We all learned about the food chain in grade school and have even seen the drama unfold in a nature documentary. But witnessing a critter eating another critter up close is another level of experience – it makes it real.  

Late winter in the deep south doesn’t last long, but it does try our patience. We long for the coming spring when it is safe to plant our gardens and replace the brown colors of winter with colors of spring. But it always seems to take forever until the spring greening happens, in what seems like an instant. One day the world is dreary, the next it is covered in every shade of green and other colors of the rainbow. 

Some plants add a certain kind of pizazz or elegance to our world. Such is the case for Green Dragons, Arisaema dracontium. Although not commonly seen, unless you frequent moist woodlands in early spring, this forest floor plant has a wide distribution across the eastern U.S. and Canada. As for the name, well, the person that described it apparently saw a long, flickering lizard’s tongue under a multi-lobed dragon’s mane.

Mississippi State University officially broke ground today [March 10] on the Northern Gulf Aquatic Food Research Center, a first-of-its kind facility in Mississippi dedicated to aquatic food safety, quality assessment, processing and product development.