Consult a botanist - we're cheap!

How much would it cost people to be botanically correct?  The magic of many movies has been ruined by recognizing a plant that does not and could not grow where the scene is allegedly taking place.  Granted no one else in the theater noticed, but what would it have cost to get it right?  And the CSI shows are just down right botanically stupid, ludicrous even.  Oh, to have $10 for every mistake they make!  Most of these botanical mistakes are easily correctable by simply consulting a botanist.  Sometimes making botanical errors can be quite costly, yes, especially in denominations of $20, $50, and $100.  Citizens of the Great White North use the maple leaf as a national symbol, but it's not just any maple leaf, it's a sugar maple leaf, and any botanist worth the label could have, would have noticed that the engraver of their new currency used a Norway maple instead.  Yes, botanists notice things like this; it's what we do, eh?  Now what would this have cost?  A case of decent Canadian whisky and a gallon of maple syrup at most.  So when you need to have your botany fact-checked just drop TPP a note; if he doesn't know the answer, he knows the people who do.  So, if your currency features some plant, send a few thousand notes along for TPP to check.  Or else, you risk being ridiculed by some obscure botanical blogger. HT to the Garden Rant. 

Out of this world botany!

Botany in movies and on TV is usually absolute and utter crap, and it ruins it for me. Plants frequently are a give away that the filming was done in a location distant from where the action was supposed to take place. Even pure escapist garbage gets really annoying like a recently viewed "Librarian" episode where the hero finds quaking aspen is a Louisiana bayou and it's supposed to be part of some Christian legend which of course would have been set in the Eastern Mediterranean. CSI is ever rediculous in their pin-point plant identifications from a single trichome recovered at a crime scene. Except I did see one of my mentors ID a plant from just a trichome once. So imagine my surprise to learn that even when it doesn't matter, i.e., purely science fiction, the makers of Avatar consulted a botanist! Wow! It happens so seldom, but of course we are are the only ones who know because no one else notices. At least this gives me a reason to see the film.

As an added bonus, my colleague recommends some "other-wordly" plants you can grow in your garden. Enjoy!

Anatomically (botanically) correct bathroom fixtures

For a delightful leak, and it's yours for just over $7000! Well, the Phactor cannot top that for a line. So for the (male) flower fancier who has everything, here's the finest example of anatomically correct bathroom fixtures. Now, let's consider how this is pollinated.
More at the Human Flower Project.
We all must wait in great anticipation for their line of toilets, sinks, and bathtubs.