SEEDS

Guess what? Or rather, guess what seeds are these from? Interestingly, while I planted numerous plants of this particular species, I have never check out the seeds before this. Until recently, when I broke open the black pods, that gave out the rattling sound when shaken, to sow the seeds, I have no idea how the seeds look like.


In fact, these seeds look just like small hearts, and I mean the real asymmetrical ones and not the fake hearts. They are just lovely, aren't they?


Oops, I almost forgot to mention these are the seeds of the Crotalaria retusa (Family: Fabaceae / Leguminosae), which is commonly known as Rattlebox or Rattleweed because the sound produced by rustling the pods reminds one of the Rattlesnake.

CALATHEA LANCIFOLIA & ZEBRINA

The Marantaceae Family has a whole range of Calathea, Maranta etc.

The 1st 2 photos show one of the more common Calathea with interesting foliage. Commonly known as the Rattlesnake Plant, another synonym is Calathea insignis. A link is shown below.

http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/Calathea_insignis.htm

The next 2 photos show one of my favourite but difficult to grow Zebra Plant (scientific name: Calathea zebrina). It requires a very humid environment, without which the leaves would curl up in protest. 2 links are attached for reference:

http://houseplantz.net/calathea-zebrina-zebra-plant/

http://www.tropicalflowerfarm.com/catalog/ginger-calathea-zebrina.html

But the one that truly caught my breath away when I first saw it in Thailand was the Calathea ecuadoriana, which is similar to the C. zebrina but has reddish leaf undersides and petioles.