Flower Photos - Malva sylvestris AKA Mallow

Candy Marshmallows Probably Aren't Health Food

But, I found out today, this plant has a history of medicinal and cooking uses.

• The leaves, roots, stems, flowers and seeds  are packed with vitamins A,B,C and E.
• Some folks, substitute the leaves for spinach. Pregnant women get iron and zinc from it.
• Gooey stuff, called mucilage comes out of the leaves and roots, when you squeeze them.
• Rub that ingredient on cuts or, wounds and, it heals, reduces pain and stops infection.
• The plant's name in Hebrew and Arabic, translated to English, would be bread.
• A Roman naturalist, recommended a teaspoon of mallow, a day to prevent diseases.

Quit Teaching Kids to Roast Marshmallows

They make a mess and could get burned, fooling around with campfires.

The world would be a better place if, you didn't give them sharp sticks, to use like that.

It would be a good idea, to have them poke holes in the ground and, plant mallow.

Then, you'd get some free medicines and foods to eat.  What are you waiting for ?

REFERENCES:

Herbal Resource

Organic Facts

Permaculture

ISBN 0-553-58514-2 The New Healing Herbs P. 402

Okinawa Flower Photos: Society Garlic (Tulbaghia violacea)

These purple flowers originated somewhere in Africa.

Called, Society Garlic, Wild Garlic or, Pink Agapanthus, they are really related to onions.

The plants were granted the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

What that means, I think, is they are easy to take care of, if you are a lazy gardener.

Rub crushed leaves and flowers on your skin and, it will repel fleas, ticks and mosquitoes.

The Zulus use it for all kinds of stuff, like, seasonings and snake repellent.

And, they figured out a way to make aphrodisiacs from it.

How wild is that ?



Flower Photos: King's Mantle or Bush Clock Vine

Every Flower Comes with a Story

 

A person could bore them-self to death researching flowers.

The best thing to do after getting a positive ID on them, is to do a little more digging, I figure.

First, have a look at these purple, white and yellow flowers I found near Todorki Waterfall.


GPS: N 26 33.766 E 127 59.294

They look something like morning glory flowers but, they aren't.

A book, Sub-tropical Flowers in Okinawa ISBN4-9901917-3-0, gave me the ID.

Page 69, told me I found some Thunbergia erecta.

Next, I went poking around on the internet to see what the story behind these plants might be.

The scientific name led to to King's Mantle or Bush Clock Vine.

Well, you can do a search yourself and find all kinds of plant talk about the flowers, if you want.

It was time for me to try and learn where these flowers get their names from.

Like, who decided to call the thing a King's Mantle ?

 Pushing some of the buttons on Wikipedia gave me this juicy story to tell you.

After the name, Thunbergia erecta, you'll see, T. Anderson.  I had to find out more about him.

The guy was a botanist from Scotland and he lived from 1832 until 1870.

Thomas Anderson was an award winning collector of plants and did a lot of work in India.

Somehow he became involved in a mutiny down there.  Who knows why ?

They have a Scottish biography, the Wiki people would like someone to help them expand.

It seems, Thomas Anderson, went back to Edinburgh, Scotland .

Some disease in his liver ended his life October 26, 1870.

Anyhow, I think he was who named this flower.

And, I'm glad I don't drink Scotch (the way I used to)  anymore.
 

Flower Photos and a Tip For When You Travel: Be Flexible

When you arrive at your destination and the flower fields look like this

but, you were hoping for something like this.

 Just be flexible.

Pick on one flower, or a group of flowers and play with the aperture settings on your camera.

This photo was taken with an aperture of 4.5

Notice, the background is blurred.

The camera is mounted on a tripod and here's another shot at f/11.

See the background coming in a bit sharper ?

The same scene with an aperture of f/16 gives even more details in the background.

A final photo at f/22 makes the background sharper, yet.

The iris fields in Okinawa, Japan aren't ready for me, yet.

I'm lucky. I live only about an hour's drive away so, it doesn't cost me much to travel there.

If I was paying big bucks to travel and see the iris fields when they weren't in full bloom,

here's a little secret I'll tell you

I'D BE CUSSIN' UP A FREAKIN' STORM !

So, remember my travel photo tip.  Just be flexible.

PS: Somebody from THE AMERICAN IRIS SOCIETY started looking at my iris photos. 

You should take a look at their Facebook page and LIKE them.

Now, I have to get on out of here and see if I can get some better iris pictures.

Who knows ?  Maybe a bunch of iris lovers will like My Page, Too !

More of my camera ramblings may bee seen in PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS