Centratherum punctatum, brazilian bachelor's button plant

I saw a photo of the flower in Facebook. I thought it was a thistle, guessing even a cyanara, centaureaus, or an artichoke. But yesterday, September 30, I saw it in person along the sidewalk in Kalayaan Avenue in Diliman Quezon City! So inspired by my find that I searched, using Google for photos of lavender button flower. In a short time, I zeroed on the final guess: a centrathenum punctatum commonly known as brazilian bachelor's button plant. So it is not native to the Philippines, but has become naturalized in in Negros Island.

It grows weedlike, nevertheless the lavender color is stunning. I just wish I brought along my olympus cam for better closeups, but the Samsung is much more versatile for far objects.

More photos in my facebook album.

Plant	Asterales/Asteraceae/Vernonieae/Centratherum/punctatum
Common Names	larkdaisy, Brazilian button flower, pineapple thistle, porcupine flower, Brazilian bachelor’s button and Manaos beauty.
Location	Kalayaan Avenue
Camera	Samsung WB150F
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio
Album	Facebook

Images copyright by Adorio Digital Library, 2012.

Flowering crotons

The colorful leaves may be worth enough for gardeners to plant this ornamental plant, but the flowers which are infrequent are striking!

August 29, 2014: Not a croton but a pseuderanthenum or yellow morado.

Dragonfly at UP Clarkfield

Insect	Dragonfly
Location	UP Clarkfield, Pampanga
Date	Sep. 27, 2012
Camera	Samsung WB150F
Photograrpher	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio

Dorstenia, a strange looking plant.

My Australian based Facebook friend does it again. She posted this photo in our Handbook of Philippine plants and flowers page and I just have to ask more knowledgeable people in the species identification business. Someone remarked that this flower is of a dorstenia, but what dorstenia? Is is a Congo fig [dorstenia elata] or a dorstenia indica?

Here is a close up of the strange flower.

Plant	Dorstenia [elata?indica?]
Location	Australia
Camera	Panasonic Lumix S3
Photorapher	Susan Estrope Dicker
Attribution	gcy (identification as a dorstenia)

Please support the Philippine Native Plants Conservation Society, founded by the late biologist Dr. Leonardo Co. Visit facebook page of PNPCSI


Image owned and copyright by Susan Estrope Dicker. Published with permision in this blog.

A very beautiful sunset at the Ruins, Talisay.

I was speechless the first time I viewed this photo. It is so soothing to view the end of day marked by the colorful canvas in the sky. It made me pause from work.

Thanks to Jessica Alovera for posting it in Facebook and to Jealine Marie Bernabe who took the photo at the Ruins, Talisay.

Published with permission in this blog. Image owned and copyright by Ms. Jealine Marie Bernabe.

Cameras: Is the Nikon P510 worthy of having?

Here is a saleslady holding and demonstring the P510 42x zoom compact digital camera from Nikon in the 5th floor of SM Noth Annex Building.

The camera boasts of the following:

Resolution	16.1 megapixel, BSI CMOS sensor
Lens	24-1000mm ED glass
Max. Zoom	Zoom 42X optical
view screen	3 in. TFT, (921,000 Dot Resolution) vari-angle LCD
Features	GPS, Image stabilization, auto panoramic stitch
Video	Full HD (1080p), stereo sound
Continuous shooting	5 frames per second

I have the samsung WB150F 18x zoom digital camera, but I would love to complement my arsenal of cameras with this Nikon P510. Perfect for shooting birds!

Yes, this camera is worth having not withstanding the GPS geotagging feature is virtually useless in the Philippines!


The price of this camera is around P25,000.00 with the regular price of P28,000. The price in the US right now is around 400 dollars minimum at Amazon! So I can only suggest when the price goes down to 17,000 pesos. Wait next year for prices to go down as right now the prices of most cameras are going down!

But right now, I have to save money. Maybe I will be able to afford one this coming December.


Further reading:

• dpreview.com
  
• photographyblog.com
  

Plant or weed, Mimosa Pudica, sensitive plant.

