Strange visitors

Strange visitors

 

Heliconia psittacorum "Golden Torch"

I have been working on a post (research and writing) on some interesting taxonomical issues related to a couple plants I have had for a while and been trying to identify. It is a slightly long topic as the initial identification seemed suspect to me but following additional research I was able to verify that my original identification of the plant I had was correct. However, in the course of finding this additional I also found information that required me to reassess the identification of another plant.

Pink Orchid Tree Flowers

In order to better discuss the issue I needed to get some photos of the various plant parts involved in the assessment of the correct taxonomical designation of these plants. I will not discuss all that in this post since this post is about some things that serendipitously presented themselves as blog material while I was taking photos for the other post. The other post will be published under the heading “Walking Irises: A case of mistaken identity Neomarica and Trimezia”



Blue and Yellow Walking Irises

I’d gone to Malifa to check on the plants there and decided to take the opportunity to take the necessary photos for the other blog post and since I was taking photos I carried on taking photos of other plants that happened to be in flower or looked particularly photogenic at that moment in time. It is fascinating how simple differences in light, either due to the time of the day or presence of clouds etc can alter the way the plants and especially the colours of the flowers and leaves appear. Since I work predominantly with natural light I try to take advantage of this since sometimes I can only take a certain shot from a certain angle when the sun is in the right place. So when I have my camera I usually try to take advantage of the opportunity to take photos when I can which was what I was doing that day.

One of the plants that was in flower that day was a White Dwarf Orchid Tree, which I think is Bauhinia acuminata according to research I have done on the genus so far. I have not been able to find sufficient details in order to make a proper assessment. At the moment I am basing my guess primarily on the similarity of the flowers with flowers of plants that have been identified as Bauhinia acuminata. Also I have not yet found any mention of any other dwarf species in the genus.

The Dwarf Orchid Tree is a small shrub compared to the full sized plants of the genus which was fortunate as it made taking photos easy.

Dwarf White Orchid Tree Flowers

So there I was snapping photos using my phone (which explains the lesser quality photos), when to my great delight I suddenly saw this giant bee that I have seen several times before both at Alafua and Malifa but never been able to get a good photo of. Either I did not have a camera or it was flitting from flower to flower in a way that prevented me from getting in close enough and fast enough to zoom in and get a decent macro shot. Fortunately in this instance the flowers were all pretty much close together and within reach although some shots required me to stand on a large rock and reach up and take a blind shot. A couple times I got buzzed but not stung. I think it was more curious as to what I was up to, than anything. It even zoomed off into the empty lot next door where I suspect it has its nest or burrow.

Carpenter Bee collecting pollen from a Dwarf Orchid Tree flower

The first time I saw one of these Bees close up was at Malifa when the poor thing was trying to collect pollen from the flowers of a plant I have not yet identified. I saw poor thing because these flowers are extremely delicate and the petals fall of in a stiff breeze and disintegrate whenever there is rain, so every time the poor bee landed ... or tried to land on a flower, the flower would fell apart and the bee would catch itself and wobble about a bit in confusion before making another effort. It was only when it had caused the disintegration of all the available flowers and a moment of puzzled searching that it flew off. By then I was already in stitches at the ludicrous sight of this enormous ungainly yet strangely appealing and extremely patient and persistent insect repeatedly averting a disastrous tumble each time it landed only to have to rev its wings up again to keep its self aloft.

Carpenter Bee collecting pollen from Dwarf Orchid Tree flower

Just watching it you cannot help be amazed that such small flimsy wings can actually lift such an enormous insect. In fact it often gave the impression of being only barely able to keep itself aloft although that was only when flying from flower to flower. When it went in a straight line out it flew quite fast and steadily although it gave the impression of rushing to get to its destination before disaster struck.

Purple flower (UNKNOWN)



I thought it was some sort of Bumble Bee but when I did some searches under “Giant Bee” I found information that pointed to it being a species of Carpenter bees which belong to the genus Xylocopa in the subfamily Xylocopinae although I could not ascertain for certain which species it was.




Flowers of Pink Orchid Tree

The Xylocopinae are large bees which are found all over the world. I have not been able to find out if specific species are found only in certain geographical areas or if several share the same geographical areas. In any case like Honey bees they are harmless if left alone and are not aggressive unless threatened. Supposedly it is rare for them to sting anyone.

