Posts Tagged ‘Wild flowers’
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
A beautiful Jamaican Caper Tree with a mass of exotic looking blooms that turn from white to pink
I was up at a friends house and happened to notice a beautiful Caper Tree that was in full bloom. This particular tree seems to stand out when you look in the bush because it has very dense and full looking foliage with green leaves the undersides of which are a reddish brown.
The white flowers look like fireworks because of the long filaments coming from the centre of the flower
Jamaica Caper flowers have very showy, two-inch-long, purple stamens and white anthers and white petals. When the flower first opens usually at night it is white and they turn purple when the morning light hits them.
The pinkish purple flowers have numerous long deep purple stamens that burst out of the centre like fireworks
This cluster of flowers looked like pinwheel fireworks
The Caper flower has long two inch stamens that are a purple colour and the flower itself has four petals
The Caper Tree has very fragrant flowers that are loved by nectar loving birds and butterflies
Caper Trees are found growing throughout Provo and keeps all its foliage even when we have drought conditions.
Take a look as you are driving around and see if you can spot these trees. With all the flowers, they shouldn’t be too hard to find.
Marta
http://www.harbourclubvillas.com
Tags: Caper Tree, Jamaican Caper Tree, tree, trees, Wild flowers
Posted in Flora and Fauna, Flowers, Providenciales, Trees and Shrubs, Turks and Caicos Islands, Wild flowers | No Comments »
Friday, June 18th, 2010
A beautiful miniature Passion Flower vine started growing under one of our palm trees
I was doing some weeding the other day and came across the most beautiful miniature Passion Flower vine complete with tiny fruits the size of peas. The flowers were a pale yellow and smaller than a dime. I don’t really know what kind of Passiflora it is but it could be a Passiflora suberosa according to some of the books.
You can see how tiny the fruit is as I hold them on my fingers.
My fingers are quite small………my middle finger is 2 1/2 inches long so that gives you an idea of the size. This mini Passion Flower Vine was growing very happily under one of our Palm Trees.
Beautiful and tiny this wild passion flower bloom was just resting on some gravel.
Here's a couple of passion fruits hanging from the vine
When the fruits turn a dark purple-black colour, they are favoured by the birds
This pretty, small passionflower vine often creeps along the ground throughout the Turks and Caicos Islands. You really have to look closely for it !!
Marta
http://www.harbourclubvillas.com
Tags: Passiflora, passion fruit, passionflower, passionflower vine, passionflowers, Wild flowers
Posted in Flora and Fauna, Flowers, Fruit, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, Wild flowers | No Comments »
Sunday, May 23rd, 2010
You should see my Frangipani right now........beautiful blooms and the scent is divine!
Outside our bedroom window, my Frangipani is blooming to beat the band. A profusion of white blossoms with yellow centres.
Several commercially cultivated Frangipanis grow here bearing beautiful pink, cream or red flowers
There’s a stunning pink Frangipani out at Da Conch Shack in Blue Hills. These next photos were taken there a few years back.
Such a pretty combination of pink blossoms with yellow centres
The Frangipani is also known as Plumeria
Last but not least is our local Plumeria Obtusa or Frangipani which has smaller, white and highly fragrant flowers that appear in clusters at the end of the branch. Usually the frangipani grows to the hight of a small tree or shrub reaching about 4 meters.
Local Frangipani or Plumeria grows wild with beautiful clusters of white flowers
We have several wild Frangipanis growing at Harbour Club Villas. They are drought resistant and have large seed pods which burst open releasing winged seeds.
Seed pod on a wild Frangipani
Wild Frangipani flowers have oblong petals that are five lobed and with yellow centres
Frangipanis bloom in the spring and summer and as you drive around our island be sure to look in the bush. You’ll surely sight numerous trees covered with white blooms. Be sure to stop and smell these fragrant flowers.
Marta
http://www.harbourclubvillas.com
Tags: Flowers, frangipani, plumeria, Plumeria Obtusa, Wild flowers
Posted in Flora and Fauna, Flowers, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands | No Comments »
Saturday, February 6th, 2010
Beautiful spider's web catches the light at the pirate's cave at Osprey Rock.
We headed out early today towards Osprey Rock as we knew it would be sheltered a little from the wind. We anchored the boat just off the pirate’s cave and since I hadn’t been up ontop of the bluff for a while, I decided to climb up the ladder to get some photos. Just inside the cave were some beautiful spiders’ webs.