Aah, we use to play with this plant when we were still in elementary school! Locally known as makahiya, the leaves will fold closed when touched. It grew in a grassy field and was considered a weed. It is not a native to the Philippines however.It came from South and Central America!

Plant	Mimosa Pudica
Common Names	bashful mimosa, Sensitive plant, makahiya
Location	UP Clarkfield, Pampanga
Camera	Samsung WB150F
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio
References	Wikipedia, stuartxchange

Salap (shrimp) traps in Pulupandan by Ella Bernales Jacildo

A perfect shot of shrimp traps in the sea in Pupulpandan. Photo taken by my Facebook friend Ella Bernales Jacildo with a Sony DSC
W120 digital camera.


Original image and copyright owned by Ella Bernales Jacildo, published with permission in this blog.

Flowers, loropetalum chinense var rubrum, strap flowers.

Our Facebook friend based in Australia posted a photo of the pink colored flower with strap shaped petals. Searching in Google identified the plant as loropetalum.

Plant	Saxifragales/Hamamelidaceae/Loropetalum Chinense var rubrum
Common Name	strap flower, fringe flower
Location	Australia
Camera	Panasonic Lumix S3
Photographer	Susan Estrope Dicker
Reference	Wikipedia

Image owned by Susan Estrope Dicker, published with permission in this blog.

Selective focus for depth of field.

We assume that the object of interest is near the center of the screen.
Your Samsung Camera can also take magnificent photos by selective focusing. First, you must not be in macro mode. Next, try to focus on one object in the scene and press the shutter. Hee is one photo which was well liked by someone, removing any hesitation to post it in this blog:

One can do more in Program Mode. We will soon start investigating about this option.


Photo taken at Quezon City Memorial Circle with a Samsung WB150F camera with Smart Setting.

Purple, Red and Blue Salvia Splendens

This is actually our second time to display salvias. Our first post on these showy flowers is in Salvia Splendens. The color of the flowers in our first post is orangy. This time, Susan's photos shows a redder version (but not red enough to our liking!).

Flower	Salvia Splendens
Common Name	Scarlet sage
Location	Australia
Photographer	Susan Estrope Dicker
References	Stuart xChange

Images owned and copyright by Susan E. Dicker, published with permission
We are sorry to inform our reading public that the original images were either deleted from Facebook or the image urls were changed.

yellow snapdragons from Australia, antirrhinum majus

Our australian fiend's camera captured some good photos of flowers growing in Australia. Here is one, a yellow snapdragon flower.

Plant	antirrhinum majus
Common Name	Yellow Snapdragon
Location	Australia
Camera	Panasonic Lumix S3
Photographer	Susan Estrope Dicker
Reference	Wikipedia

Image owned and copyright by Susan Estrope Dicker. Published with permission in this blog.

Unknown Butterfly or Moth?

I do not know the species of this butterfly.

Identified by Dr. Romana Reyes of Bago City as Striped Albatross (Appias libythea olferna). Many thanks, Dr. Romana!

Ghostly calatheas spp

Here are two photos of beautiful calatheas. The first one is from prolific gardener S.E. Dicker, taken in Australia. The other from the blog author, shot in Quezon Memorial Circle, in the Philippine Horticultural Society section. Our first guess is "calathea picturata var argentea"

Plant	calathea picturata var argentea
Location	Australia (first photo), Philippines(second photo)
Camera	Panasonic Lumix S3 (first photo), Samsung WB150F(second photo)
Photrgrapher	Susan E. Dicker(first photo), Dr.Ernesto Adorio(second photo)

First image courtesy of Susan Dicker, published in this blog with permission.

Stromanthe sanguinea 'Tricolor'

The happy combination of reddish brown, white and greens is found in this beautiful plant, Stromanthe sanguinea 'Tricolor', which the author found in Quezon Memorial Circle. I thought they were calatheas!

Digital Images by Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio, taken with a Samsung WB150F camera.

Plant	Stromanthe sanguinea 'Tricolor'
Common name	Sago(!)
Location	Quezon Memorial Circle
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio
Camera	Samsung WB150F
Acknowledgment	Al Claud(common name)

Australian hairy sheoaks plants, Casuarinacece family.