As I indicated I got buzzed a couple times but then I was sticking my camera within a few inches of it trying to get a decent macro shot of it.

In essence Carpenter Bees are solitary bees and live in burrows in the ground.

Taxonomical Information:

Binomial Name: Xylocopa (species unknown)

Common names: Carpenter Bee

Additional details:

Carpenter bees (the genus Xylocopa in the subfamily Xylocopinae) are large bees distributed worldwide.

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.
 

My Blogs:

·         Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters)

·         The Blood of  Souls (language, translation and etymology)

·         Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general)

References

 

More Random kittens and flowers

Heliconia psittacorum "Andromeda" (Parrot Heliconia)

Hibiscus

Bleeding Heart Vine / Glory Vine

Zeptheranthes citrina (Yellow Rain Lily)

Pebble of the Ninja Cat Clan cites the principle presumption of innocence when accused of climbing up onto shelves where seedlings are kept and sleeping on them.

Heliconia psittacorum (Parrot Heliconia) UNKNOWN cultivar possibly Lady Diana

Evidence produced by prosecution that Pebble of the Ninja Cat Clan has aquired the required level of Ninja skills to have climbed up onto the shelf where the seedlings were kept.

 Caspar "Stoney" Livingstone of the Ninja Cat Clan who was latter caught in flagrante delicto sleeping on seedling.




Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

 

Additional information:

As I said I will be posting the photographs of the statues on another blog which will cover “A blog about art, sculpture, food, history, culture, literature among other things. Basically this blog will be a catch all for other topics that I cannot logically cover in my existing blogs:

·         Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters)

·         The Blood of  Souls (language, translation and etymology)

·         Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general)

Intriguing Plants – Weeds and Flowers

Intriguing Plants – Weeds and Flowers

Our front and back lawn at Alafua is a jungle with some rather obnoxious grasses which at the same time have their own beauty.

PHOTO of Kyllinga polyphylla

Kyllinga polyphylla or Navua sedge belongs to Cyperaceae (Sedge Family) and is native to tropical Africa. It spreads via underground rhizhomes and is considered a pest in cattle pastures because cattle do not eat them and they displace other grasses that cattle do eat.

PHOTO of Kyllinga polyphylla

Their subglobous flower-heads do look interesting, especially with the leaf-like bracts radiating out and could possibly be used in flower arrangements by the more daring. However, in a lawn they are tedious to eradicate since you basically need to dig the rhizomes out (unless you are into herbicide which I am not all that fond of). Alternatively you could go for the long slow death of covering the affected spots with something like black plastic, old roofing iron or anything that  will ensure that the spot gets no sunlight and the plants die out.

PHOTO of Kyllinga polyphylla with Spathoglottis plicata

Trust me digging them out is the fastest and surest method barring herbicides of course but without the hassle of dealing with herbicides and the potential problems / dangers of handling, using let alone storing them not to mention having to get a permit to buy, store and use them. (See below for additional information on this). And on top of that there are the potential rather unpleasant side effects of using pesticides like paraquat. I have included a few links below to recent medical studies on this for those who may be interested in reading more.

PHOTO of Kyllinga polyphylla

At the moment we have a huge problem with this grass at Alafua as the back lawn is 75-80% covered in it while a large section of the front lawn 45-50% is also covered with it.

I dug a whole bunch of them out of the bed of Zepheranthes rosea (Pink Rain lilies) a while ago. Now I am trying to decide how to deal with them. As interesting as the flowers do look especially with macro photography they really ruin the lawn turning it into a thick jungle ... which admittedly the kittens absolutely love prowling and prancing and bounding through like a bunch of psychotic miniature Sabre toothed tigers high on cat nip.

Maybe I can arrange for an area to be kept for them to practice their stalking and hunting skills in.

PHOTO of Kyllinga nemoralis

Here is Kyllinga nemoralis a close relative to Kyllinga polyphylla as you can see. It is known as kili’o’opu in Hawaii and mo’u’upo’o in Tahiti. I have not found any other common names.

PHOTO of Cyperus rotondus

Text  Cyperus rotondus also belonging to Cyperaceae (or Sedge Family). It is known as nut sedge (English); kili’o’opu (Hawaiian); mumuta (Samoan) and pakopako (Tongan). I cannot see anyone including it in a flower arrangement even though the flowers do look interesting in a Macro photograph.

