…and a query. Yesterday, I noticed flowers on a tree that has never flowered til now though it’s somewhere in the region of 4metres tall! And I have NO IDEA what it is. All I can guess is that it is,like so many of the plants in this jungle, from a seed dispersed in bird, bat or possum poo.
.
There are dozens of flowers and only one that i could see with 5 petals.The leaves are stiff and glossy. It may be a native, but so far I’m flummoxed. Mind you, most of my books are packed away! So…anyone out there care to take a stab at it? Google’s “images” suggested Tibouchina, to which I said Foxtrot Foxtrot Sierra. So, have at it, folks. Jon, I’m counting on you! STOP PRESS I think it could be a Surinam Cherry, Pitanga! I do have one in the same area, but it’s most definitely shrub-sized. Wiki tells me this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenia_uniflora
Here’s a shot of the YlangYlang (Canangra odorata) flowers above the front stairs. I bent over backwards for this so please don’t say it’s “hard to see.”The topmost branches of this giant were scheduled to be lopped, but it’s been given a reprieve…And, oh my goodness! I’m on a roll now! In response to Jon’s comment about ylang ylang scent, I found this when I googled the making of the scent https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVGhHy0OWH4
!
And the un-named cactus that was such a stalwart a few months ago has produced more, though smaller, flowers.
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Another “mystery” to me. I am not familiar with native fungi. At least, not to the point of knowing FOR SURE which are edible! So these have remained where they grow. Bad enough that a dodgy prawn put an end to crustacea, I’d hate to lose my mushies, too!
And, just for a giggle, here’s another of my orchids. It’s been hanging on this, the mystery tree, for years and years, never out of flower and a lovely bright spot of colour on dull days!
I’m still spitting cuss words at the way WP boffins have messed with what used to be so simple. And, frankly, I’m tired. And I don’t have much more to add so I might try to get some other work done, maybe even pull a few bad weeds now that the rain has eased. Yes, some weeds I do consider bad, but most are good for something!
You’re right. It is a bleeding jungle! Beautiful, truly lovely. Even the fungus is attractive…
The tree you thought-was-a-mystery-then-solved-it-yourself seems to have lots of useful medicinal uses – and the berries are edible, so that’s all good. It is flagged up as “invasive” in some areas, though.
Does the Ylang Ylang have a scent? I know it’s used for perfumes but I an unclear whether it’s the flowers or the wood itself that is harvested.
Keep on keeping on, my dear! Jx
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The ylangylang flowers are very smelly.Utterly gorgeous to my nose. The leaves smell foetid, si I think it’s the flowering part used in making scent.I shall have a browse and let you know…
Yes, I’ll keep keeping-on. Took a break when the rain stopped nad did some reasonably hard yards in yard. 🙂
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Yes, it’s the oil from the flowers https://www.scentcillo.com/blog/ylang-ylang-flower-flowers
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O! I know! I have some friends who communicate via Farcebook, but I don’t like it. It just seems to be an uncontrolled bitch-fest on most sites!
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I’ll look at my pitanga in the morning…bu it looks like the flower.
The ylang ylang in front of the house is shooting up, but the scent from the flowers is gorgeous. I put one in a water glass to have the pleasure of it close up.
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Yes, even raking up the fallen ones is a pleasant chore.
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Loving your garden. And, as always, envious of your rain. While we were out this afternoon the skies opened and it absolutely bucketed down. When we got home we found that we had an incontinent pigeon sprinkle (splat, splat and it was gone) here.
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Oh, not again! Mind you, we waited all of last week for this. I could put a bucket out for you, but lockdown…sorry!
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Do not eat the fungi!!! I don’t no why not, but it’s not worth the risk.
Meanwhile, my brain is offline this morning, but I find the bright spot appealing – hell we all need a bright spot right now… so long as it’s not a raging red one that appears on the chin.
WP. Ack. It’s gone potty, and Blogger – because of all it’s new glitches, does not seem like the attractive alternative it once was.
Sxxx
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I am tearing my hair in handfuls! The comments have gone waaaay down, below the direction arrow for the previous post! But I’m going to make some fettucine with carbonara and fresh herbs. (Actually, I buy the fettucine from the grocery store-I no longer make my own! Too busy trying to sort out WP!!)
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Everything looks fine and dandy this side of the screen. Oh dear – maybe it’s your PC? Sometimes Apple makes my blogging experience hell on earth. I think they’re trying to stop us blogging so that we all move to FB – just a little conspiracy theory I’ve dreamt up!
Sx
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Do you mean Comments on your WP dashboard? I mostly use a WP app on my tablet or phone for those, so I am not yet suffering that particular WP abuse.
Sx
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Blogger, for all its faults, would seem to be much easier to use and better behaved than WP (from what I have been reading here) – the single most annoying thing about it (for me, at least) is that bloody Reading List feed; this list is supposed to show “subscribed” blogs’ posts in chronological order of date posted yet if one makes a retrospective edit to an already posted entry (at least recently published ones) – such as the edits you’ve made to yours with the updated info on Ylang Ylang, Dinah – then suddenly a post from days ago whooshes to the top of the list as if it was published that day. Très annoying. The rest of the recent changes didn’t really take long to get used to. Jx
PS F***book? NEVER!
