PARASITES VS EPIPHYTES : Trying Fruit From Strange Epiphytic Plants - Weird Fruit Explorer
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- Опубликовано: 17 окт 2024
- Episode 649: Epiphytes & Parasites
Species: Rhipsalis baccifera, Codonanthopsis Sp, Anthurium obtusum, Anthurium gracile
Location: Turrialba, Costa Rica
Special thanks to Marco for showing me this, check out his website here: carnivorasdecos...
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SPECIAL THANKS:
Smarter Every Day, Loftyrex, JMac 
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Mentioned in this episode:
Corpse Flower: ruclips.net/video/-ILx0LsXNJc/видео.html
Ghost Pipe Plant: ruclips.net/video/FfmhHMoms-M/видео.html
Oaks of Note: ruclips.net/video/Wqf3xWWB2HI/видео.html
A fruit lover who doesn’t grow plants? I think it is time you experience the joy of raising flowering plants 🙂
"Are you a parasite" *koala hug attaches to you* "yes you are"
Marco is the shit.
Nah, my mother grows antherium in pots with no special soil. She never buys orchid soil or anything she neglects everything and tries to kill things.
"I am a circus performer that likes fruit." With that one sentence, you kicked my resume's ass. Tempted to set some new life goals now...
Your cat is symbiotic. They get fed, housed, cuddled and medical coverage. You get cuddles and internet credibility.
Parasites are symbiotic too. Symbiosis just means "living together", and there are three types: parasitism, mutualism, and commensalism.
Epiphytes are usually commensal. THEY benefit, but the tree isn't affected much.
When both partners benefit, that's a mutualism.
@@davidonfim2381 Interestingly, symbiosis has different definitions in different languages.
Epiphytes in some cases are actually incredibly important to an ecosystem. For years we couldn't figure out how trees in the rainforest were able to get enough nutrients, because all that rain actually leaches most of the good stuff right out of the soil.
Turns out trees were sending teeny rootlets right into the mats of vegetation on themselves, and extracting resources from the vegetative waste and animal matter that collected in their canopy.
They've also found whole aquatic ecosystems up there! It's so cool!
If I recall correctly, they've also found that in the Pacific Northwest bigleaf maple trees covered in moss will send out aerial roots into the moss, just like those tropical trees. Its especially strange because the temperate soils are generally quite rich in nutrients.
@@StuffandThings_ it probably has something to do with effeciency. If nutrients are gathered on your branches halfway up, wouldn't it be more effeciency to transport them from the mid point rather than all the way from the ground level? Just a theory.
Epiphytic Plants are quite common in my area, they are a huge part of the ecosystem and prevent water loss over the summer. Without the huge mats of moss and ferns the water would just run downhill, but with them, the water can even be drawn from the air and reincorporated into the forest.
@@Exquailibur yep! Gives more surface area for dew to accumulate on and does allow it back Into the soil, it's cool stuff. What part of the world do you live in? I love yards full of moss instead of grass lol
Wow! When I was a child I lived in Honduras. I was a fruit fiend and an explorer. I’m sure my parents had multiple heart attacks when I informed them that I had eaten some random fruit of an unknown plant.😂 one such plant grew on some trees in our yard and produced a small long cluster of white berries that I spotted and patiently waited to eat a single berry over the days it took for them all to ripen. I never could figure out what the fruit was, nobody knew what it was when I described it, and over the years I came to think I made it up in my memories. Thanks to your exploring I know now!!! Literally 40 years later. Thank you!!!
I’m so happy you know what the fruit was now!!🥰
Your childhood memories of exploration and finding fruits sound awesome!
“I did not know what it was, and neither did Marco know what it was” *cuts to clip of him eating the fruit from that plant*
You have to try them all 😅
Jared is a born test pilot
I got the idea that Marco knew that locals eat it.
Very few fruits will KILL you from one taste, so if you're of a scientific mind, seems sound to me to experiment on yourself.
I half-accidentally ate a potato that must have been too green. Maybe that type naturally produces too much solenine I don't know. But that was crazy. A mix of light hallucinogen feeling mixed with what I imagine it feels like to be poisoned with strychnine.
@@oldkingcrow777 Wow, a close call!
