Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [plants]

For questions pertaining to plant life (trees, flowers), not industrial plants (which may fall under e.g. [economics] or [technology])

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Is watering plants under a hot sun bad?

A couple of people have told me that it's a bad for plants to be watered in the middle of a sunny day, i.e. it's not just that you waste more water due to evaporation, but that there are actually bad effects on the plants itself. I've heard this…
GS - Apologise to Monica
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Does aloe vera help cure sunburn?

I'm on vacation and got sunburnt, so someone said I should go get Aloa Vera since that apparently helps. There seems to be a plethora of made-for-adsense-sites that claim the same. http://www.care2.com/greenliving/caring-for-a-sunburn.html For…
Kit Sunde
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Do houseplants have any impact on oxygen levels?

I usually hear that plants should be placed in working areas to supplement the higher oxygen needs of working humans, or on the other hand, that should never be grown in bedrooms because they drain oxygen for their own respiration during night. I…
mbq
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Does music affect the growth of plants?

According to a very old study plants that “listen” to music have a better growth than other plants. For her next experiment, Mrs. Retallack used two chambers (and fresh plants). She placed radios in each chamber. In one chamber, the radio was tuned…
Benoit
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Does grass alone produce enough oxygen for life?

Over a work happy hour tonight, two employees were talking about their different lifestyles -- one likes riding four wheelers, which the other considers to be recreational pollution. Somehow the fact that the four wheel rider plants trees got…
Hendy
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Do cacti absorb harmful radiation emitted by computers?

It is a common belief that cacti absorb radiation; consequently, a lot of people put potted cacti by their computer as a safety means. Do cacti actually absorb radiation? Even if so, will a small cactus (or several of them) by one's computer make…
Armen Tsirunyan
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Is moderated livestock grazing an effective countermeasure for desertification?

In this TED talk from 2013, Allan Savory claims that livestock/cattle grazing (not industrial farming, but rather some frugal grazing of herds) help prevent and reverse desertification processes, promoting plant cover growth. The claim is also…
einpoklum
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Does the "Blood of Jesus on the Cross" flower only bloom during the Holy week (just before Easter)?

It is claimed that this flower grows only in the Holy week on social media. For example: Facebook This beautiful flower grows in New Zealand and is called the "Blood of Jesus on the Cross". This flower grows only in the Holy Week. You can see the…
Arun Xavier
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Do trees soak up pollution?

You often hear a variation on the idea that plants "absorb" air pollution. For example, in a Yahoo News article on Beijing smog, the reporter writes: The China Daily said there are also not enough 'green areas' in the city 'to help soak up the…
denten
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Plants that release oxygen even at night

It is widely reported at several places that certain trees such as Peepal (Botanical name:Ficus religiosa) and Tulsi (Botanical name: Ocimum tenuiflorum) release oxygen even at night. My understanding has always been that photosynthesis can not take…
Vaibhav Garg
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Can eating rhubarb kill you?

I've heard that rhubarb leaves are poisonous, and that you can even die from rhubarb poisoning. Is that true?
brian
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Will fluoride and chlorine dissipate from tap water left to sit overnight?

One common recommendation for watering house plants with tap water is to allow the water to sit overnight before watering, so that the fluorine and chlorine that are commonly added to tap water (which can be harmful to certain plants) will…
Matt
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Can a plant survive bottled in its own ecosystem for 50 years?

I came across a story on Facebook about David Latimer, who put spiderwort plants into a bottle garden ("terrarium") in 1960, watered it in 1972, and then sealed the bung. The plants have been living, thriving even, in their own ecosystem since. The…
DeVil
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Does broccoli have a nervous system?

It appears there are non-reliable sources on the internet claiming broccoli has a nervous system: forum at funnyjunk.com: Broccoli have a very primitive nervous system. Technically, they are able to feel pain. Yahoo! Answers: Does broccoli…
gerrit
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Has the Gympie Gympie tree driven humans to commit suicide because of the pain from its sting?

I often see the Gympie Gympie mentioned in fun facts or as an answer to "what are the scariest plants in the world?" or "What's the worst pain?" The plant is covered in stinging hairs that once touched can inflict pain that lasts for years. One…
Rowan Freeman
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