GARDENING RESEARCH

YOUR humble servant was described as a snob, by two obscure bloggers of the common place, green areas,  tropical hotel entrance gardening.

I admit that I am arrogant and dogmatic, with some airs of superiority, hostility toward the fools, (like them), every once in a blue moon, but I am not sleeping on laurels.  Every day is a chance to show my colors.  Here it goes.


My previous post mentioned, described 3 vines in my collection from a book by Edwin Miner Sola.  There are some errors in the book dealing with wrong botanical names, but essentially is a good reference, since there are no other.

Except perhaps this one from the New York Botanical Garden: 

http://sweetgum.nybg.org/uh/narratives.php.?irn=184, which in turn was found in the most unexpected source: www.pragroecologico.info.


Puerto Rico Agroecologico for its friends. A blog for the edible gardening
fans in that exclusive bag, and no other!
I try to cover the whole court, carrying the ball, with no one to pass.

BACK TO THE STUDIO

Ipomoea aegyptia L.

Nathaniel Lord Britton

Frances W. Horne

Flora Borinquena

Ipomoea aegyptia

Palmate-leaved Morning-glory

Family Convulvulaceae

"Characterized by leaves completely divided into 5 untoothed and unlobed segment of leaflets and rather large white flowers,  this twining vine is frequent on thickets on hillsides and in fields at lower altitudes, in moist and dry parts of  Porto Rico, growing also on Mona and Vieques islands and occasionally planted for ornament.

It has very wide distribution in tropical regions, both in the New World and the Old.  It is not known where the species originated. We regard it as indigenous in Porto Rico, but this may be open to question;we have not observed it above 150 meters elevation." 

I brought seeds of Ipomoea aegyptia from one of my yearly trips to Marylee's by the Sea in Guanica, my favorite desert like town in the south west of the concrete/asphalt isle.

I confess to be totally inclined towards vegetation grown in desert, dry geographies and a total dislike for rainforests, like El Yunque. Do not ask why, I can not explain it.

That is why Cesar Manrique Cabrera from Lanzarote, Spain, kicks both butts,

Roberto Burle Marx and his horrendous installations in Brasilia or Raymond Jungles and his palm trees jungles in that tortilla flat land of Florida. Very subjective the whole thing, but that is what the river brought.

Back to the studio. Why is all this bullshit in the eyes of the uninitiated important?  To me it is, since I searched for two years the names of : Passiflora foetida/pallida l. and our protagonist today, having lost hope until by accident I found the reference for the NY Botanical Garden, my alma mater.

As a misanthropist, it is necessary to find, investigate, research alone. I find absurd the type of questions asked in many blogs and sites from people gardening as a hobby.  Incapable of investigating subjects proper from elementary school. 

Blogs themselves, comments from some readers are also a tool for research if one takes the time to read them.

Titania, Rambling Anne, One, rohrerbot, Stephanie and Beato have offered information from experience that is not necessarily found otherwise, pragmatic and credible. Thanks to them.

Now you will find, maybe, odd, Porto Rico, the spelling...Well Lord Britton and wife did their relevant research for two decades in the early 1900's.  Descriptions are pertinent when one has no pictures, in those days there were masterpiece illustrations, more fun to observe than many pictures today.

Once in a while I have had a hint of what I am looking for from a description only. Pictures may be worth more than a thousand words, if you have it...

Time to go..Apaga i vamonoh!