FYI the plant with white flowers is not anthurium. It's a peace lily plant (spataphyllum in Latin). You can see the difference in morphology. While anthuriums vary in flower and leaf shapes from species to species, all spataphyllums have kind of feather-shaped, way more delicate leaves. The flowers are more spikey, and always yellow, meanwhile anthurium flowers might have different colours. And that thing under the flowers is more papery in peace lilies, the anthurium ones are more leathery. And I believe spataphyllum fruits are actually highly toxic. Both plants are epiphytes tho, and they are related to each other, monstera deliciosa that you once tasted, to philodendrons, colocasias (some of those are also grown for food) and alocasias
Thanks for clearing that up
How did I miss the consumption of a monstera? I assume it was the fruit I've heard they produce?
Thank you for saying this about the anthuriums vs peace lilies. I had to pause mid-video to check if someone had already cleared that up for casual viewers who don't have much botanical knowledge.
Peace lilies are toxic and should not be foraged.
Oops, sorry, I thought you were referring to something else there.
@@WeirdExplorer no problem :) (hope it didn't come across as condescending or anything because it was not my intention, I often forget that "FYI" is rather negatively charged)
Food, jokes, parasites with a touch of contortionism with a side serve of botany! This channel has it all 😂💖
And kitties. Don't forget kitties!
He had me at “I am a circus performer” that’s all I needed
Very informative bit about orchids! I grow plants myself, and I've never really understood why my small potted orchid seemed to be so happy in such incredibly terrible soil with abysmally negligent care, infrequent waterings etc. Turns out, that's what she wanted all along :)
most of your plants would prefer something other than Miracle Gro potting mix, they didn't come from a peat bog, and peat can easily damage roots if its left too wet too long. it takes a while to reverse course mentally, but your plants will love you for it.
Aw! What a sweet, ephyphitic kitty❤ and Marco, man, he is amazing in his knowledge. Thank you both for sharing this!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Your cat is neither a parasite nor an epiphyte because you derive a considerable benefit from her presence in your life. Your relationship is commensal.
Commensal would require one of the parties to gain no benefit, definitely symbiotic in ths case.
@@pattheplanter Heh heh. You're almost there. The food and shelter are widely available; the unconditional love and acceptance are not. Jared is the commensal, not Vostock.
I tried the Mistletoe cactus fruit several months ago in a school trip, but I didn't swallowed it because I didn't really knew what it was at the time
Later my teacher told me it was a cactus and that blew my mind
It's nice to have someone backing up Jared's analyses of the flavours of fruits, it's such a subjective experience but it's really cool when people share common or different experiences. It brings me back to when he was traveling with his friend who owns that farm which grows many unique fruits.
its my birthday and i got the 3rd thumb up!!!! huge fan and glad to learn about this.... honestly never knew there was a difference between epiphytes and parasitic plants? have a great day and cant wait to learn about new fruits!!!
Happy birthday! 🎂
@@WeirdExplorer thank you! means a ton to be wished happy birthday from you :D
I didn't even know that was a thing at all. Man, you always do the most interesting stuff that ends up leading me down an Internet rabbit hole doing more research on the topic of fruit.
This video is great ! I learned things I didn't know, and certainly it was more interesting than those High School science classes I slept through.
Ghost pipes are my FAVORITE plant, hands down! Always glad to know other people like em
We use them as a painkiller in my little nomad pack they are interesting botanicaly and chemically
I'd love to see a collaboration between this guy and Joey from ' crime pays botany doesn't '
YESSSSSSSSSSSSS opposite personalities would make the greatest show
Lol, and they actually resemble each other…
the content you have been releasing with marco lately are SO INTERESTING. The wealth of knowledge Marco has is really outstanding.
Does Marco have a channel? He seems like a incredible collector of interesting knowledge!
This one 🙂
I have several epiphyllum oxypetalum cacti that I grow as houseplants. They are very easy to grow and propagate. They produce a fruit very much like a miniature dragon fruit, and they have magnificent night blooming flowers that wilt after one night.
I like it with many rare plants you see on some parts of the internet that it's edible and they eat it all the time, others that it's toxic, then you ask a botanist and they shrug their arms. Guess they have better things to concern about than if any random rare plant among millions is edible 😆
People confuse “poisonous” vs “toxic”. And poisonous has various levels. Not many plants actually toxic. Many poisonous plants can still be eaten with care or special preparation, etc. The reason many plants are not documented as being edible is that most plants were introduced/collected solely for physical characteristics and their traditional uses were completely ignored.
