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Plant Categories

Image	Type	Name	Scientific Name	Description
	Flowers & Edibles	Black Cohosh	Actaea racemosa or Cimicifuga racemosa	Black cohosh is a hermaphroditic, androgynous perennial flowering plant native to eastern North America with large leaves and an exceptionally tall stalk that produces small, sweet-smelling white flowers. Called a variety of names by Europeans including snakeroot and fairy candle, black cohosh is a part of the buttercup family and is significant for its medicinal qualities, particularly in treating menopausal symptoms. Native American peoples used black cohosh not only to treat gynecological issues but also as a more general treatment for many ailments.
	Edibles	Blueberry Bush	Vaccinium corymbosum	The blueberry is a perennial self-fertile flowering plant native to North America and widely cultivated for its sweet fruit. Perhaps related to its lavender-like color, the blueberry is commonly used as a symbol in the LGBTQ+ community. Recently, the term “blueberry bisexual” has come into common use as a term for a bisexual person as opposed to biphobia and bi-erasure.
	Flowers	Celosia	Cocks comb	Cockscomb are annual hermaphroditic flowering plants widely cultivated as ornamentals, prized for their vibrant pyramidal plumes of flowers. Cockscomb is consumed either as a grain or its leaves are eaten as vegetables. Celosia derives from the Greek kḗleos, meaning ‘burning,’ a reference to its fire-like flowers and it is widely used as a symbol of boldness, courage, and as a token of good luck.
	Edibles	Corn	Zea mays	A staple crop domesticated in the Americas thousands of years ago, corn is today a ubiquitous crop in the United States used as a food crop and energy source also being an economic cornerstone and potent political symbol. Scientists have long studied the monoecious corn plant, including 1983 Nobel Prize Winner Barbara McClintock. McClintock, a pioneering woman in scientific history, discovered transposable elements in genes where DNA sequences move positions on a genome.
	Flowers & Edibles	Cosmos Plant	Cosmos bipinnatus	The garden cosmos is a hardy annual, self-seeding, hermaphroditic flowering plant in the daisy family native to the Americas. The cosmos is known for its bright, delicate flowers which bloom as wildflowers in the spring. The cosmos exhibits both male and female sexual characteristics and is frequently incorporated into symbols representing bisexual pride.
	Edibles	French Lavender	Lavandula stoechas	A monoecious shrub in the mint family with gray-green, fernlike leaves topped with spikes of purple flowers, lavender is known for its ornamental beauty and unmistakable aroma as well as its association with the LGBTQ+ community dating back to the 1920s. In the 1950s, the Lavender Scare swept the United States as the federal government’s persecution of federal employees resonated through the country in parallel with the Red Scare.  In 1969, Betty Friedan of the National Organization for Women decried lesbians as “the lavender menace,” condemning their association with the organization. Today, lavender is a common symbol of the LGBTQ+ community,  as evidenced by events like the annual Lavender Law Conference hosted by the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association.
	Flowers & Edibles	Hibiscus	Hibiscus rosa-sinensis	The hibiscus is a versatile evergreen shrub capable of reaching heights up to fifteen feet tall and boasting large, colorful flowers. The hibiscus flower is used ornamentally as a hairpiece or crushed into a pigment for hair dyes, food additives, and shoe polish. It is also consumed raw as a garnish or in salads or brewed into a tea. In 1967, a widely circulated photograph, Flower Power, depicted American performance artist Hibiscus (George Edgerly Harris III), who later founded the gay liberation theater group The Cockettes, inserting flowers into the gun barrels of military police during an anti-Vietnam War protest.
	Flowers	MaidenHair Fern	Adiantum pedatum	The maidenhead fern is a gametophyte, which can have male, female, or hermaphroditic sexual characteristics. The maidenhead fern communicates with other individuals of its species using pheromones as a means of selecting the gender of mature plants. The delicate, fan-shaped leaves and wiry black stems of the maidenhead have made it a symbol of femininity, grace, and delicate beauty, carrying a symbolic weight across different cultures.
	Flowers	Pansy	Viola tricolor	The pansy is a commonly cultivated, vibrantly colored androgynous flower associated with the LGBTQ+ community in Western culture. In Elizabethan England, “pansy” was used as a pejorative term for effeminate or homosexual men. In the early twentieth century, the “pansy craze” took over New York City and Hollywood with drag shows and LGBTQ+ film representation taking off, provoking violent police backlash. Today, pansies are frequently featured in Pride events, media, and naming conventions as a positive symbol of LGBTQ+ identity.
	Flowers	Swamp Rose	Rosa palustris	The rose and swamp rose have a long and multifaceted history of association with the LGBTQ+ community. In Greek mythology, the rose was the symbol of Eros, the patron of love between men, whereas in Japan the rose (bara) was used as a pejorative term for gay men. In 1961, Eikoh Hosoe published Ba-ra-kei: Ordeal by Roses, his collection of homoerotic nude and seminude photographs of the author Yukio Mishima, reclaiming the rose as a symbol of love. The swamp rose is monoecious and capable of reproducing both sexually and asexually.