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Oh! I don’t have a tablet or a smartphone, just a laptop. And no one comes by to dance on it except Sporran. Now that I think about it, maybe she “touched” something! She can be a right little madam at times! You’re lucky Charmaine’s over in Batarde’s turret! I wonder if Sporran would like to go there…
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What with all the daily walking last year I’ve amassed quite a large photo gallery of fungi and I think I have several shots of these mushrooms. Dave has a zillion books on fungi identification so I always send him my photos and ask if my latest find is edible, I’m pretty sure these are not good to eat! Of course the Scottish and Aussie versions may be quite different.
I’m reading a rather wonderful book on fungi at the moment called Entangled Life, by Merlin Sheldrake. Actually, I’m listening to the audio version because I bought the book book for D for Christmas and he got so many books he’s not even looked at it. Impatient to read it myself, but not wanting to read his book before he has, I downloaded the audio. It’s a joy!
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I shall ask at the library.Trying to limit spending But I have so loved William Least Heat-Moon’s writing, I bought his “Blue Highways” and have just finished “River Horse” which I’ll probably buy;the sort of book I like to return to.
I have done mostly reading for the past year when I was too knackered to do much else.
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I’ve not heard of William Least Heat-Moon (what a name!) but I’ll look him up. Intrigued!
Have you been ill?
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Least Heat-Moon’s name IS wonderful! He’s part Osage (father) and English(mother). He writes wonderfully and sometimes amusingly. You should find second-hand copies quite easily on-line. “River Horse” is about his journey, by river and portage, from the Atlantic ( the Hudson) to the Pacific (the Columbia, finally).
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Yes, Ellen, I got shingles in February and , just to make life even MORE interesting in a sodding pandemic, I have residual nerve pain. A bit of a bugger, to be polite.
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So sorry to hear you still have residual pain from the shingles! As if we don’t have enough to cope with. Were you affected by TC Imogen? We’ve just had lots of rain. Enough now thank you. The garden is totally out of control. Some weeds are taller than me, I’m embarrassed to admit. Haven’t seen any snakes yet but no doubt they are keeping a low profile with the big dogs galloping around. I just want Peggy to stay away from them, she thinks she’s a super hero, which she is, of course, but I don’t want a snake checking out her super powers. Happy New Year to you and The Man. 💖💖💖
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Well, I just have to get on with things!
Lots of puddles and it’s coming through the carport and basement now, but rustable gear is off the floor and we’ve had plenty of sweeping practice!
Honestly, we’ve got a mound of palm butts that could rival Hickstead Bank! Monsoonal days in the tropics! Could b e a severe storm later today so I might think about something I can cook on the gas hob…
Best of luck with snakes. Have not seen any here for quite a while, but the “jungle” could be hiding them. Oh! Last night we heard a frog!!!! If I miss anything from the old place it’s the frogs, especially these Lymnodynastes dumerilii guys! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYJE4KMV1uw
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How funny, I was obsessing on where to find Garrya elliptica (Wavy-leafed Silk Tassel) today and I swear I saw a very similar picture somewhere else, but alas I don’t remember where. I did recognize it as possibly being in the Myrtaceae family which is in the Genus Eugenia that narrows it down to 150 possibilities!
I wrote a short story last year in which I needed to research the world’s most poisonous mushrooms, their growing habits and side effects. I thought for sure the police would show up wanting to enquire about my search history.
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Welcome aboard, Melanie.
Ha! Years ago (in London) the police raided one of the flats in my building and also wanted to search my place. At the time, I had trays of seedlings in the kitchen that caused some raised eyebrows!
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I love finding an unexpected or surprise flower/growth in the garden, although it’ll be some months yet before that’s a possibility here (mudwise, North Norfolk is starting to look like Devon. I dread to think what Devon’s looking like now…?). Your surprise flower is rather pretty. And with the probability of funky little “cherries” too!
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haha! I should have known what it is…it was the size of the tree that flummoxed me.
But garden surprises are lovely. It’s really why I could never have a neat, well-ordered garden. I must be hard-wired to like chaos!
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Good to see some color! We are deep in the gray-brown winter season, and i’m finding myself restless to get to gardening – a new hobby, thrust upon me when we bought a country home with stunning floral gardens! Every day will be like a holiday as we are surprised by new growth. i’ve seen photos of the gardens in their glory, and can’t wait to share those with you!
As for WP? OY! I disappear for a mere 6 months, and they’ve bollixed up the interface again! i’ll have to keep trying to figure out the new stuff… old dog needs to get on the new tricks bandwagon i suppose!
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Hey there! Good to see you out and about in the virtual world. And I LOVE what I’ve seen of the new place.
The Man has been doing a sterling job in the “garden” and he’s just been along the back fence and de-weeded it and raked up barrowloads of palm seeds. I’ll make a start on re-potting things today…
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