Locals tend to know what's good, if something is from a food plant family but no-one is eating it there's probably a good reason. Most plants are toxic, just which bit at what time changes between species.
Nice collection of Sarracenia Marco has in the background - one of my favorite carnivorous plants, and native to North America! All the crazy plants we try to grow from other locations around the world, it's cool to see someone growing a relatively "ordinary" North American plant elsewhere in the world!
Wow, great episode! Glad you got to meet Marco, he's super knowledgeable and has helped me a bunch on the horticulture and botany side.
Glad to help!
Very good and extremely interesting video! Love the cat cameo too lol
I can’t believe you got to see a corpse flower in person. And ghost pipes! I want to see those in my lifetime. Bucket list stuff
Always great videos, but this Costa Rica series has been wonderful!
thanks! many more coming up
I had a friend travel to Costa Rica. Ever since she came back with awesome photos, stories, experiences, I've been wanting to go, it seems like a beautiful place to visit and spend some time
yet another great and informative video. Fun format. Thanks, Jared!
Great episode! Looking forward to the next episode featuring the Blue Elderberry!
I’m doing an environmental science class and we literally just did a section on epiphytes! Perfect timing
Cool! Let me know if I got it right :)
Epiphytes are fascinating, such cool plants! We keep many epiphytic plants in aquariums as well.
As for the soil, it's not really a soil, it's a growing medium/media, growing epiphytic plants in pots rarely has much, if any organic matter, making it not actually soil. It's a weird differentiation to make for most cases, but in the case of epiphytes, it's an inportant difference. Their roots are more meant to secure to things, than they are for nutrient absorption, hence no need for organic matter. Hopefully that makes sense and clears up some things that werent seen elsewhere in the comments 😎 great job explaining though, it was solid 😃
There is a plant in the Sierra Nevada called a snow flower that is similar to the ghost flower. I remember reading that the Piutes ate them and they have some similarity to asparagus
The Mistletoe cactus grows perfectly well in soil as well. Its actually a great low maintenance house plant.
You can keep most epiphytes in pots at home! Just need well draining soil. Many popular houseplants are epiphytes.
Always manage to learn something from your channel ! My bonsai Quince grew a fruit this year but I don’t know anything about it.
The main thing an epiphyte gets from the plant it’s on, is a place where it can get sun and escape competition from other plants (except other epiphytes).
The reason the corpse flower didn’t smell was mostly likely that it was no longer an active flower. Flowers are usually pretty fleeting, and once they’ve fulfilled their function (flower sex) the plant has no reason to keep them in operation.
There are also lithophytes - plants that grow on rocks for the same reasons. Many
Anthuriums are lithophytes also.
No. Corpse flowers release smell at night. Same thing with hoyas and Queen of the Night cacti (Selenicereus grandiflorus) for example, because their natural pollinators are active when it is dark.
I love Marco episodes! I love the way his facial expression and tone of voice are always neutral. His plants and bees etc are so interesting. He's so knowledgeable. Anthurium obtusum fruits look like pearls. Look very delicious.
Always provide great advice, would you be able to share some of the resources you use to check the safety of foraged fruits?
PFAF is useful, so is the site eat the weeds
I would also like to thank your cat for being cute! Also, you’re very welcome for the watching.
i have been subscribed to your channel since i was a kid. i’m almost 20, thank you for your content, you’ve been satisfying my curiosity of fruits for 6+ years!
so glad to hear it! 🙂
Wow, I've often wondered if other aroids, like the berries on anthuriums, are edible. Even Japanese _konjac_ (a thickening jelly) is made directly from a well known aroid, called _Amorphophallus konjac_ ! Most ppl are more familiar with its smelly cousin, the titan arum aka corpse flower. So Araceae maybe toxic, but some have used and some even taste great.
The anthurium berries intrigue me. They're virtually the same thing as on a monstera inflorescence. Just look a lil different & function uniquely! I mean, _Monstera DELICIOSA_ has amazing edible fruit when ripe.. so it's no surprise really. I'm so glad you made this video!!
