Bulbous Aromaticus
Mystery teasers are little stories where you need to figure out what happened based on the given clues.
"Check it out," John said to his friend, Detective Sing, over dinner one night. "For a mere $5,000 I could purchase one of the rarest annuals around, Bulbous Aromaticus.
"I was talking to a horticulturist, and she said she was willing to sell me one of the plants and then, each year when it flowered, she told me I could sell the seeds myself. Given the rarity of this particular plant, I could make a fortune!"
"Save your money," said Detective Sing. "This horticulturist is a fraud."
How did he know?
Answer
An annual is a plant which only lives through one year, before dying off, which any horticulturist would know.
While John may have been able to harvest the seeds after the first year, and attempt to regrow another plant in a later year, he certainly couldn't use the same plant for a number of years running.
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Comments
DaveC  
Nov 07, 2005
|  I guess I am first  I am no botanist but I knew that annuals only live a year while perennials live and bloom for more than one year. Pretty easy but I guess that not everyone knows that.   |
pistons_32_rip   
Nov 07, 2005
| dave ur not alone i knew it 2 that was soooooooooo easy  |
rkaaland 
Nov 07, 2005
| I guess it was too early in the morning for me!!! The Bulbous part threw me-bulb don't have seeds  |
zonarita
Nov 07, 2005
| fun and easy teaser. My favorites |
redraptor50
Nov 07, 2005
| good one sweetime keep these coming! I got the answer correct! YES!!! |
lycanthrope
Nov 08, 2005
| Mom was a gardener so I got the answer Keep them coming though, I did have to think a moment on this one. |
negronazi
Nov 08, 2005
| Ya, my mom is a gardener too so I got it pretty quick. Still good one for those who dont know anything about plants and flowers. |
BOOKLOVER1
Nov 10, 2005
| did not get it   |
shawneeo
Nov 12, 2005
| This was very interesting, because at first I was thinking, oh, it's because bulbs don't grow from seed, although the flowers of bulbs, some, may make seeds that are rarely used, maybe, but anyway, that "bulbous..." was almost a red herring, but it led one to the samw answer, that you don't grow it from seeds...If only the red herring could throw one off in a different direction...Good one though, I think you must have done that deliberately, very clever... Thanks.  |
BOOKLOVER1
Nov 12, 2005
| can you answer my posts??? |
sweetime
Nov 13, 2005
| what would you like to know booklover?
perhaps if you PM me if you want to know something specific?
otherwise, thanks everyone for the nice comments |
BOOKLOVER1
Nov 13, 2005
| whats PM mean sweettime? |
sweetime
Nov 14, 2005
| private message |
BOOKLOVER1
Nov 14, 2005
| thanks |
wizkid
Nov 15, 2005
| Great teaser. I should have gotten that small informative fact. |
Lady_Lani
Nov 17, 2005
| terrific teaser! I am a big flower lover so I got that one quick. I really enjoyed it. keep it up.  |
piers
Nov 23, 2005
| I'm confused (apologies as I know nothing about flowers). Why couldn't he still make lots of money by selling all the seeds he gets in the first year bar a few which he keeps to grow more plants to harvest their seeds the following year. Ie he can't get seeds every year from the same plant but can use the first to make an annual chain of seed producers |
sweetime
Nov 23, 2005
| He could.
But the way that Detective Sing knew that the horticulturalist wasn't really a horticulturalist was because no horticulturalist (gosh i'm sick of typing that word) would say "each year" when referring to an annual plant. It will die off, and a new one must be planted/grown.
Hope that helped
Thanks everyone for the lovely comments |
piers
Dec 05, 2005
| I understand now - thanks for explaining. That was a good teaser |
Graceiswayneat
Dec 05, 2005
| I knew it too, good one! |
choptlivva
Dec 11, 2005
| Pretty easy for anyone that knows about gardening .... but fun nonetheless!
BTW.... one of the easiest annuals (that I know of) to grow from harvesting its own seeds is the marigold!! Each flower produce a multitude of seeds, and in a fairly temperate climate, you can scatter them on the soil in late summer (and rake them in a bit so they're lightly covered) and voila.... new marigold plants the following summer!! |
Winner4600
Jan 19, 2006
| "knew that the horticulturalist wasn't really a horticulturalist was because no horticulturalist (gosh i'm sick of typing that word)"
Poor sweetime! You're sick of typing that word, but it was spelled wrong anyway and you could've saved some fingers! (horticulturist, not culturAList)
Great teaser!!! |
soccerbri05
Feb 19, 2006
| I got it very good teaser |
kcheer2493
May 23, 2006
| Great Teaser. Didn't know that annual meant that though |
didida
Jul 05, 2006
| i forgot about anualls |
scallio
Feb 22, 2007
| Easy. Guess I won't be taken by a scam artist posing as horticulturist! |
Hummingbird1
Jun 01, 2007
| I enjoyed this one Thanks |
Mad-Ade
Oct 10, 2007
| why is the horticulturist a fraud, She only agreed to sell the plant, it was John who said he could sell the seeds from it each year, so it was his mistake, not hers. |
Paladin
Mar 17, 2009
| "I was talking to a horticulturist, and she said she was willing to sell me one of the plants and then, each year when it flowered, she told me I could sell the seeds myself..."
She DID say it would flower each year. Hence, she is a fraud.
Nice teaser! |
hunnibabe
Jan 27, 2011
| couldnt he just plant the seeds the next year 2 regrow the plant, instead of selling them? or even better, regrow the plant the following year with half of the seeds, and sell the other half? |
HITMAN-47
Jul 21, 2012
| Great teaser but please next time provide a hint foe us who don't do botany |
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