“Like it or not, we humans are bound up with our fellows, and with the other plants and animals all over the world.
Our lives are intertwined.”
― Carl Sagan
Not everything that is always at our shop is mechanical – we have a variety of flora too (and some part-time fauna, like the mechanics and Sara the shop doggo). For those of you who are botanically-inclined, or just curious, here's a list of some of the plants that can be found at Töölön Pyörä:
(Names are in Latin / Finnish / English)
Aeschynanthus pulcher / Soihtuköynnös / Lipstick plant or Red bugle vine:
Our hanging plant next to our front door. It intermittently flowers these narrow, bright red flowers that come out from a darker red flower base. Like a bunch of other plants here, it does well as a cutting, so many of its smaller clones are hanging around the shop.
Family: Gesneriaceae Southeast Asia
Capsicum (annuum?) / Chilit, Shimano / “Shimano” chilis
At the beginning of the pandemic, Shimano sent us a package of chili seeds in the mail, I suppose to encourage optimism through growth. However, the package contained no information regarding what kind of seeds these were apart from just “chili”. So we grew them this spring to find out if they would even grow, and what kind of paprika or chili they might be! Turns out the seeds grow very well (all sprouted), and we now have about 8 plants here at the shop, growing long, green chilis!
Family: Solanaceae Mexico
Cissus alata (or rhombifolia?) / Kuningaskissus / Grape Ivy
Looking like a small deciduous tree, this plant does well as a hanging plant or just in a normal pot. We have two specimens here on opposite sides of the main window, and another in the cat window. Does drop some leaves if you forget to water it!
Family: Vitaceae Central and South America
Citrus limon / Sitruuna /Lemon
Planted from organic lemon seeds just last winter, we now have two lemon saplings! They are now near the big window, getting lots of sun. We’ll soon separate them into their own, larger pots.
Family: Rutaceae South Asia
Clivia? / Kliivia / Bush lily
This plant is a little bit of a mystery, but seems to belong to the amaryllis family with it’s deep green, straplike leaves. It has never flowered or made berries so that makes it difficult to identify. Otherwise, it’s very easy to take care of. It’s been in that same spot near the front door for years, which it seems to enjoy.
Family: Amaryllidaceae
South Africa
Codiaeum / Ihmepensas / Croton
Already big when it arrived, it has since done incredibly well here - Growing a bigger flourish of leaves than before in a variegation of red, yellow, and green. It also harbours various inhabitants, like toy dinosaurs, an octopus, and Dura Ace 8mm nuts.
Family: Euphorbiaceae Southeast Asia, Indonesia
Cordyline fruticosa var. 'Bolero tricolor' / Viherliljapuu / Ti plant
Acquired from Viherpaja in Vantaa, this plant has beautiful striated coloring in pink, white, and green.
Family: Asparagaceae Melanesia and Polynesia
Crassula ovata / Rahapuu / Jadeplant or Moneyplant
Family: Crassulaceae South Africa
Dracaena trifasciata / Isoanopinkieli / Snakeplant
Slowly getting taller and more clumped, we should separate and repot these soon. At the moment, they are hanging out with some värinokkonen, pylvästyräkki, and classic cycling cards.
Family: Asparagaceae West Africa
Euphorbia trigona / Pylvästyräkki / African milk tree
We have two specimens here that are quite big, and have been trimmed a couple of times already.
Family: Euphorbiaceae Central Africa
Gynura aurantiaea / Samettilehti / Purple velvet plant
Up until this year this plant was becoming overgrown on the mechanics side/cat window, spreading its trailing vines all over the place. We've cut it down a lot and moved it near the big window, next to the handlebars. The leaves of this plant are really nice/weird – the fuzzy layer of bright purple covering the green, toothed leaves! We hear that the flowers can be quite smelly, but so far it has not yet flowered.
Family: Asteraceae Southeast Asia
Kalanchoe delagoensis (millions) / Pitsi-itulehti (thousands) / Mother of Millions
There are two similar plants, mother of millions and mother of thousands. You can read about the differences here, but it seems like we have mother of millions. We can totally believe that this plant is a noxious weed in parts of Africa, since it takes a lot to kill this plant! A few years ago, this plant was huge and we accidentally tipped over the pot a few times, but it always survived. It has also survived not being watered over a long period, and it's millions of strange alien offspring that grow from the edges of its leaves anyway allows this plant to propagate itself endlessly. When the human species has left this earth, this plant and cockroaches will probably be what remains.
Family: Crassulaceae Madagascar, noxious weed in parts of Africa
Philodendron hederaceum / Köynnösvehka 'Brasil' / Brasil Philodendron
Family: Araceae Latin and South America
Schlumbergera x buckleyi / Talvikaktukset / Christmas cactus
Apparently an epiphytic succulent that lives on rainforest trees in its native Brazil, our Schlumbergera here at the shop also lives high up, located above our vitrine and some shelves. It’s gotten quite big since it’s arrived here and likes to flower once and a while.
Family: Cactaceae Southeast Brazil
Solenostemon scutellarioides / Värinokkonen eli Isokirjopeippi / Painted Nettle or Coleus
Family: Lamiaceae SE Asia, Australia
Reddish-purple Solenostemon scutellarioides
with crassula ovata and others
Also of note
This blog is in Finnish and has tons of pictures, info on houseplants: https://vanhantalonikkunallakukkii.wordpress.com/