Another edible aroid fruit... the split-leaf "philodendron," now technically known as _Thaumatophyllum bipinnafidense_ (sp?close enough?) within Araceae. Lol. Better known as houseplants with names like Philodendron "Hope", or "Selloum", or the "Lickety Split" cultivar. It seems not that many people know these "philodendrons" (thaumatophyllum) have nearly identical fruits to monstera deliciosa. Of course, I'm lucky that my family has one that's 50 years old and 20 FEET wide, 8 feet tall and goes back about six feet. Massive with multiple plants. Blooms yearly or every other year when they're mature like this. Like 50+ mature haha. I'm surprised by some of its behavior. It hasn't even attempted to crawl up the 60 ft. Lebanese cedar right next to it, it's just been self-supporting after all this time! Multiple tree "heads" over six feet, most are 7-8 feet high. and they all fruit it seems once mature 😇✌🏼
There are some epiphytes that do attach to the ground
But most do live on rocks, bark, etc.
its best not to look at it as a dichotomy, there are hemiepiphites that can start either as epiphites or ground dwellers with intentions of reversing course.
If they live on rocks they are epilithic. Many lichens, for example, are epilithic, though there are epiphytes as well.
@@pattheplanter that’s a new one for me! I’ve always said rupicolous. Good to know.
People grow epiphytes in pots because it's significantly more convenient than trying to grow them right on the wall or the back of a dining chair. Also, most epiphytes come from places that are more humid than the inside of our homes, so the roots can benefit from the increased humidity that is provided by appropriate potting media as long as the potting mix is chunky and loose enough to let some air flow through.
Many popular aroids (philodendron, monstera, epipremnum, anthurium, etc.) are also either epiphytes or simi-epiphytic, so they often grow better when you add lots of perlite, or even just bark, to the potting mix, as it promotes airflow in the soil.
A lot of epiphytic cactus are becoming increasingly popular as houseplants, and lucky for those of us who like weird fruits, they're generally edible (and often not at all spiky, which makes them much less of a problem-waiting-to-happen if you grow them in a pot hanging in your kitchen window). Most are compared to dragonfruit in flavor, which is unsurprising, since those are somewhat related to the epiphytic cactuses.
Also, you can totally grow epiphytes with no pot in your house. Google "mounted orchids", "tillandsia mount" or "staghorn fern mount" and see all the super fun, creative and beautiful ways you can display epiphytes without pots. 🙂
I've always wanted to try my anthurium berries, I'll have to *cautiously* test them :)
💚 lovely video greetings from Costa Rica Land of many Epyphites...💚 Ripsalis, Bomelliads, orchids, cactus, carnivorous plants Gesneriaceas Araceae Cyclanthaceae, Melastomataceae etc etc...y si "Mistletoe" Loranthaceae💚...the plant that Marco didnt know it belongs to Gesneriacea family💪🏻
I love these videos where you try a fruit in its natural habitat!
I like your chair. Reminds me of our kitchen set when I was really little.
Thanks! I got it from a guy who said his grandmother bought it new when she came from the old country in 1907
omg i love epiphytes, they're my special interest, thx for bringing them to a broader audience :)
Same. I started my plant hobby with a nepenthes
Don’t know if it qualifies, but lobster mushrooms are probably my favorite foraging of anything. Glad I found your channel, lots of very interesting stuff! Cheers
Ghost pipe is a very interesting and cool plant. I have had the luxury of seeing multiple patches of them, the pipes numbering in the hundreds….and it was “accidental”, an awesome surprise.
“Elotito” means “little ear of corn.” The fruit does look a bit like corn kernels on a cob.
Master Gardener here. 4:58 that's not mistletoe, it's a juniper branch with juniper berries and a sprig of red currants
really interesting, thanks for sharing!
Great vid. Learned a lot. Thank you
Yes epiphytes often grow in detritus that catches on branches and them.Any nutrients that washes down on them in rain feeds them,some have cups to catch it,specifically certain bromeliads.
Fructification is fascinating
Just a thought but if your trying multiple strange fruits in one day if you were to have a reaction to one of them and you had to go hospital how would you know which one was the cause. Especially if very little is know about those plants?
The expert might be the best ever at hiding not being stoked about being filmed. Love that guy!
