About Pickens County progress. (Jasper, Ga.) 1899-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2023)
PAGE 6A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. DECEMBER 21.2023 Science fair winners at Pickens Jr. High PJHS Science Fair Overall Top 3 Winners (l-r): 2nd Place Sayle Payne; 1st Place Townson Rickenbaker and 3rd Place Luke Mason. Pickens Junior High held its Science Fair the week of November 13 th. Many volunteers from the community dropped-by to judge the projects. There were nine categories represented and a total of 21 winners. Our top three winners are 1st Place Townson Rickenbaker (Biomedical), 2nd Place Sayle Payne (Energy) and 3rd Place Luke Mason (Materials). We are proud of all participants and especially our winners. Plants of the Southeast Do you know this pesky relative of tomatoes and potatoes? By John Nelson University of South Carolina It's a member of the tomato family, and it doesn't matter which way you pronounce it. The tomato family is also quite properly referred to as the potato family, as well, and again, don't worry about pronunciation. The take-home here is that the family's botanical name is Solanaceae, and it is a big family at that, including nearly 4,000 species around the world. The Solanaceae contains some extremely im portant food plants, the most well-known surely being Irish potato...not to be con fused with the "sweet" potato which is quite different (and a member of the morning- glory family). Tomatoes, too, along with their cousins, the various peppers, are also im portant economic crops. Fi nally, many cultivated species are members of this family, bringing us popular garden plants...such as the old stand-by, petunia. Be aware though, that a number of members of this family are quite poisonous when consumed: Jimson weed and cultivated daturas are very dangerous. A wide variety of chemical con stituents, many of which are technically alkaloids, result in this toxicity. Besides their general toxicity, some of these compounds have im portant physiological effects on humans. For example, the European herb known as "bella donna" produces berries containing a juice, which when dripped into the eyes, causes marked dilation of the pupils. Wide-open pupils are attractive, and thus ladies of the Italian Renais sance would use this as a beauty technique. That's where the name "bella donna" comes from... Our Mystery Plant is actu ally a relative of the Euro pean bella donna, but is native to America. It is com mon now just about all over the lower 48 states, although it is probably native only to the eastern half of the coun try. It is a perennial herb, pro ducing a tough, prickly stem, and irregularly-lobed leaves. The plants like to show up in waste places, including road sides and vacant lots. (And in «S gg i * ■ s photo/ Linda Lee This week’s plant is a member of the Solanaceae family and it is a big family, including nearly 4,000 species around the world. your garden, if you give it a chance.) It blooms in the summer, producing attrac tive, star-shaped flowers, each with five white or lilac petals. Five stamens are in each flower, and interest ingly, the pollen-containing anther of each stamen is fused to its neighbor along its sides, forming a sort of bright yellow tunnel through which the style emerges. These an thers are a bit unusual in that instead of splitting open to release pollen, a small pore develops at the tip through which the pollen exits. Polli nation results in marble-sized green, striped berries, which are strikingly similar in ap pearance to a cherry tomato. By late fall, the berries will have turned yellow, and they hang on, commonly, well until after the first frosts. If you tear into one of these cherry tomato look-alikes, you'll find plenty of little yel low seeds. Although the blos soms and berries are pretty, you won't hear too many kind things said about this little plant. It's basically a pest. (By the way, there is a re lated species, commonly grown as a potted plant, which you might be seeing at the mall these days, or for sale at your local supermar ket. This one has bright red or orange fruits, and is some times called “Christmas cherry”.. .©JohnNelson2022 [John Nelson is the retired curator of the A. C. Moore Herbarium at the University of South Carolina, in the De partment of Biological Sci ences, Columbia SC 29208. As a public service, the Herbarium offers free plant identifications. For more in formation, visit www.herbar- ium.org or email johnbnelson@sc. rr. com.] [Answer: “Horse nettle," Solanum carolinense] We’re All Geared Up to Qfiifi Of (hi d cMMy CMiMrnajr We want to be the first to wish you a happy holiday season and a healthy, prosperous New Year! AMICALOLA PROPANE ^003-20^ Now Serving Pickens County! Commercial & Residential Propane Delivery & Service New Customers Receive a First-Fill Discount! 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