Quick links: Aan and the Solanaceae

Solanum sisymbrifolium

When I was working at the Compton Herbarium I had the chance to see many different plants, some of which were particularly interesting. One of those was Solanum sisybrifolium, a type of nightshade, which caught my attention by having thorns on it’s leaves! 3quarksdaily has a post concerning the Solanaceae, the nightshade family, which has a wide variety of plants that includes both deadly poisons and hallucinogens to potatoes and tomatoes. It is well worth a read.

The second link (third really but one of the previous ones was just for further information) concerns Alexander Aan who most readers should remember as I’ve covered his story a number of times. He’s the Indonesian who posted “God doesn’t exist” on Facebook and was sentenced to 2,5 years in jail and fined approximately US$10 600. There is currently a petition to get President Obama to call for Aan’s release which needs 25 000 signatures. I think it’s only intended for Americans but my second highest number of hits is from the US so I think it’s worth linking to here.