Thank you for this video! 😀🌺
Can you do another Feijoa review? I kept wondering what my dog was eating, and I found out that the forest behind my house grows Feijoa fruit (pineapple guava). I tried it, and I fell in love with it.
Yeah, next time I come across one I'll put something together. it's been a while
Feijoa is common enough that many growers and fruit enthusiasts have reviewed it. I love the things, beautiful plants with very strange and incredibly tasty flowers! Haven't gotten to taste the fruit yet and mine died back to a freak freeze but I still love 'em. Definitely one of the best plants to have in your garden and still quite underrated!
@Weird Explorer ... have you ever considered making a video, of the most negative reactions you have had to sampling fruits and such?
good idea
Yep. Bad fruit outtakes.
Very nice.
Epiphytes many times will have their roots grow down the trunks of trees and sometimes will grow into the soil. Some epiphytes will even start as terrestrials and grow up the trunk of a tree . When they get to a certain length, the main part of the stem will die off leaving the plant to live as an epiphyte. Both of the previous called Hemi-epiphyte
These plants that can grow as an epiphyte or as a terrestrial, mostly.
There are also the epiphytes that never have their roots come in contact with the ground/soil and these are called holo-epiphytes.
A good example of a hemi-epiphyte fruit is dragon fruit. They start as terrestrial, then they climb trees and eventually the base of the plant dies off, though through farming we tend to grow them terrestrially
just a little fyi.
Very slight correction, some epiphytic plants (such as Rata or strangler fig) will send roots down to the ground after starting out life as an epiphyte. Once again nature always provides exceptions!
Peace lilies (Spathiphyllum) actually do grow in soil, even though they’re related to epiphytic species like the ones you tried out (they do like bark and leaves in the soil since they naturally live in forest floors where those things collect). Similar to how some cacti thrive in dry, rocky soil in hot deserts, and others grow in rainforests on the sides of trees, and still others have evolved to fill intermediate niches between being fully epiphytic or fully rooted in the soil.
Forget the mistletoe, hold the kitty over your head when kissing your wife. LOL
Much luckier!
Mistletoe doesn't get nervous and draw blood
You're such an interesting person! I don't know how you ended up on my you tube but every now and then you pop up with some video on fruit and I watch you and it's always interesting! Now I find out you're a circus performer! Thx for such interesting random content!
Someones gotta figure out if its toxic or not. Thanks for devoting your life to science 😭
Dang, I just love this channel. But as a small request, can we(Meaning you) start making some weird ketchups again?
potting mix for epiphytes such as anthuriums is basically large chunks of bark and woodchips, the roots need airflow, the potting mix just serves as a structure to hold the stem upright.
Yay for the monotropa shoutout :D
Vanilla beans come from an epiphytic orchid. I saw it in Costa Rica.
Thank you, very interesting!
Weird Explorer is the GOAT
Huge fan from Philippines
Thanks Dan!
I am a long time subscriber because I love plants not so much fruit in particular but obviously fruit is like the best thing about plants just an FYI into why I love this video.
Cool video. Mistletoe is a parasite as well as an epiphyte.
You know what I just got to try? Virginia Groundcherry. I actually think very few people have given these a shot. Of course, there is a garden variety from South America which is now widely grown in Peru, California & South Africa called goldenberry, or Incaberry. The two taste nothing alike & Wikipedia says the Virginia grouncherry tastes like how the Goldenberry tastes. Secondly, no one seems to sell these & most people who are into goldenberries have never heard of the Native species from Eastern North America.
Anyway, Goldenberry, to me, was really bad. It tasted like I dipped pineapple in tomato paste. Virginia Groundcherry, however, kind of tastes like candy. I don't really know how to describe it, but it's almost like a gummy worm sort of flavor- very sweet, very mildly, almost imperceptibly tart & fruity in a somewhat unidentifiable, yet oddly familiar way.
You should try Dead Man's Fingers. Descaisnea fargesii. I'm growing it here in NW Indiana. My shrub is only two years old so hadn't produced yet. It will soon bear blue pods with edible pulp that's supposed to taste like wateemelon.
As usual, a really interesting episode! But the best part, was of course... Vostok!
Dragon fruit comes from an epiphytic cactus but it can grow just as well sticking to a wall as it does on a tree it just lacks structural strength so it needs to lean on something.
You’re one of my favorites!