PHOTO of Oxalis corniculata

I posted a macro photo of this before in which I referred to it as clover whereas in fact it is actually Oxalis corniculata or wood sorrel (English); ‘ihi’ai (Hawaiian); kihikihi (Tongan). It belongs to Family Oxalidaceae (Wood-sorrel Family).

An interesting fact about this plant is that according to Whistler (1994) it is used in traditional Polynesian medicine to treat infants however he does not specify what aliments it is used for. I assume he covers that in his book on traditional medicines (which I do not have).

PHOTO of Oxalis corniculata
Interestingly the species in the Oxalis Genus are often refered to as “False Shamrocks” so my mistaking it for clover is not that grave an error since apparently many people do that too. Still I a kind of disappointed that it is NOT clover.

PHOTO of purple variety (To Be Added)

Here is another plant which I also thought was a type of clover and now think might be a species in the Oxalis genus. I am not sure if it might be Oxalis corniculata or not. I have a feeling that it is not. It is not shown in Whistler’s “Wayside Plants of the Islands” which I found surprising since it is pretty authoritative. Maybe it is one he missed or a new introduction since he compiled it.

PHOTO of vineta

This little beauty is no doubt familiar to those who grew up in the islands and used to collect and eat the tiny bitter fruit we called vineta / vigeka (perhaps from vinegar due to the bitter vinegar taste?). Yes we used to eat all sorts of weird things as children. From picking certain hibiscus flowers and sucking the nectar out to driving the adults mad by picking the half ripe mangos and then eating them with salt or salt and curry powder. I still do not understand why THEY did not just do the same since I still occasionally will eat a mango like that.

In any case the flowers although miniscule look quite enchanting with the aid of Macro photography.

PHOTO of vineta

I have not yet tracked down what it's binomial (scientific) name is or what it's other vernacular names are.

Taxonomy

Family Cyperaceae

Genus Kyllinga

Kyllinga polyphylla or Navua sedge belongs to Cyperaceae (Sedge Family)

Kyllinga nemoralis a

Genus Cyperus
Cyperus rotondus also

Family Oxalidaceae

Oxalis corniculata wood sorrel Family Oxalidaceae

 Paraquat (dipyridylium)

Yes you need a permit to buy herbicides here in Samoa. I’m not sure if this applies to all of herbicides and pesticides of just the herbicides like Paraquat. The primary reason for this is to restrict access to paraquat by potential suicide vicitims.

Death by Paraquat poisoning was for a long time one of the most common methods of suicide in Samoa. The Health department tried for many years to have to banned but due to its widespread use and efficacy as a weed killer this was resisted. In fact efforts to ban or restrict access and use was on an international level due to its use as a suicide agent among developing nations.

There were several reasons for this. First of all it is highly toxic (1 teaspoon being leathal), 2. There is no antidote 3. It is easily available and 4. It is relatively cheap. One of the worst things about paraquat poisoning is that it is a slow and horribly painful death. It was also a common method used to poison dogs by thieves targeting neighbourhoods.

Eventually government decided to control its use. Now to be able to buy paraquat (if I recall correctly) you need a permit which also requires you to have a safe place in which to keep it locked up. Inspections are made to verify that you are actually keeping it locked up and I think that there are even penalties if anyone uses paraquat in your control to commit suicide.

According to statistics gathered so far the regulations have had an impact in reducing suicides overall. However, it is still the primary cause of death by suicide and after an initial drop.

However, perhaps people may start to reconsider using paraquat once they hear about several studies over the last few years which show a clear link between paraquat and Parkinson's disease. The worst part of this being that it is not just users who have a higher (3x) chance of getting Parkinsons but anyone who has lived or worked in areas where paraquat has been used.

Here are some additional resources on this topic for those interested.

http://www.pan-germany.org/download/fact_paraquat2.pdf

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110214115442.htm

 

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Additional information:

As I said I will be posting the photographs of the statues on another blog which will cover “A blog about art, sculpture, food, history, culture, literature among other things. Basically this blog will be a catch all for other topics that I cannot logically cover in my existing blogs:

·         Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters)

·         The Blood of  Souls (language, translation and etymology)

·         Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general)

References

Whistler, W. Arthur, “Wayside Plants of the Islands. A Guide to the Lowland Flora of the Pacific Islands including Hawai’i Samoa Tonga Tahiti Fiji Guam Belau”, Isle Botanica, Honolulu, 1995.