Spider's web with the ladder in the background to climb up ontop of the bluff.
What a view from the top as the water was a little churned up and showed off that amazing turquoise colour.
I took a photo of the boat anchored below me just off the cave
This beautiful ground cover with little white flowers was growing out of a small pocket of dirt in the rocks
We were in about two feet of water so it was easy to wade back to the boat
Malaika is just starting to walk and loves playing in the sand.
Here she is on the beach at South West Bluff close to Osprey Rock
Make sure you have a rental vehicle ( Scooter and Amos at Scooter Bob’s will be happy to help you out) and then you can explore the whole island which is full of unique and wonderful more remote places to see.
See you there!!
Marta
http://www.harbourclubvillas.com
Tags: beach, Beaches, car rental, cave, Osprey Rock, Pirate's cave, Scooter Bob's, South West Bluff, spider's web, web, Wild flowers
Posted in Beaches, Flora and Fauna, Flowers, Insects, Places to go, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, Wild flowers | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
Every year before Christmas, I watch for the Ipomoea vine growing in the bush.
Finally, after weeks of looking I spotted this showy, red flowering vine on my neighbour’s property. I’ve been watching out for the Ipomoea vine also known as the Christmas vine and or Wild Potato. I’m thinking this last week has been rainy and cool and all of a sudden, I’ve noticed bright splashes of red adorning the tree tops and in this case, on a Poisonwood tree. Perhaps the rains coaxed the blossoms to open.
A brilliant red flower and a mass of buds on this Ipomoea vine.
Usually, the Ipomoea blooms for the holiday season starting in October but as I said, I saw my first one only the other day while travelling down Venetian Road. I wandered over onto my neighbour’s property this afternoon to take pictures of orchids and found this Wild Potato growing on a tall poison wood……a little difficult to photograph as I didn’t want to touch the poisonwood.
The Ipomoea grows throughout the Turks and Caicos Islands and is one of the prettiest with brilliant red flowers.
Watch for these flowering vines as you travel the roads of Provo…….it’s impossible to miss with those bright red flowers that stand out amongst the green foliage.
Marta
http://www.harbourclubvillas.com
Tags: Christmas vine, flower, Flowers, Ipomoea, vines, Wild flowers, wild potato
Posted in Flora and Fauna, Flowers, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, Wild flowers | No Comments »
Saturday, December 19th, 2009
Wild Poinsettias grow throughout the islands and we're fortunate to be able to see them growing wild.
The wild poinsettia is found throughout our islands. It has leaves that are shaped like a lance and are often tipped with a deep red towards the centre. This cluster of red leaves gives the impression of a flower but the actual flower is found at the centre and in the photo the flowers have grown into green seed pods. Poinsettias are a favourite at Christmas time and many will buy the cultivated variety.
A floral bouquet of wild poinsettias and wild plumeria or frangipani in the gardens of Harbour Club Villas.
These beautiful wild flowers are found growing wild almost everywhere you go. The milky sap from the poinsettia is used as bush medicine and is a remedy for warts and corns.
Marta
http://www.harbourclubvillas.com
Tags: Bush Medicine, Christmas wild poinsettia, flower, Flowers, frangipani, plumeria, poinsettia, Wild flowers, wild poinsettia
Posted in Bush Medicine, Flora and Fauna, Flowers, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, Wild flowers | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
Tiny purple flowers on a vine that I found today.
I’m not sure what made me look down on the ground but I’m glad I did. We have a rocky bank by the villas that we cleared some weeks ago and now there are many tiny clumps of creeping vines that are like a ground cover. Miniature little flowers with pointed petals are blooming all over and they are so pretty.
These little flowers are really quite lovely and if you didn't look closely, you'd miss them
I haven’t been able to come up with a name for them. I also found what I think is a variety of Creeping Day Flower in a very pretty blue. Some seeds must have blown in and they started to grow under one of my coconut palms.
Tiny, unique looking blooms of the Creeping Day flower.
Several months ago, I came across a plant with pale white flowers at Harbour Club Villas that I identified as a Creeping Day Flower. This one has blue flowers and the same leaf structure so I’m assuming it is a variety of the same plant. Again such small flowers that under normal circumstances you’d miss.
Amazing how many small low to the ground vines there are here in the Turks and Caicos Islands
Keep a close eye out for these miniature flowering vines. They are exquisite with their delicate blooms.
