Tag Archives: seeds

Desert Rose Seed Pods

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What do you think this is a photo of?

What do you think this is a photo of?

I was cleaning up the pool area today and discovered my desert rose had a large seed pod that had just burst open. There was a little bit of a wind today so I had a great opportunity to take photos of the seeds before catching the wind and being dispersed.

The seed itself has fluffy, dandelion like tufts on either side of the seed itself

The seed has fluffy, dandelion like tufts on either side of the seed itself

Brownish casing with seeds ready to burst out

Brownish casing with seeds ready to burst out

The Desert Rose has bean-like seed pods. When the seed pod is fully ripe on the plant, it will split open revealing seeds with beautiful “wings” so that seeds can blow away.

The seeds were just waiting for the wind to blow them away.

The seeds were just waiting for the wind to blow them away.

Desert Rose and a mass of seeds ready to fly away

Desert Rose with seed pods holding a large mass of seeds

 

Here's one of my large Desert Rose bushes when it was in full bloom a month or so ago.

Here's one of my large Desert Rose bushes when it was in full bloom a month or so ago.

 

 

Marta
http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

Sword Bush

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I found many beautiful flowering Sword Bush shrubs all over the property at Harbour Club Villas

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

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.

This Sword Bush was loaded with clusters of pink flowers.

The bright red flowers make for quite a showy sight on this Sword Bush.

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

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
http://www.harbourclubvillas.com