ISBN 0-9645426-0-9

More flowers and random kitten cuteness

More flowers and random kitten cuteness

This is Pebble looking thoughful ... for once. Usually he leaps into action before thinking although he is usually able to figure out how to get out of trouble when things get ... complicated.

The Pink Orchid Tree  is flowering AGAIN. Oh and I have 4 seedlings that I found under it which I assume are from seeds that dropped and germinated. I need to try and harvest the seed pods and germinate some myself.

This  is Ghost cozening  up to Brown Dog. They are best of freinds and Ghost has a strange habit of sticking his face in her fur and then doing the whole kneading thing.

Bleeding Heart

Gloriosa superba ( Gloriosa lily, glory lily)

Rocky a.k.a Nirvana Kitty / The Benevolent One ... in this instance looking very guilty because I was telling him off after catching him climbing the new shelf on which I had moved all my Zepheranthes rosea (Pink Rain lilies).

Photographic evidence. Unfortunately it only proves he is able to climb up NOT that he is responsbile for the paw prints amongst the squashed seedlings. I have covered the seed trays with coco wire to hopefully avert any further damage.

 Dwarf Red Ixora

 Dwarf Red Ixora

Blue Iris (Neomarica?)

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Additional information:

Here is a list of my blogs:

·         Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters): http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.com/

·         The Blood of  Souls (language, translation and etymology) : http://thebloodofsouls.blogspot.com/

·         Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general) : http://whiskersonkittens-vincent.blogspot.com/

Transplanting cuttings

Transplanting cuttings

About a month after making a whole variety of cuttings from Cordyline fruticosa (Ti Plant) to Gardenia jasminoides Gardenias and Ixora I am now starting transplanting the plants into individual poly bags or into the ground.

These Ti cuttings have different root development due to my having made the cuttings over a period of several weeks.

This is one of the nicest examples of root development that I had. There were about ten cuttings in a big poly bag of river sand.  I also have ten smaller cuttings which I planted directly into 3/4 inch bags. The ones that were in the sand have been carefully transplanted along one side of the driveway. Earlier on I had planted a whole batch of cuttings directly into the bed on the otherside.

Here you can see the different stages of root development. Ideally I would have preferred to have them like the plant on the right. Now I know that I should leave them in for at least four weeks for the plants to develop roots of that extent. In any case all the Ti cuttings I prepared have survived.
However, next time I will make sure I do not mix cuttings started at different times in the same bag because the faster and better the root development the faster the plant will become established and grow. Unfortunately given the space available ... that is dog safe space I only had one big poly bag of river sand and another bag of soil.

For the Gardenias I used river silt in a seed tray 6 x 10 which gave me 60 plants per tray. I only did one tray because I was not sure what the result would be. In all I got 56 plants. The other 4 that did not make it were due to the silt being washed out of the holes and the cutting dying. So I would say that the success rate for rooting Gardenias is quite high.

For both the ti plants and the Gardenias I kept the sand or silt moist and in partial shade. I do not have a greenhouse / shadehouse or even shade cloth put up but although the area they were in gets some direct sun they are shaded by the house and a large mango tree and lemon tree.
River sand seems to work best in keeping the stems moist while providing good drainage. My main problem was keeping them from being disturbed which would damage the emerging rootlets.
Just today I discovered that one of the cats (Lamuja the mother cat) has just decided that one of the seed trays with hedge cuttings makes an ideal soft and cool spot to lie on.

I  think that the Gardenias I have are Gardenia jasminoides  but I am not 100% sure.

Here is an interesting plant I came across driving  in Safatoa Lefaga. Apparently the Samoan name is Ava o le Pusi which means The Cat's Whiskers. I have not yet identified the plant. I was kindly given four young plants which are now recovering.

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.
 

Additional information:

·         Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters)

·         The Blood of  Souls (language, translation and etymology)

·         Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general)

References

Whistler, W. Arthur, “Wayside Plants of the Islands. A Guide to the Lowland Flora of the Pacific Islands including Hawai’i Samoa Tonga Tahiti Fiji Guam Belau”, Isle Botanica, Honolulu, 1995.

ISBN 0-9645426-0-9