Marta
http://www.harbourclubvillas.com
Tags: flowering vines, Flowers, vines, Wild flowers, wild vines
Posted in Flora and Fauna, Flowers, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, Wild flowers | No Comments »
Saturday, October 3rd, 2009
One of the most unique looking flowers that I've seen here in the Turks and Caicos
Yesterday was a rainy and over cast day and in the late afternoon the skies cleared a little. I took my camera and headed out into the bush to see what I could find. The rains had made all the difference and wildflowers were blooming all over. I found this strange looking bush with the most unique flowers and seed pods and with an even more curious name………… Blind Eye Bush.
The creamy flower of the Blind Eye Bush has a long, elongated column that curls back up into the flower.
This bush had flowers in different stages of development along with unusual screw like seed pods a little like cones.
Here are the brown twisted seed pods.
This was a shrub about 5 foot tall and it grows throughout the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands in coastal and marshy areas. The leaves are in an elongated heart shape often with jagged edges. The reproductive parts of the flowers are at the end of the elongated column.
The long column coming from the centre of the flower, carries the reproductive parts.
I must say that this Blind Eye Bush is one of the most unusual plants I’ve seen. I also saw some beautiful flowering vines…..Jaquemontia, Cynanchum, Wild Alamanda, Milk Pea and Urechites or Devil’s Potato along with Jamaican Trash, Jack Switch, Mosquito Bush, Wild Senna and I also managed to get some close up photos of a Gulf Fritillary butterfly.
Blind Eye Bush with it's showy flowers.
How lucky we are to be surrounded with all this natural beauty. Everywhere I go there’s a photo just waiting to be taken or in my case, hundreds of potential shots!
Marta
http://www.harbourclubvillas.com
Tags: Blind Eye Bush, Butterfly, Flowers, Gulf Fritillary, seed pod, seed pods, vine, vines, Wild flowers, wildflowers
Posted in Butterfly, Flora and Fauna, Flowers, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, Wild flowers | No Comments »
Thursday, September 17th, 2009
I found many beautiful flowering Sword Bush shrubs all over the property at Harbour Club Villas
This is an amazing looking shrub when you get up close to it. The leaf like branches are elongated and flattened but what’s interesting is that there are ridges or toothed areas along the leafs edge. From these toothed areas, minute little clusters of flowers appear.
Toothed ridges burst out in clusters of red miniature flowers
The Sword Bush is fairly common in our area and I found both pink and red clustered flowers as I wandered around the bush here at the villas.
This Sword Bush was loaded with clusters of pink flowers.
The bright red flowers make for quite a showy sight on this Sword Bush.
In bush medicine, the Sword Bush can be used for coughs and colds………….I’m not quite brave enough to try this but I am fighting through a sore throat, cough and cold as I write this! The leaf like branches can be chewed and then spat out. The bitter tasting leaves can be boiled into a pretty bad tasting tea which supposedly stops vomiting.
The flowers develop into seeds and it really does look quite spectacular
I’ll let you know if I do decide to chew on some leaves.
Oct 3………..I did chew on some leaves for a couple of days. They were very bitter but I can’t tell you honestly if my cold got better because of this or because it had run its cycle. Next time though, I’ll try chewing on the leaves right away!
Marta
Tags: flower, Flowers, seed, seed pod, seeds, shrub, shrubs, Sword Bush, Wild flowers
Posted in Bush Medicine, Flora and Fauna, Flowers, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, Wild flowers | No Comments »
Monday, May 18th, 2009
This pale wine coloured passion flower vine was found on Venetian Road not far from Harbour Club Villas.
I mentioned in a previous post “Passionflowers on the Beach” that I had old photos of a bright red passion flower and the one above which was growing along side Venetian Road and had a paler wine coloured flower. Both were very striking and in colours that I’ve never seen before.
Several varieties and colours of passion flower vines are found on Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands
These flowers are showy and frequently appear after spring and summer rains. The filaments that are around the central column can vary in colour from yellow to orange to red.
Red passionflower vine that I used to have growing along the pool fence in the early days at Harbour Club Villas
This passion vine had flowers that were a bright red and very striking.
Pretty, bright red passionflower vine that used to grow here at Harbour Club.
Hope you enjoyed taking a look at these extraordinarily beautiful flowers. I love them!
Marta
http://www.harbourclubvillas.com
Tags: Flowers, passionflower, passionflower vine, passionflowers, Wild flowers
Posted in Flora and Fauna, Flowers, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, Wild flowers | No Comments »