Zen and the Zingiber -- Plant of the Day: Red Torch Ginger (Etlingera elatior)

The Conservatory was very quiet at opening time.  The quietness adds to the zen of the relaxing atmosphere.  Last week was spring break for many schools in this area, so today marks their first day back in school.  I attribute today’s quietness to the return of the school routine.  Later in the morning, however, multiple school groups came through on scavenger hunts.  The kids seemed to really enjoy looking for a variety of plants and learning how those plants benefit human communities.

Down in the Sunken Garden, the Spring Flower Show has opened and looks absolutely stunning!  If you can appreciate a beautiful flower, you will love this show!  There are beautiful snapdragons, hyacinths, tulips, irises, sweet smelling lilies, and more. The sweet smell is intoxicating.  Come see this beautiful work of art before it's replaced by the next show!

Vanilla Orchid Flower

Back in the North Garden, everything is growing and adding blooms.  The vanilla orchid has quite a few new blooms and several buds are preparing to open soon.  The orange trees are still producing bunches of oranges. 

Pineapple

There is a stem head growing out one of the pineapples in the North Garden.  Did you know that pineapples are the only edible Bromeliad?  They cannot self-pollinate, so they must have pollinators to help pollinate the plant for fruit to develop. The cacao pods on the chocolate tree (Theobroma cacao) are starting to turn color.  You should visit soon and see them before they fall off the chocolate tree (and are then eaten and enjoyed by the compost worms)!

The Plant of the Day is the Red Torch Ginger (Etlingera elatior). 

Red Torch Ginger

Its not hard to see why this herbaceous perennial plant has the nickname - 'Red Torch' ginger.  The sprouting bud looks like a flaming red torch.  Its flowers are very showy.  Some varieties have pink or white flowers.  This plant makes a beautiful addition to any tropically-themed landscape.  This is not, however, a good plant for a container garden.  A mature red torch ginger can grow up to nine feet inn height with a diameter of two inches!  Come see the ones in the North Garden to see what I'm talking about!

The beautiful floral ginger buds are used in showy decorative arrangements.  The flower buds are used in many dishes such as the Nonya dish laksa, or, in north Sumatra, for a dish called arsik ikan mas (Andaliman/Szechuan pepper Spiced Carp).  It is used in salads in Thailand.

The red torch ginger has many other common names including Indonesian Tall Ginger, Porcelain Rose, Wild Ginger, Torch Ginger and Red Ginger Lily.

For More Information:

http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Torch%20Ginger.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_8268580_grow-red-torch-ginger.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torch_Ginger

http://www.ehow.com/info_8597706_red-torch-ginger-propagation.html

Cucumbers - useful for food, medicine and drinks! Plant of the Day – The Tree Cucumber (Averrhoa bilimbi)

Cineraria

The outside weather was warm and rainy today, so it was no surprise to find the inside of the Conservatory to be warm and very humid.  It felt good for most of the time I was there today.  Towards the end of my shift, I was feeling a bit sticky and glad to be heading to the outdoors.

I was glad to see that the Winter Flower Show is still open.  I enjoy walking through the Sunken Garden once or twice during my volunteer hours.  The smells and the beautiful flowers are really beautiful to behold. 

Jackfruit

There were a few surprises in the North Garden today.  The jackfruit tree has sprouted some new growth off of its trunk.  This new growth is already bearing jackfruit.  It’ll be interesting to see how this new growth and the new fruit develops over the rest of the year. 

Cacao Chocolate Pod

The cucumber tree had some beautiful dark-red flowers. Hopefully we’ll see some new fruit on that tree soon.  The gooseberry tree has been pruned and no longer has the gooseberry fruit in the pictures that I uploaded in my last posting.  The chocolate pods are still there.  They don’t look like they’ve grown any or changed color.  I wonder if they’re slowly ripening up.  It’ll be interesting to see if they change color soon.  Despite the rain outside (or maybe because of it), there was a steady stream of visitors today.

Cucumber Tree Flowers

The plant of the day is the cucumber tree (Averrhoa bilimbi – common names: Bilimbi, Cucumber Tree or Tree Sorrel.  Ethnic names: Kamias, Bimbiri, Belimbing Asam, Belimbing Buloh).  This rare exotic fruit tree is thought to originate in Moluccas, Indonesia.  It is popular in Thailand, Malaya and Singapore. In India, where it is usually found in gardens, the bilimbi has gone wild in the warmest regions of the country. Outside native habitat, Bilimbi is hard to find.

This fruit is a close relative with another North Garden resident – the Star Fruit (Averrhoa carambola) which grows near the front entrance of the North Garden.  Next time you’re in to visit, you can see that they have similar foliage. 

On the cucumber tree, small, yellowish-green or purplish cauliflorous (producing flowers from the main trunk or older branches) flowers, marked with dark-red or purple, are borne in small, hairy panicles that emerge directly from the trunk or some twigs.  These can occasionally be seen on the cucumber tree in the North Garden.  Small clusters of fruits resembling small cucumbers also grow on trunk and stems averaging two to three inches in length.  If unripe, the fruit is bright green and crispy. It turns yellowish as it ripens.

The fruit on the bilimbi is generally regarded as too acidic for eating raw.  In Costa Rica, the green, uncooked fruits can be prepared as a relish and served with rice and beans, or with fish and meat. Ripe fruits are sometimes added to curries in the Far East or used in place of mango to make chutney. The fruit is rich in vitamin C. The fruit juice is popular for making beverages similar to lemonade.

In the Philippines, the leaves have been used as a paste on itches, swelling, rheumatism, mumps or skin eruptions. Elsewhere, they have been used for bites of poisonous creatures. A leaf extract has been reported to be useful as an after-birth tonic, while the flower extract has been used for thrush, cold, and cough.  Malays use the juice as eye drops and regard it as a magic curative.

For more information:

http://www.gardenguides.com/taxonomy/cucumber-tree-magnolia-acuminata/

http://toptropicals.com/html/toptropicals/plant_wk/bilimbi.htm

http://orchidhut.blogspot.com/2011/02/not-just-orchids-in-my-garden.html

http://www.tropicalplantbook.com/garden_plants/treesfruit/averrhoa-bilimbi.htm