Comments on: Elm-leaved Turnera – Turnera ulmifolia

By: mary

mary — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 21:10:36 +0000

Regina,

Thank you for your interesting comment. I’m embarrassed to say that I haven’t thought to smell the flowers – I’ll have to next time I see them in bloom. How did you learn about using the petals for an eye wash? It sounds amazing.

Mary

By: Regina Sinon

Regina Sinon — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 08:23:35 +0000

We have this plant all around our island of the Seychelles. Are the flowers of you plant smelly? ours have a strong smell. They open up with light and at twilight they close and die. Bees like them very much. We use them as eye wash, we have to wake up before sunrise and wait near the bush to shoo away any early bees waiting for the petals to open. As soon as they start opening, we pluck whatever number we need and leave the rest for the bees. We then let these flowers seep in a glass of cold boiled water and at the end of the day, we pour the water into another cup through a piece of clean cloth and wash our eyes with it before going to bed. Next morning both eyes are stuck with all the impurities. We usually start with 7 leaves, then 6 leaves for the next seep up to 1 leaf and the end of the week, the eyes are clean (very good if one works in a dusty area).
I am so happy to have read your article, it inspired me to share my relations with this plant. I live in the woods surrounded by these special plants and they are the main reasons why my file at the clinic is so “thin”.

By: mary

mary — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:35:33 +0000

Mark -
Thanks for the comment, and I especially thank you for the leafhopper ID. What a fascinating article (and glorious images!) in wikipedia. Yes, indeed, another rabbit hole. Sigh.
Mary

By: Mark Webber

Mark Webber — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:29:22 +0000

I came across your article about Turnera while I was looking it up through Google. It was certainly informative!
The insect which you suspected was a young grasshopper is a full-grown leafhopper.

Wikipedia, unsurprisingly has a nice introductory article to them. Yet another rabbit hole to fall into, I fear.

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

By: mary

mary — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:21:28 +0000

Hello Shelley,

The rabbit hole – yes! And not just because of unfamiliar tropical plant families. Simple things like the Cheshire cat smile hiding behind “hypanthium,” the Mad Hatters tea party of synonyms, and so forth. But that’s the joy of adventure, isn’t it? – not easy, not predictable, and therefore all the more satisfying in the end.

By: Shelley

Shelley — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:53:11 +0000

Lovely plant and terrific description of yet another family I’ve never heard of before! Do you ever feel as if you’ve fallen down the rabbit hole?

~Shelley

By: Mary

Mary — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:46:55 +0000

Thanks for letting me know about Scott Zona!
No wonder his comment on Flickr was so extraordinarily helpful. I will update my reference to him!

Mary

By: Ian

Ian — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:03:01 +0000

Great post. But I this bit really made me smile

another botanical member of Flickr, scott.zona

Scott Zona is actually a leading palm systematist who’s based at Fairchild Tropical Gardens in Miami. Isn’t the internet a wonderful place?