	Edibles	Sweet Potato	Ipomoea batatas	One of the most vital plants to be cultivated by humans, the sweet potato is best known for its nutrient-packed edible root which fueled cultures both in the Americas and across Polynesia. The sweet potato also holds a significant ritual role, where its associations with abundance, fertility, and prosperity make it a frequent offering in ceremonies. The sweet potato reproduces asexually and belongs to the Morning Glory family, where some of its relatives have been used in traditional ceremonies for their hallucinogenic properties.
	Flowers	Wild Geranium	Geranium maculatum	Native to North America, the wild geranium is a commonly cultivated perennial with long stems and delicate purple flowers. Geraniums have long been used by Native American peoples as a cure for nerve pain and gastrointestinal ailments with an infusion of the whole plant or just the roots being used as a treatment. Geraniums are hermaphroditic, have both male and female reproductive systems in a single structure, and are self-compatible, although they rely on pollinators for seed sets.
	Flowers	Wisteria	Wisteria frutescens	The American wisteria is a perennial legume that grows as a long, twisting vine with bright bunches of flowers ranging in color from white to purple. The wisteria is hermaphroditic with flowers that are perfect, or possessing complete sets of both male and female reproductive systems. During Alice Austen’s lifetime, the wisteria vine at Clear Comfort approached legendary status, with Alice hosting her friends for parties to celebrate the plant’s full bloom.
	Flowers	Yarrow	Achillea millefolium	An asexual, tall, slender stalk with radiating fern-like leaves crowned with an array of small white flowers, yarrow is an ancient staple of traditional medicine and folklore prized for its magical properties. Traditionally known by English names such as ‘soldier’s woundwort,’ yarrow has been used as a wound-healer and gynecological herb by people across the world. The Diné, for example, use yarrow traditionally as an analgesic while in England its tea was consumed to combat the Plague. Today, yarrow remains sacred to the midsummer and beloved as a medicinal plant.
	Edibles	Flowering Kale	Brassica oleracea var. Capitata	Ornamental or flowering kale is a hermaphroditic plant, containing both pistil and stamen in the same flower. Like its manifold cousins including Brussels sprouts, collard greens, and kohlrabi, flowering kale is a cultivar of brassica oleracea selectively cultivated over many generations to produce its choice of ornamental characteristics. The flowering kale is a durable leafy plant that stands out from its brassica cousins with its vibrant coloring and ornamental appearance. Although primarily ornamental, the flowering kale is edible.
	Flowers	Green Carnation	Dianthus caryophyllus	The carnation is a hermaphroditic herbaceous perennial plant known for its densely fringed flowers and fragrant, clove-like smell. At the 1892 premier of his play Lady Windermere’s Fan, the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde requested that both an actor in the play and some of his devotees in attendance wear a green carnation to the event. Various speculations exist as to why Wilde, who claimed there was no symbolism behind the particular flower, chose a green carnation, but regardless it became strongly associated with Wilde and the LGBTQ+ community.
	Edibles	Shiitake Mushrooms	Lentinula edodes	Native to East Asia but cultivated globally, the shiitake is a small hermaphroditic mushroom typically found among deciduous trees. The shiitake is prized in cuisines across the world and is incorporated in traditional East Asian medicinal practices. Like Queer history, mycology often exists at the periphery of more mainstream practices, marginalized and censured to prioritize more accepted narratives. We grow our shiitake in logs which we inoculate each spring during a community queer ecology workshop.
	Edibles	Wine Cap Mushroom	Stropharia rugosoannulata	Wine caps are fast-growing, large mushrooms that quickly decompose woody debris, returning the organic matter to the earth in the form of soil with abundant nutrients and strong tilth. Like other mushrooms we grow, wine caps are edible, resembling portobello mushrooms in flavor, but having a burgundy color in their cap. While mushrooms are frequently marginalized in traditional gardening practice, we recognize mycology’s queerness in its collective organization and capability to disrupt and transform the environment, forming an essential—though often overlooked—cornerstone of the environment.
	Edibles	Strawberry	Fragaria x ananassa	Strawberries are well known in gardens and markets across the world, prized for their delicious, vibrant red fruit. The gender of a strawberry plant is determined by two genes and can produce four separate gender expressions. Male plants bear flowers that produce pollen but no fruit whereas female plants produce fruit if their flowers are pollinated, but cannot produce their pollen. Hermaphrodites contain both male and female functions that enable them to flower, self-pollinate, and bear fruit. Neuters, which look like male strawberry plants, can also exist but do not possess reproductive functions.
	Flowers & Edibles	Lemongrass	Cymbopogon citratus	Lemongrass is a hermaphroditic grass native to the islands of Southeast Asia used as a culinary herb and medicinal plant. Lemongrass is traditionally believed to have stimulating and anti-anxiety-inducing effects. Today, lemongrass is known for its citrus-like flavor and is eaten raw used as an herb in cooking, brewed into a tea, or added to blended drinks.

Glossary

Click on a letter to learn more about the language of our garden.