A variegated Stachytarpeta jamaicensis

-


In a remote village in the province of Quezon, I chanced upon the common weed Stachytarpeta jamaicensis, but with variegated leaves- it certainly stood out amongst ferns and another rapacious weed, Sphagneticola trilobata.  Stachytarpeta is a weed that originally came from tropical America but has now firmly established in many warmer parts of the world. If there is a disturbed area, there must be a Stachytarpeta somewhere. Weed as it may be, this plant is of value to butterfly watchers as the flowers are very attractive to, well, butterflies.

Young leaves look more or less normal, but in reality, the variegation is almost the same color as the rest of the leaves then intensify to white as they age- or at least that is what I have observed. Rabid collectors of variegated plants may find this specimen very interesting; I will show you the location if the price is right 😜



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Plants and places: a list of places in the Philippines that were named after plants

-
Image
Many place names within the Philippines were taken from plants, historical figures, or from water features or references to it. However, the former appears to be much more widespread and perhaps reflect the early people's affinity with such plants, perhaps as sources of folk medicine, food, utilities, or simply as landmarks. Unfortunately, most of these place names no longer bear the plants so honored, and the meaning of such names have been largely lost to obscurity. Our so-called 'progress' has pulled us farther and farther away from nature: the nonstop road widening projects during the last five years have wreaked havoc on not a few roadside trees. A Facebook post shows the last and only known Acacia confusa - a Philippine endemic- along the Olongapo-Bugallon Road in the western Luzon province of Zambales that is slated for cutting. Some names are contentious, such as 'Balicbalic' and 'Vigan'. Still, many of these place names reflect a place's topogr...
Read more

Materials for an inorganic cactus and succulent mix

-
Image
Since I started my advocacy on using mineral mixes for cacti and other succulents, I have been getting swamped with inquiries regarding the types of rocks to be used, the ratio in relation with the other materials, and other nuances. In this post I will be getting more specific and discuss why some materials are not really suitable for use in this regard and why some ingredients are better than the others. But first let's talk about the pots. Pots Perhaps no other branch in horticulture has experimented with so many different kinds of containers than in the succulent sector. The often fantastic shapes of succulent plants lend themselves very well to such containers, many of which can be downright outrageous or even more beautiful than the plants they hold. Whichever container you use, it would be for the best interest of your plant if you choose one that is one or two steps larger than what you would normally consider for the size of the plant. I have said this before and...
Read more

Distinguishing Alocasia boyceana, A. heterophylla, and A. ramosii, and some words about asking for plant identification

-
Image
  In the Philippines, three commonly encountered Alocasia species are frequently mixed with one another that identification of plants posted in social media has resulted in a muddied concept of what constitutes what, with most plants getting labeled as ' Alocasia heterophylla ' even though practically no one can elucidate why he thinks it is that species. More on that later. Still, admit I should that I, too, was confused not too long ago until I got fed up with my own ignorance and decided to undo it once and for all. I now show thee the path to thy enlightenment. The main aim of this article is to allow you to reliably identify which is which. I am going to keep this ultra-simplified, so I am not going to talk about floral morphologies. People usually don't catch them in flower anyway and very few have the inclination to save dissected inflorescence samples in an alcohol solution for later reference. The other aim, well, we'll get to that later. Alocasia heterophylla...
Read more