Panama Flora

by KimHo on May 17, 2009 · 4 comments under: Photo Essay,Travel



I originally intended to have this post up for last week Saturday. However, things happened and, well, here it is…

It might be an overstatement at this point but I like to take pictures of trees and flowers. In fact, I think I prefer to take landscape/outdoors to that of people (read: portrait pictures). If somebody would try to hire me to do the later, I will simply refuse. However, in the case of the former, hell, I might do something similar to what Humphrey Bogart’s character did in The Maltese Falcon (take some amount to cover time and expenses). I am digressing here… So, for this post, pictures of trees and flowers in Panama! (Oh, in most cases, I won’t know the name of the tree/flowers… -_-;;;)

The following two pictures are really odd…

No, I do not mean to show litter in Panama (which itself is a problem). Rather, a really odd problem. What happens is that, in tropical countries, if you drop some seeds in a plot of land, the chances it will sprout are really high. In this case, in the city itself, you could find some trees with the fruit hanging there…

My height is considered to be above average for a Chinese-born. I just had to “stretch” myself to reach some mangoes in a tree in an empty lot in Panama…

Your stereotypical “palm tree in a tropical country” picture. But, wait, that is not necessariliy a “palm” tree. See those red things hanging on a side? Those are not young coconuts (which would be really small anyway). Instead, these are pixbae, a tree from the palm family but, unlike young coconuts, the fruits are rather starchy.

This is yet another “fruity” tree/bush you can find on the sidewalks/empty lots. See the yellow fruits? Here, we have nance, which is used to (a) make a liqueur or (b) make a pudding dessert.

While we have cherry blossoms in Vancouver, in Panama, there is the guayacán tree. Almost the exact same effect…

{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Pearl May 17, 2009 at 10:30 am

oh how neat!

2 raidar May 18, 2009 at 8:03 am

Gorgeous! And to think we woke up to snow in Edmonton on this May long weekend.

3 _ts of [eatingclub] vancouver May 18, 2009 at 11:50 am

Oh, I think I recognize a couple of them!

Picture #2: Hibiscus, I think. (In Filipino: “Gumamela”)
Picture #3 and #4 are the same plant, I think: Bougainvilla.
Picture #5: If it’s the same as what I remember, we called it “santan” in Filipino. We used to take out those little flowers and sip the nectar from within.

4 KimHo May 18, 2009 at 3:59 pm

Raidar, at least it is not July and snowing… Knock on wood!

TS, thanks for letting us know! Unfortunately, I seldom try to find out the name of the flowers I take pictures of… ^_^;;;

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