Tag: let’s botanize

Excuse me while I wax lyrical about plants: carnauba wax is obtained from the fronds of the carnauba palm (Copernicia prunifera) of Brazil. Valued for its hardness and high melting temperature, carnauba wax is employed as a vegan food-grade polish and as a hardening or gelling agent in a number of products. Despite the widespread adoption of cheaper synthetics, it is still common as a component of certain furniture, leather, car, and shoe polishes and is used in cosmetics such as lipsticks. It is also used as a polish for candies and medicinal pills, as a thickener for solvents and oils, and as a hardener for printing inks.

P.S. So fun to actually see stomata with my microscope. They’re not just simple holes! They have guard cells that open and close the holes. Very cool.

When I get curious about something I have previously taken for granted, my little mind is blown by all the things I do not know.

Funny the things one recalls from youth. I remember learning about monocotyledons and dicotyledons, and just loving those words. I was probably insufferable, informing disinterested people about the difference. (Grasses are monocots, having only a single cotyledon). See, I’m still doing it. 😂