The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse Acquaints Us With Phacelia

Summary: The Mystery of the Acid Soil short story by Kate Mosse for Marple: Twelve New Mysteries copyrighted by Agatha Christie Limited acquaints us with Phacelia.

"God talks to human beings through many vectors: through each other, through organized religion, through the great books of those religions, through wise people, through art and music and literature and poetry, but nowhere with such detail and grace and color and joy as through creation. When we destroy a species, when we destroy a special place, we're diminishing our capacity to sense the divine, understand who God is and what our own potential is." Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., April 19, 2023, Boston Park Plaza Hotel, Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts.

“And there’s many people out there who want us to move to the next planet already and I’m like, hang on, let’s not give up on this planet yet," William, Prince of Wales, July 31, 2023, Sorted Food food truck, London, England, United Kingdom.

Kate Mosse in The Mystery of the Acid Soil addresses only two acid soil-appreciating plants by scientific appellation. She affirms common-named heliotrope and scorpion-weed scientifically as Phacelia (from Greek φάκελος, “bundle”); illustration of "Phacelia Tanacetifolia Tansy-Leaved Phacelia" by Glasgow, Scotland-born botanical illustrator Walter Hood Fitch (Feb. 28, 1817-Jan. 14, 1892) in Curtis's Botanical Magazine, vol. XII of the new series (1839), Plate 3703: Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLibrary), Public Domain, via Flickr

The Mystery of the Acid Soil, short story by Kate Mosse for Marple: Twelve New Mysteries copyrighted by Agatha Christie Limited, acquaints us with such acid soil-appreciating plants as the genus Phacelia.

Agatha Christie Limited brings us Sep. 13, 2022, to its 14-book Marple Collection, the latest being Marple: Twelve New Mysteries, beneath HarperCollins Publishers’ William Morrow imprint. Kate Mosse crafts pages 299-300, 301-306, 306-313, 313-317, 317-320, 320-321, 321-323, 323-325, 326-327 and 327-333 into 10 configurations to convey her contribution, the 10th, next-last chapter. All denizens but one denizen described by first, genus name alone and but another denizen discerned by first, genus and second, species names domicile common names.

Clematis crispa and Phacelia (from Greek κλῆμα, “branch, twig” and Latin crispa, “crimped, curly, tremulous”; φάκελος, “bundle”) respectively elaborate buttercup-family genus and species and borage-family genus.

Tracheophyte- (from Greek τραχεῖα ἀρτηρία φυτά, “windpipe artery plants”) clade vascular tissues furnish Phacelia species energizing, omnidirection-flowing, photosynthetic starches and sugars and soil-extracted, solubilizing, upward-flowing nutrients.

Tracheophyte cladeship grants Phacelia-genus species reproductive spores, 9-11 per-cell chromosomes and, like angiosperm- (from Greek ἀγγεῖον σπέρμα, “container[ized] seed”) clade members, true leaves, roots and stems. Flowering-plant cladeship honors bell-, bowl-, tube-shaped, sepaled (from Latin sēparātus petalum, “[bud-holding] separate petal” via sēpalum), two-gendered flowers before embryonic, outer-coated seeds within warm weather-harvestable fruits. Eudicot- (from Greek εὖ- δῐ- κοτυληδών, “good two cup[-like] cavity”) clade membership includes such flowering plants as borage-order, borage-family members that integrate two germinated seed leaves.

The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse jubilates Phacelia, Boraginales and Boraginaceae (from Latin burra -ālis, “shaggy-garmented”; borāgō -āceae, “borage [Borago officinalis] -resembling”) member.

Borage- and forget-me-not-order and family kinship kindles alternate-kept, gray-green, narrow-sided, pinnate (from Latin pinna, “feathered”; -ātus, “-ed”), straight-stemmed leaves with calcium carbonate- and silicon dioxide-keeping hairs.

The native lodger of North and South America likewise launches skin allergies from calcium carbonate- and silicon dioxide-laden hairs lined along maximally 4-foot- (1.22-meter-) long stems. The annual and the perennial herbs manage spring- and summer-manifesting sepals maintaining blue, green, orange, pink, purple, white or yellow lobes perhaps 2 months after sowing. The borage and the forget-me-not family nestles its Hydrophylloideae (from Greek ῠ̔́δωρ φύλλον, “water leaf”; Latin -oideae, “-resembling”) water-leaf subfamily members atop thick, underground tap roots.

The genus Phacelia offers The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse nutritious calcium and nitrogen obtained from area soil for soil food web members.

Waterleaf-subfamily membership presents the genus Phacelia with that taproot and those nutrients along with bisexual, two-gendered flowers each with five ray-like sepals and with five stamens.

The genus Phacelia quarters as common names heliotrope (from Greek ἥλῐος τρόπος, “sun turn”) and scorpionweed because of how its flowers and its fruits physically queue. Calcium- and nitrogen-retrieving and rendering Phacelia, recognized by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu (April 12, 1748-Sep. 17, 1836), requires cool-summer, fertile, mild-winter, sunny, 30-centimeter (11.81-inch), well-drained ranges. Drupe- (from Greek δρύππᾱ, “overripe olive” via Latin drūpa, “wrinkled olive”) shorn, soil-sequestered seeds suggest minus 50-degree-Fahrenheit (minus 45.6-degree-Celsius) sites outdoors-sown pre-spring and pre-fall frost dates.

The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse treats us to the terminal, thick-trooping flowers and the nutrient-transmitting tissues of freeze-, heat- and humidity-intolerant Phacelia.

