#3963 - Bergenia crassifolia

'thick-leaved Bergenia', after German physician and botanist Karl August von Bergen (1704–1759).

First described as Saxifraga crassifolia by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, and later moved to the genus Bergenia by Karl Fritsch in 1889. AKA Bergenia cordifolia, Saxifraga cordifolia, heart-leaved bergenia, heartleaf bergenia, leather bergenia, winter-blooming bergenia, elephant-ears, elephant's ears, Korean elephant-ear, badan, pigsqueak (from the noise the leaves make when rubbed together), Siberian tea, and Mongolian tea.

A source of tannins, and a tea substitute in Siberia, Altay, and Mongolia, used for folk medicine in Russia, and grown as an ornamental over a much wider area than its original range - Central Asia.

The flowers are pink.

Oban, Rakiura Stewart Island, Aotearoa New Zealand.

#3962 - Sagina procumbens - Procumbent Pearlwort

'fodder growing close to the ground'. Linnaeus choosing the name based on an old belief that pasture was best where this plant grows.

Native throughout much of Eurasia, and northwest Africa, but an introduced weed in many other areas. That introduction has been a particular problem in the subantarctic, where it has severely impacted the ecosystem on the Prince Edward Islands, south of Africa, and threatens to do the same on Gough Island, in the South Atlantic. Manually removing the plants, soil, and pouring boiling water on the soil was required to reduce the seedbank to something potentially manageable.

Oban, Rakiura Stewart Island, Aotearoa New Zealand.

#3961 - Sisyrinchium micranthum - Blue Pigroot 

'Small-flowered shaggy goat-hair cloak' (the bulb is hairy)

First described by Spanish botanist Antonio José Cavanilles in 1788.

AKA Bermudiana bermudiana, iridifolia and micrantha, Marica iridifolia and micrantha, and Sisyrinchium brownii, dichroum, exile, fimbriatum, iridifolium, micranthemum and rosulatum, annual blue-eyed grass, fairy stars, and striped rush-leaf.

Native to Mexico, Central America, and South America and a weed everywhere else.

Oban, Rakiura Stewart Island, Aotearoa New Zealand.