As befit a continent, Australia boasts of plant and animal life found in no other places. Here is a sheoak, growing near a beach in Australia and snapped by my friend Susan Estrope Dicker.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/541984_318265374938334_620889536_n.jpg

Image produced and owned by Susan Estrope Dicker. Published with her permission on this blog.

Furthere information: Bellamy

Pushing the optical zoom limits on the Samsung WB150F camera

I now find myself hemmed in by the generous(?) 15x optical zoom of the Samsung camera. I am not after high resolution. I am after usable images.This has been cropped.

Champagne Palm, Hyophorbe lagenicaulis

I just noticed them now, though I stared at one almost everyday in Philcoa (not fat though), meaning I was not looking at all. This fat looking (at the base) palm is called the champagne palm. The most curious part to me are the small growths of almost decorative stems (fruit inforesence) just before the waxy smooth tapering upper head trunk.

We are confused by the identification of this palm plant. Some call this the hyophorbe Indicus(our first ID), but Google shows more photos that this is actually hyophorbe lagenicaulis. There are related or similar looking species which may be confused with the champagne palm: spindle palm Hyophorbe verschaffeltii, and the bottle palm Hyophorbe indicus. Unfortunate that we are not really sure of the species name, as some sites call this plant BOTH champagne and bootle palm plant!! Some of these palms are considered endangered in the wild.

Plant	Hyophorbe lagenicaulis
Common name	Champagne palm
Location	Petron Station, NLEX, Bulacan (going to MM)
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio
Camera	Samsung WB150F compact camera
Reference	Wikipedia
Album	Facebook

We will review for the final ID of this palm plant.

the tall flower spike of an agave plant

I saw this tall flowering spike of an agave plant in the Univerity of the Philippines Campus in Diliman, besides the Alumni building.

Taken on a dark morning with a drizzle! Hope my cam, Samsung WB150F, is OK!

Australian Macadamia nuts, flowers

I may have tasted macadamia nuts in mixed nuts servings, but I was surprised to learn they are not from Brazil but from down under Australia. Our Australian based Facebook friend, Susan Dicker posted this clear photo of the nut tree flowers. I await the photos of the nuts themselves.

Photo owned by Susan Estrope Dicker and published in this blog with her kind permission.

Calathea Zebrina

This patterned calathea comes from south-eastern Brazil.

We had already posted a aphelandra zerbra plant

Commelinids

Plant	Zingiberales/Marantaceae/Calathea Zebrina
Location	Quezon City Memorial Circle
Camera	Samsung WB150F
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio

Succulent: euphorbia tirucalli, milk bush,

Nature surprises us with a plant whose tiny leaves are mostly on the tips of the branches, making it look look like corals. This plant is not a cactus but belongs to the euphorbia family! My first guess of the name is Euphorbia Tirrucali. We will correct this if someone can correctly ID this plant. The latex is poisonous but it can be wonderfully converted to gasoline?!

Plant	Euphorbia Tirucalli
Common name	Milk bush
Location	QC Memorial Circle Succulent Garden
Camera	Samsung WB150F
Photographer	Ernesto P. Adorio
Reference	Wikipedia

Calathea Ornata

I saw this plant at Philcoa. The lines looked painted, and the leaf was blushing with a reddish tint. Home gardeners are impatient with their ornata plant. It has difficulty in blooming in twenty years!

Plant	Calathea Ornata var roseo-lineata
Common name
Camera	Samsung WB150F
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio
Reference	davesgarden.com,

Dissoutis Rotundifolia, Trailing tibouchina for ground covers

This plant has relatively large flowers, looking like tibouchinas, in relation to its leaves. It has gained weed status in some parts of the world, for its fast growth, choking plants..

