Valentine’s Day is coming soon, and people are always looking for gifts to buy for their sweethearts. Even if you don’t have a significant other, Valentine’s Day can be a time to buy something fun for yourself! But, what to buy? Tired of the typical and somewhat cliché chocolates and red roses? If so, consider a novel plant disease-related gift that will hopefully put a smile on your or your loved one’s face.
Floral bouquets
I just dissed rose bouquets, but there are options for making plant-disease inspired floral arrangements for Valentine’s Day.
First, I suggest that you include fantail willow. Every time I see this plant, I wonder if it is infected with a phytoplasma of some kind. Phytoplasmas are bacteria-like organisms (often moved from plant to plant by leafhoppers) that colonize a plant’s phloem (i.e., food-conducting tissue). Symptoms associated with phytoplasma infections can include flattening and curlicuing of branches, both of which are characteristics of fantail willow. Someday, I’m going to buy some branches of this plant and test them for phytoplasmas in my clinic.
Next, I would include tulips with striped, puckered, and/or fringed petals. Nowadays, these floral characteristics are likely due to the genetics of specific tulip varieties. However, these features pay homage to the Rembrandt and parrot tulips of the past that were infected with Tulip mosaic virus (an aphid-transmitted plant virus). Virus-infected tulips contributed to “tulip mania” in The Netherlands in the 1600s. People went gaga over tulip bulbs that produced these unusual flowers, paid way too much for single bulbs (e.g., the equivalent of the purchase price of a house or a seafaring vessel), and subsequently lost their shirts when the market for these bulbs crashed.
Finally, I’d throw in a few snapdragons. There’s nothing specifically plant pathological about snapdragons, but if you ever grow them in your garden and let them go to seed, you’ll notice that the mature seed pods look like tiny human skulls! So, as Dr. Death, I find this plant very “on brand”.
Nobel rot wines
Need a bottle of wine to go with your plant disease bouquet? If so, consider noble rot wines. These wines are produced from grapes that have been infected by Botrytis cinerea. If growing conditions are wet for an extended period, then this fungus can devastate a grape crop, rotting the fruits on the vine. However, if there is only a short wet period (which promotes infection), followed by drier conditions, then the fungus causes a dehydration of the grapes without destructive decay. This raisining of the grapes causes a concentration of sugars, and wines produced from noble rot grapes tend to be sweeter wines. The presence of Botrytis cinerea also adds to the flavor profile of the wine, giving noble rot wines subtle hints of honey, beeswax and/or ginger. Common noble rot wines include (but are not limited to) Tokaji (from Hungary/Slovania), Sauternes (from France) and Beerenauslese (from Germany/Austria).
Oud perfumes and colognes
Perfumes are a traditional Valentine’s Day gift, and oud perfumes are the plant disease versions that you can enjoy. Oud (also spelled oudh) refers to a dark, fragrant resin that is produced in the heartwood of agarwood trees (Aquilaria spp.) in response to infection by the fungus Phialophora parasitica. Only a small percentage of agarwood trees (maybe 2%) become infected. The combination of sap and fungus has a scent that evokes leather, saffron and smoke. Unfortunately, oud has historically has been so valued (for a variety of purposes in addition to perfume production) that agarwood trees have been overharvested to the point where many species are endangered. There is now a move afoot to more sustainably produce oud by cultivating agarwood trees and artificially inoculating them. So, if you decide that an oud perfume is your gift of choice, I suggest making sure the oud therein is from a sustainable source.
Artisan wood bowls
If you know of someone who really loves cherry wood (a reddish wood appropriate for Valentine’s Day), then consider finding a local woodworker who makes bowls from burls that form on the trunks of cherry trees. These masses of wood (galls) are often the result of a fungal infection by Apiosporina morbosa, the black knot pathogen. When infections occur on smaller branches, I affectionately refer to this disease as poop-on-a-stick, and the galls are not of much use. However, larger black knot trunk galls are highly prized for their amazing grain patterns and can be used to make distinctive one-of-a-kind bowls that unfortunately, while beautiful, can be a bit pricey.
Other types of bowls (or wooden art objects) that are made from diseased trees are those exhibiting spalting. These wooden objects are produced from trees that are typically suffering from white rot, a kind of fungal wood rot. As the fungus colonizes the wood and begins to degrade it, dark lines can form at the interface between healthy and diseased wood. If caught at the right time (before substantial degradation has occurred), the diseased wood can be shaped into stunning artisan pieces with the decorative line patterns intact.
Wood accessories and furniture
Do you or your significant other like to hike? If so, then consider a diamond willow walking stick. Diamond willow is not a type of willow tree, but the result of certain species of willows being infected by canker-causing fungi (in particular the fungus Valsa). Infection leads the formation of diamond-shaped sunken areas (cankers) on affected branches. These sunken areas have a Valentine’s day vibe as they exhibit a distinctive light and dark (often reddish) contrast between healthy and diseased tissue. The diamond shapes and color combination make the infected branches highly prized for making not only walking sticks but also furniture. Fancy a diamond willow love seat anyone?
Some good reading
Finally, I’ll finish my list by shamelessly promoting my recently published book, “Limerickettsia: A Plant Pathologist’s Book of Verse”. Poetry is the language of love, is it not? So, why not gift yourself or your loved one a book of 52 disease-themed limericks (including a Valentine’s Day appropriate one about Tobacco rattle virus on bleeding heart), with additional prose information, photographs, and original artwork.
Questions?
If you have questions about any of the disease gifts discussed above, or have additional ideas for plant pathology-related gifts, feel free to contact the PDDC by email at pddc@wisc.edu or by phone at (608) 262-2863. Also, feel free to check out the PDDC website (https://pddc.wisc.edu) for additional details on plant diseases and sample submission. You can follow the PDDC on Facebook, Twitter (X), and Bluesky (@UWPDDC) or email me to subscribe to the PDDC listserv, UWPDDCLearn, to receive updates on clinic services and educational materials.
Happy Valentine’s Day, and good luck in love and life!
Note
Links in this article lead to sites that are for illustrative purposes only and are not an endorsement of any particular vendor or item for sale.
