Duranta Erecta, Geisha girl flowers

My australian friend in Facebook posts amazing photos of plants I have not personally seen before. Here is one, called Geisha flowers by my Australian friend. Smaller versions of this plant are called Duranta Repens.

I was surprised that the wiki reference mentioned this attractive plant with beautiful flowers as an invasive species! Moreover, the berries are toxic to dogs but not to birds and butterflies.

More surprises, this past few months, I saw durantas in Sta. Maria, Bulacan. Here is a photo I snapped, I think with my Samsung WB150F camera.

Plant	Kingdom(Plantae),unranked(Angiosperms, Eudicots, Asterids), order(Lamiales), Family(Verbenaceae), Genus-Species(Duranta Erecta).
Common name	Alba, Aurea, Aussie Gold, Gold Mound, Geisha Girl, Sapphire Showers, Variegata
Camera	Panasonic Lumix S3
Photographer	Susan Estrope Dicker
Reference	Wikipedia; faceysnursery

First image owned by, and published with permission from Susan Estrope Dicker of Australia.

Plants: schefflera odorata, lima-lima, five fingers

I found this plant at UP BLISS, Philcoa. I guess they grow this for its medicinal properties. I like the smooth almost reflective leaves. This plant is named lima-lima or fortune plant as it may have 5,6,7, 8 or 9 leaves.

Here is SED photo with nine leaves.

Plant	Scheflerra odorata
Common name	Lima-lima, five fingers
Camera	Olympus VG-110
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio
Identification	Fortune plant(Ella Bernales Jacildo), lima-lima(Al Claud)
References	StuartXchange

Second photo owned and copyrighted by SED(Susan Estrope Dicker) of Australia. Linked with permission.

Plants: Ficus Hauili, Ficus septica, septic fig , labnog

This fig has unusual balls in its branches.

Facebook does not display my photos so we upload new ones.

Plant	Septic Hauli, Ficus septica
Common names	septic fig, labnog
Camera	(unviewable fB photo: Olympus VG-110),June 8,2013 (HS25EXR)
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto Adorio
Reference	Stuart Exchange
	Wikipedia
Acknowledgment	Ella Bernales Jacido (identification)

Plants: Cordylines, fortune plants, Dracaena fragrans/terminalis

The most well known cordyline in the Philippines is the baston de San Jose (cordyline fruticosa). Here are other cordylines which we have to find the correct scientific name!

Thanks to Ella, we now know that these are fortune plants or Dracaena fragrans, or alternately, cornstalk dracaena. We will eagerly wait when these plants which can grow tall as a house, will bloom!




The plants were photographed in an overcast sky. We will rephotograph and replace the above with better samples!

Here is a cordyline corn plant with central striped leaves (dracaena fragrans 'Massangeana')

Plant	Dracaena fragrans
common names	corn plant
Camera	Olympus VG-110 and Nikon D51000
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto Adorio
Acknowledgment	Hermie Siroy (generic name), Ella Bernales Jacildo (specific name)
Reference	Abagillon.blogspot
	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracaena_fragrans

Plants : crotons

Here is a stunning example of a croton majestic colors, from an Australian based Facebook friend with permission:

Here is a snapshot of the current photos in my Facebook Album.

And here is a growing croton plant from Bacolod City

Interesting facts:

• Cascarilla (C. eluteria) bark is used to flavour the liqueurs Campari and Vermouth.
  
• It has recently been shown in Kenya that Croton nuts, such as those from C. megalocarpus, are a more economical source of biofuel than Jatropha.
  

Plants	Crotons
Cameras	Olympus VG-110, Nikon D5100
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio
Album	Facebook
Reference	Wikipedia entry on Croton
Acknowledgment	Susan Estrope Dicker, for the first photo above