Plant	Dissoutis Rotundifolia
Common names	Spanish Shawl, pink lady, dwarf tibouchina
Location	Quezon City Memorial Circle
Camera	Samsung WB150F
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio
Albums	Facebook

Plants Clerodendrum thomsoniae, Bleeding hearts vine

This plant, a vine, is a native of West Africa. The flowers, in our photo specimen consist of lobed white calyx and a bright red lobed corolla[See Wikipedia article]

Plant	/asterids/Lamiales/Verbenaceae/Clerodendrum thomsoniae
common names	bleeding hearts vine, bleeding glory bower
Location	QC Memorial Circle
Camera	Samsung WB150F
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio
Reference	Wikipedia

Insects: a new colorful butterfly.

It is the same buterfly in the fist and second photos. Butterflies usually visit flowering plans during warm weather.(Taken near noon!).

Camera	Samsung WB150F
ISO	80
Fstop	4.5(first photo), 5.8(2nd photo)
Speed	1/350, 1/250
Flash	Off
Size	4320x3240

Insects: a brown butterfly

Camera	Samsung WB140F
Location	Quezon Memorial Circle
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio
F-stop	5.6
Speed	1/125
ISO	160
Flash	OFF

Plants: angel wing begonia

This begonia, according to the Wikipedia is a hybrid variety of Begonia aconitifolia and B. coccinea.

Plant	Cucurbitales/Begoniaceae/Begonia-Fläckbegonior-Gruppen
Common name	spotted angel-wing begonia
Loation	QC Memorial Circle
Camera	Samsung WB150F
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio
Reference	Wikipedia
Acknowledgment	Ella Bernales Jacildo(identification as begonia)

Birds. common eurasian sparrow (mayas), Passer montanus

There are 6 birds I can find in this photo.

Here is a photo of a single bird

It was said that the maya was the former National Bird of the Philippines, but the current one is the mighty monkey eating eagle. But before that an endangered native oriole bird.


Photo taken with a Samsung WB150F camera at Quezon Memorial circle. data from camera for the last photo:

Bird	Passeridae/Passer montanus
Camera	Samsung WB150F
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto Adorio
Setting	Smart
Location	UP Clarkfield (first photo), Quezon Memorial Circle(2nd, 3rd photo)
ISO	80
fstop	4.5
flash	OFF
shutter	1/90
Size	4320x3240

Euphorbia(Pedilanthus) Tithymaloides,luha, luhang dalaga, birdcatus, zigzag plant

This member of the euphorbia genus grows well in the Philippines. I saw it in Quezon City and Pampanga. But I still have to see the red flowers when it blooms. Already the variegated leaves variety is nice to look at, and this plant may be commonly found as hedges.

More photos to come!

Here is a photo of its flower which is rarely seen!

Name	Euphorbia(Pedilanthus) Tithymaloides
Common name	Luhang-dalaga, bird cactus,Devil's backbone, Jew bush, Redbird cactus, Slipper plant, Slipper spurge, Zigzag plant
Location	up BLiss
Camera	Samsung WB150F
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio
Reference	StuartXchange; Wikipedia

Plants: Yucca gigantea

There are yuccas in the UP Clarkfield campus and I am surprised I could not ID immediately the following trimmed landscape tree at Petron station along NLEX. This is where the van is sure to make a brief stopover after leaving the campus at 4 or 3 pm in the afternoon.


The tree is a yucca gigantea or yucca elephantipes, not some old dracaena plant.

Plant	Yucca gigantea
Location	Petron station, NLEX,Bulacan
Camera	Samsung WB150F
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio
Acknowledgment	Susan Estrope Dicker(common name Yucca)
Reference	Wikipedia

Hylocerus Undatus, queen of the night, dragon fruit

This is a nice dragon fruit flower, also called queen of the night. It is the flower of the exotic dragon fruit whose texture is similar to Kiwi fruit! It is sweet smelling especially at night.

Plant	Hylocerus Undatus
Common name	queen of the night, pitaya, dragon fruit
Location	Philippines
Camera	Samsung ES-15
Photographer	Al Claud

Image created and copyright by Al Claud, published with permission in this blog.

Flowers: peony

Here is a salmon colored single petaled peony flower, taken by Dinah Canada based in the USA. Many gardening companies sell various colorfula and beautiful peony cultivars that keeping track of the scientific names is beyond our current capacity.

