. It offers insight into origins, history, and the use of flowers in modern times. One recent post goes so far as to reference the scientific name of the lisianthus used in the anime video game “Shuffle!”. As time goes on, this blog should turn out to be a very well rounded resource for those looking for more of this type of coverage of flowers. This is a very interesting way to follow the path of a flower.