Kate Mosse in The Mystery of the Acid Soil only applies the first, genus, scientific appellation to common-named heliotrope and scorpion-weed. Perhaps Jane Marple arranged as Phacelia specimens blue tansy, fiddleneck, purple tansy the second-, species-named Phacelia tanacetifolia; "Phacelia tanacetifolia, Tansy-leaved Phacelia," with ovarium's two-parted hairy style (figure 1; lower left) and 10 scales near base of cut-open corolla (figure 2; lower right), drawn by Miss Drake (English botanical illustrator Sarah Anne Drake, nicknamed "Ducky"; July 24, 1803–July 9, 1857) in Edwards's Botanical Register, new series vol. VII (MDCCCXXXV [1835]), Plate 1696: Internet Archive Book Images, Public Domain, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Kate Mosse in The Mystery of the Acid Soil addresses only two acid soil-appreciating plants by scientific appellation. She affirms common-named heliotrope and scorpion-weed scientifically as Phacelia (from Greek φάκελος, “bundle”); illustration of "Phacelia Tanacetifolia Tansy-Leaved Phacelia" by Glasgow, Scotland-born botanical illustrator Walter Hood Fitch (Feb. 28, 1817-Jan. 14, 1892) in Curtis's Botanical Magazine, vol. XII of the new series (1839), Plate 3703: Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLibrary), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/8386428831; Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/433218; Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Curtis’s_botanical_magazine_(Plate_3703)_-_clean_(Phacelia_tanacetifolia).jpg

Kate Mosse in The Mystery of the Acid Soil only applies the first, genus, scientific appellation to common-named heliotrope and scorpion-weed. Perhaps Jane Marple arranged as Phacelia specimens blue tansy, fiddleneck, purple tansy the second-, species-named Phacelia tanacetifolia; "Phacelia tanacetifolia, Tansy-leaved Phacelia," with ovarium's two-parted hairy style (figure 1; lower left) and 10 scales near base of cut-open corolla (figure 2; lower right), drawn by Miss Drake (English botanical illustrator Sarah Anne Drake, nicknamed "Ducky"; July 24, 1803–July 9, 1857) in Edwards's Botanical Register, new series vol. VII (MDCCCXXXV [1835]), Plate 1696: Internet Archive Book Images, Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/20984858588/; Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/edwardsbotanical20edwa/page/n189/mode/1up; Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edwards'_botanical_register,_or,_Ornamental_flower-garden_and_shrubbery_.._(1829-1847)_(20984858588).jpg

For further information:

Brickell, Christopher; and Trevor Cole. (Editors-in-Chief). 2002. "Clematis Old man's beard, Travelers' joy." Pages 521-524. The American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Plants & Flowers. New York NY: DK Publishing, Inc.

Brickell, Christopher; and Trevor Cole. (Editors-in-Chief). 2002. "Phacelia." Page 628. The American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Plants & Flowers. New York NY: DK Publishing, Inc.

"Clematis crispa." Page 387. In: Hogan, Sean (Chief Consultant). 2003. Flora A Gardener's Encyclopedia. Volume I A-K. Portland Or: Timber Press, Inc.

Cranshaw, Whitney. 2004. "Clematis Chewing insects: margined blister beetle, twobanded Japanese weevil. Sucking insects: garden fleahopper, green peach aphid." Page 588. In: Appendix of Host Plant Genera and Associated Insects and Mites." Pages 577-627. Garden Insects of North America: The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs. Princeton NJ; and Woodstock Oxfordshire UK: Princeton University Press.

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 April 2024. "Clematis Crispa Appears in The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2024/04/clematis-crispa-appears-in-mystery-of.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 April 2024. "The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse Allows Jane Marple Drinks." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-mystery-of-acid-soil-by-kate-mosse.html#google_vignette

Marriner, Derdriu. 29 March 2024. "The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse Airs Birds and Butterflies." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-mystery-of-acid-soil-by-kate-mosse.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 March 2024. "Tea Leaves Are Safer in The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2024/03/tea-leaves-are-safer-in-mystery-of-acid.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 March 2024. "Jane Marple Ambles About The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2024/03/jane-marple-ambles-about-mystery-of.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 8 March 2024. "The Mystery of the Acid Soil Avails Us of Jane Marple by Kate Mosse." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-mystery-of-acid-soil-avails-us-of.html

Mosse, Kate. 2022. "The Mystery of the Acid Soil." Pages 299-333. In: Agatha Christie. Marple: Twelve New Mysteries. New York NY: William Morrow Imprint, HarperCollins Publishers.

"Phacelia." Pages 1016-1018. In: Hogan, Sean (Chief Consultant). 2003. Flora A Gardener's Encyclopedia. Volume I A-K. Portland Or: Timber Press, Inc.

Sheng, Lu; Kongshu Ji; and Liangliang Yu. 24 September 2014. "Karyotype analysis on 11 species of the genus Clematis." Brazilian Journal of Botany 37(2). Springer. Received 11 March 2014. Accepted 1 September 2014. Published online 24 September 2014. Copyrighted 2014 Botanical Society of Sao Paulo. DOI 10.1007/s40415-014-0099-5
Available @ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ji-Kongshu/publication/280713109_Karyotype_analysis_on_11_species_of_the_genus_Clematis/links/5d9df87e299bf13f40d0c881/Karyotype-analysis-on-11-species-of-the-genus-Clematis.pdf

Sugiura, T. 1940. "Studies on the Chromosome Numbers in Higher Plants. IV." Cytologia 10: 324-333.
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Tenenbaum, Frances. (Ed.) "Clematis." Pages 98-100. In: Encyclopedia of Garden Plqnts. Taylor's Guides to Gardening. Boston MA; New York NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Tenenbaum, Frances. (Ed.) "Phacelia." Page 297. In: Encyclopedia of Garden Plqnts. Taylor's Guides to Gardening. Boston MA; New York NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.