Plant	salmon colored single petaled peony
Location	USA
Photographer	Dinah Canada
Reference	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peony

Photo owned and copyright reserved by Dinah Canada. Published in this blog with permission.

Insects: A danaid eggfly

This butterfly species seems unafraid to flaunt its beauty. They are actually distasteful to birds!

Here is another photo.

Taken with a Samsung WB150F digital compact camera at UP Clarkfield.

Vines: Cissus Sicyoides, Curtain ivy , Princess Vine

This aerial roots of this vine makes nice dividers and a good screen to avoid butterflies from getting out of a butterfly dome. I found this one in Paradise Ranch, Pampanga inside a butterfly house, but I did NOT photograph the vine plant itself which was difficult to do since it was an overcast rainy day.

Here is what I believe a flower and leaves or the curtain vine.

Hopefully, next time I will be able to post more photos focusing on both vine and curtain roots.


Here is a "dramatic"

Plant, Vine	Cissus Sicyoides
Common Name	Princess Vine, Bali Curtain,Curtain Ivy
Location	First photo(Paradise Ranch, Pampanga); second photo(University Avenue, Diliman, Q.C.)
Camera	Samsung WB150F
Photographer	Ernesto P. Adorio
Reference	wikipedia

Plant: Zamia furfuracea, cardboard plant, mexican cycad

I saw this "primitive" looking plant used as for landscaping at the Petron station in NLEX(North Luzon EXpressway) where we make a brief stop before proceeding to Balintawak or Mindano Avenue. It cycad.The leaves and stems are stone hard. Here is a link to the photographer's FB photo

Here are more photos which hopefully are also zamias.

Plant	/Cycadales/Zamiaceae/Zamia furfuracea
Common Name	cardboard plant, Mexican cycad
Location	Bulacan NLEX Petron Station(1st photo), Quezon Memorial Circle(2nd photo)
Camera	Samsung WB150F
Photographer	Ernesto P. Adorio
Acknowledgement	Dr. Lorna Almocera(complete identification)
Reference	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamia_furfuracea; arkive.org

Peanut flowers as ground cover: Arachis Glabrata

I saw yellow flowers growing low in Paradise Ranch, Jollibee Clarkfield, and at U.P. Diliman. A former student identified it as a peanut but a friend in my Handbook of Philippine Plants and Flowers said it is NOT a commercial peanut. I thought it was a weed, but it is actually used as a ground cover! and in soil conservation.

The real commercial peanut is Arachis hypogaea. The one in the photo is Arachis glabrata.

Plant	Fabales/Fabacae/Arachis Glabrata
Common name	mani-mani, Groundcover peanut, Creeping forage peanut, Rhizoma peanut, Rhizoma perennial peanut, Perennial forage peanut,Golden Glory
Location	Jollibee branch at Airforce City, Clarkfield, Pampanga
Camera	Olympus VG-110
Photographer	Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio
Acknowledgment	Philip del Mundo(identification as peanut), Al Claud(mani-mani, noncommercial)
Reference	Univ. of Florida: Guide to Using Rhizomal Perennial Peanut in the Urban Landscape, Wikipedia

Flowers : Dietes iridioides, African iris, Cape iris,Fortnight lily, Morea iris, Wild iris

This iris variety blooms only for a day! Am glad my Australian green thumbed friend was able to catch the glowing delicate beauty of this Iris flower, commonly known in many guises as African iris, Cape iris, Fortnight lily, Morea iris and Wild iris[See wikipedia reference].

Flower	/Asparagales/Iridaceae/Dietes iridioides
Common name	African iris, Cape iris, Fortnight lily, Morea iris, Wild iris
Location	Australia
Camera	Panasonic Lumix S3 digital camera
Photographer	Susan Estrope Dicker
Acknowledgement	Dinah Canada(Identification)
Reference	Wikipedia

Image owned and copyrighted by Susan Dicker, published with permission in this blog.
Image is also publicly accessible in Facebook.