Travel Story--Costa Rica, 2019

Native to the rainforest of Costa Rica, heliconia or lobster claw
(genus Heliconia, heliconia family, Heliconiaceae)

I first went to Costa Rica in February 1972; this year I had the opportunity to go back with a Cal Discoveries trip (Preserving Paradise: Parks and Reserves of Costa Rica (link), run within Costa Rica by Holbrook Travel (link)).

I’d been back to some places (1970s, 1986, 2013) but this tour hit many of the places I went in 1972 and had a focus of Costa Rican conservation. 

It was quite an eye-opener.

Now We Are Six! Blog Anniversary.

water hyacinth (Eichronia crassipes)

"Now We Are Six!" The title is from the Winnie the Pooh series, a phrase that has been with me since early childhood. Today it applies to this blog. Six years! Three hundred twenty two published posts. I had no idea what I was starting, back in February 2013.

Considering the Joys of Air Travel

I have not enjoyed flying on commercial airlines lately but that wasn't always the case.

Rainbow, San Francisco International Airport

The first airline flight I took was in 1961, from Cleveland, Ohio to Albany, New York. (On Mohawk Airlines: any of you remember them?) I was thrilled. Not just getting off the ground, but seeing the land from the sky. My science class had taught about river meanders, and there they were, spread out below me! I thought, "if only geography could be taught with airplane trips."

Travel Story: The Canadian Rockies

It has been some years, but we flew to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, rented a car and drove the Ice Fields Parkway through the Canadian Rocky Mountains. It is 277 miles from Banff (a hour west and a bit north of Calgary) to Jasper, Alberta, where the road divides and most vacationers turn around and head back to Calgary. It makes a spectacular vacation.

I live on the foothills of that same mountain chain, about 1000 miles south. So wouldn't it be the same?

Plant Story: Angel's Trumpet, Brugmansia suaveolens

A striking tropical ornamental, in warm climates you can't miss angel's trumpet, Brugmansia (nightshade family, Solanaceae). (Datura species are closely related and also go by the common name angel's trumpet but are also called jimson weed and thorn apples. They are smaller, grow in colder climates and are nonwoody plants).

This is an American tropical plant now found all around the world. The flowers come in shades from yellows to pinks to white.

Botanical Travel: Where the Weeds Are Strange

lantana (Lantana camara)

Growing on the roadsides and vacant lots in Costa Rica, we saw lantana (Lantana camara, vervain family, Verbenaceae). In Hawaii it was Kahili ginger (Hedychium gardnerianum, ginger family Zingiberaceae)

Kahili ginger

Here is Kahili ginger, the dark green leaves, filling the forest understory in Hawaii

All the dark green leaves are Kahili ginger

Wow! Aren't those pretty! But weird weeds to a Coloradan.

Plant Story--Rue, Ruta graveolens, Bitter

Rue. "You'll rue the day..."

rue, Ruta graveolens

Rue, Ruta graveolens (citrus family, Rutaceae) is a traditional medicinal and culinary herb, one we don't use much anymore. The plant is also known as garden rue (to separate it from other species of Ruta) and, especially historically, herb of Grace and herbygrass. It is not the same as, or closely related to, meadow rue (Thalichrium species, buttercup family Ranunculaceae) or goat's rue (Galega officinalis, pea family, Fabaceae).