Friday, April 24, 2009

Two Mysteries

There are two mysteries today, though completely unrelated. The first concerns the little elephant. I would provide photographic enhancements - but it (seems genderless) is temporarily lost. Someone put Mr. Elephant in the wash. Was it the urchin? Perhaps Mr. Elephant got tired of being scuffed up and timorously tattered, and surrendered to the washing machine voluntarily. The elephant is the urchin's favorite toy. No question. But the soap and suds treatment alienated the urchin. Such are the deep mysteries of life. However, in a remarkable gesture of forgiveness, the two are once again friends.

The second mystery involves something oddly botanical: Did a silken blossom zigzag down from some exotic tree like a feckless feather or did a flower manage to grow straight out of the ground? Being contrarian, you probably supposed the latter possibility. You found yourself to be correct, but still puzzled. Then you remembered your awesome crocus. Kaemferia rotunda, in fact, is known as the "tropical crocus" for its charming ability to flower without any visible sign of foliage, straight up from the earth. Later, the plant produces purple-red erect stems and is a joy in the garden. It is one of my favorite gingers - perhaps it will be one of yours too.








Kaempferia pulchra. Unless you are a student of Linnaeus or have had evanescent thoughts about entering the Catholic priesthood, you probably don’t know that pulchra, in latin, means beautiful. So, for instance, Urchin pulcherrima means the most beautiful one. You see, it's easy.





Kaemferia pulchra is also known as the "Peacock Ginger."

14 comments:

  1. I love gingers. THat flower is beautiful

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  2. Beautiful flower. Love the peacock ginger. Hope you have a great weekend. Happy gardening... Becca

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  3. I love the ginger!
    The kaempferia is a house plant here and called "Prayer Plant". It's neat to see it growing out of the ground!

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  4. I love those little scrolls of Kaempferia - similar to the way new hosta growth emerges.

    I do have a fascination for Linnaeus and Latin - and just had to look up 'evanescent' in the dictionary - blogging is definitely good for my vocabulary!

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  5. So interesting to view your photos. I hope you have a great weekend.
    Hugs from Harriet too!

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  6. Hi Prospero, Kaempferias have beautiful patterned leaves. So gorgeous looking. This Pulchra flower looks like an orchid. So beautiful and cute :-) I have Kaempferia Galanga, it has nice purple blooms that sparkles but just that the leaves did not show the pattern anymore and gets narrower too. I think it just did not like my garden condition (hot!).

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  7. Hm. Pulchra is one of a few dozen Latin words I do remember, perhaps because for such an ugly little word it seemed - well, hardly serendipitous.

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  8. The rotunda is really nice ! I have a few Kaemferias and the related Cornukaemferias, but have yet to see this one although its supossed to be quite common.

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  9. Shoot of peacock ginger is like a green A4 paper rolled up and push into the ground..., and it is coming out... how nice, tumeric is almost similar in character!... cheers ~ bangchik

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  10. Poor elephant. Love your tropical crocus! And the Ginger of course!

    Sorry I'm so far behind. :(

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  11. Very beautiful flower.
    Great photos!

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