I just bought a mistletoe cactus. Can't wait until it produces fruit.
I don't know about Rhipsalis, but many cacti are self-infertile (like apples) in order to maintain genetic diversity. If you get flowers but no fruit even after hand pollination, you may need another, genetically different (probably from another merchant--that and most cacti are so easy to multiply by cuttings that few people bother sowing seeds), plant.
Great video
Anthurium Obtusum and all other Anthuriae are members of the Arum family, all of which contain large quantities of Calcium Oxalate, which is irritating to mouthparts, and also can cause kidney damage. I'm glad the fruit you ate was ripe enough to not be unpleasant. Did you detect a slight burning in your throat after eating those?
Your cat is the cutest 😍
Epiphite plants make great air purifiers. They use dust for their soil.
Yay Marco!
Does he have his own RUclips channel?
WAIT YOURE A CIRCUS PERFORMER ????????
Edit:
The rabbit hole i just went down..........
Chillin with his torbie. Basically the same genes as calico. Pwitty kitty!
she's a Torbie? I thought she was a calico
Corpse flowers don't always smell. They do when it's time to pollinate.
They smell at night.
That cat is a natural.
you cat is an Eppiphyte. i had to laugh.
Although if you look up pronunciation of "Rafflesia" and it says it is raf·fle·sia with a long e , it should really be be pronounced as raf·fel·sia since it is named in honor of Sir T. Stamford Raffles. When a genus is named for someone , their name is pronounced as it would be pronounced.
I appreciate your humor…😂
You talk about not being a botanist but I think you know a lot more than most people. I think it would be cool if you and another channel "Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't" did some kind of collaboration. You both have a similar number of subscribers, and he's a botanist and goes exploring and shows us different kinds of plants. Maybe you two could get together for some fruit exploration.
why not be all of them a performer a botanist and researcher your doing an amazing job on all of them very inspirational your studying of these rare species of fruits and plants is actually improving life as we know it and being a performer as well thats bonza awesomes as well it is always great to have variety and you got it m8 go for the gold m8.
Doesn't the corpse flower only stink during pollination period
They smell at night, because that's when their pollinators are active.
A close relative of the corpse flower, the konjac, is widely used for a food starch in Indonesia. We also use it here in the U.S., where it finds its way into "tofu noodles". In fact, ordinary tofu noodles do have an essence of rotten fish. You may not notice it the first time you eat tofu noodles, but eventually you will start to notice the slight foulness.
I have wanted to grow those for years, and even more, taste the American counterparts, Dracontium
@@MeliponiculturaenCostaRica That is fascinating! I never knew about that before. Looking at them now. Thank you.
I’m afraid this isn’t true. The corpse flower - Rafflesia - is only related to Amorphophallus konjac in as much as they are both plants.
@@eccremocarpusscaber5159 My sources disagree: "The Amorphophallus konjac, which is also known as Voodoo Lily, Devil's Tongue, or Elephant Yam, belongs to the same genus as the Amorphophallus Titanum, or corpse flower. Similar to the larger plant, the konjac releases a "rotting flesh" odor to attract carcass-eating insects that pollinate it."
@@eccremocarpusscaber5159 Rafflesia is another type of "corpse flower", those terms tend to confusion only, as Aristolochia, Dracontium, Amorphophallus, and even many succulents also make "corpse flowers" with almost no other conection between them.
the boson particle 😁
Strangler figs are ficus trees that can start out as epiphytes. The seed is left by an animal and sprouts on a different tree, and it sends roots to the ground. When they hit the ground the trunks start growing and roots keep going down and getting thicker, strangling the host tree. And the canopy grows up over the host, shading it out and eventually killing the host. Then it can rot out and leave a hollow tangle of roots for a trunk that is very cool looking. I used to collect them for bonsai when I lived in Costa Rica for 9 years. I never saw edible figs on a strangler fig tree, they don't seem to do it. It seems like there's no end to the fruits and edibles and medicinal plants down there. I miss living there every day. I can talk to the locals about plants or whatever all day long in Spanish.
In the mojave desert, I've seen plants very similar to the mistletoe cactus on Mesquite trees but the fruits are more of a red/burgundy color. (Edit) I looked it up and it's call desert mistletoe. The fruits are considered inedible but they are ripe when they become translucent. I could send some if you want