January 2011: did you say Africa?

I would have sworn this was South America. Look at this Thevetia Peruviana, also called the Mexican Oleander. The yellow variety is abundantly present all over Abuja but not to be confused with the yellow bells which are also widely spread on all compounds (more about those later). Yellow bells have more than one flower on the stem and each flower has just one bell-shaped petal. Oleanders have only one flower per stem with multiple petals.

The Thevetia Peruviana (why Peruviana translates as ‘Mexican’ is a mystery to me) has an orange variety as well. There is at least one on V1. See if you can find it, but you will have to leave the beaten track.

The Mexican Oleander has big round seeds and large lance-shaped leaves. As you could have guessed, it is native to Mexico and Central America. As all oleanders, also this one is extremely poisonous although tiger sharks native to the warmer waters of Central and Southern America are known to feed on these plants for use as aphrodesiacs. There is no need to worry, I have seen no tiger sharks in Abuja so far.

So you say: one swallow does not make the summer.

And I say: aha, but what do I find next to the Mexican Oleander? The Brazilian Rain Tree (Pithecellobium Tortum). Its flowers are unusual and look like drum brushes. The story goes that Jim Moody, the owner of Jupiter Bonsai in the US, had received some seeds from his sister-in-law, collected whilst she was travelling in Brazil. He experimented successfully with them and the Brazilian Rain Tree is now widely cultivated as bonsai in the US.

The seed pods of the Brazilian Rain Tree are similar to the big brown bean-shaped seed pods of the Delonix Regia (the big red-flowered trees which most of us on V1 have in their front yard and can also be cultivated as bonsai) but a lot smaller and lighter in colour. The leaves of both trees are also similar. The Delonixes have just started flowering again. I will talk about them in the next edition.

If you want to have a go at bonsai-growing, I’ll tell you where to find seeds!

Reporting to you from Central and South America

Alice in Wonderland