Schefflera arboricola, dwarf umbrella tree

This beautiful specimen is from my Australian based Facebook friend.

Plant	Schefflera arboricola, dwarf umbrella tree
Common name	Scheffler Jacquiline, Dwarf umbrella tree
Location	Australia
Camera	Panasonic Lumix S3
Photographer	Susan Estrope Dicker
Acknowledgment	Susan Estrope Dicker(variety name)

Luffa Acutangula, Patola flower: glassy when wet!

I was surprised this plant has broad leaves yet with a tiny flower.More surprising the flower looked glassy with transparent petal when wet! Yet this is a a common vegetable , the humble patola.

Plant	Luffa acutangula
Common Names	Patola
Camera	Olympus VG-110
Photograher	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio
Plant	Luffa acutangula
Acknowledgement	Ella Bernales Jacildo(Identification)
Reference	Stuart Xchange
Album	Facebook(Ernesto P. Adorio

Dietes bicolor, butterfly iris

This photo of an iris was supplied by my friend Susan Estrope Dicker. After weeks of searching, I finally managed to identify this as dietes bicolor or butterfly iris.

Plant	Dietes bicolor
Common name	Peacock flower, Butterfly iris
Location	Australia
Camera	Panasonic Lumix S3
Photographer	Susan Estrope Dicker

Image owned by susan Estrope Dicker and published with permission.

Vriesea splendens, flaming sword bromeliad

Here is a fantastic specimen of an attractive bromeliad with a colorful flat spike may easily be confused with tillandsia or air plant. This is from the garden of Susan Estrope Dicker, based in Australia:

Plant	Vriesea Splendens
Common names	Flaming sword, devil's toungue
Location	Australia
Camera	Panasonic Lumix S3
Photographer	Susan Estrope Dicker
Acknowledgment	Ella Bernales Jacildo (devil's tounge common name), Prof. Hermie Siroy (Vriesea identification)
Reference	http://www.aboutgardenplants.com/Vriesea_splendens.shtml

Image owned by Susan Estrope Dicker. Published with permission.

Plants: Plectranthus coleoides variegated, swedish ivy

I formerly identified this as a pisonia, but further investigation made me revise the name to swedish ivy.

More photos, including for non-variegated variety, in our Facebook album.

Plant	Plecanthrus coleoides (variegated)
Common name	swedish ivy
Camera	Olympus VG-110
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio
Album	Facebook(Ernesto P. Adorio

Plants: Aphelandra Squarrosa, zebra plant

I saw this in UP Diliman and took a photo with my Nokia C3. The most striking feature are the bright green leaves and the decorative prominent veins. I formerly thought this was a fittonia, but a friend corrected me that this is aphelandria and is already widespread in Bacolod City! I still need to see the flowers, ..., someday we will be successful!

Here is another non-flowering aphelandra found in Bacolod City. Oops this is an iresine herbstii from Brazil. Will repost this in another post.

Plant	Aphelandra Squarrosa
Common name	zebra plant
Camera	Nokia C3 phone camera
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio
Acknowledgment	Prof. Hermie Siroy (Identification)
Reference	Wikipedia

Revisions.

• August 5, 2012 Earlier Fittonia verschaffeltii label changed to Aphelandria.
  

Sky photos: NLEX

I always try to bring my compact camera, and I am happy whenever I get the chance to sit in the front seat of the van going back and forth to UP Clarkfield, Pampanga. The 88 km first class highway seems to have surprises in store always for those who decides NOT to sleep in the almost 1 hour drive.

Here is a photo, taken by my lowly NOKIA C3 camera phone. It illustrates that even a 2 Megapixel camera can capture the beauty of the wide expanse of the sky.

Nokia really makes excellent photographic components for its cellphones. The high quality beats the ordinary imaging outputs of some 5 Megapixel cameras!