Costa Rica - plants and flowers

Lovely thread Peter

I won't go any further than say look to the Agavoidea family...................

 

You got seeds I presume!

 

That next to last pic looks like my kind of hotel.

I've stayed in garden sheds before, on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and they weren't as plush as that, American tourists indeed.

 

The palm as @pete says is definitely Bismarkia nobilis.

Strongylodon!! You've been taking pics of me @PeterS ?

 

I am afraid not LongK. I did try to grow it from seed a couple of years ago - but no luck.


Thunbergia grandiflora


We have all seen a pineapple, but you don't often see a pineapple flower


We went round an organic Pineapple farm. The new plants come from the offshoots of a mature plant that has produced fruit. But unlike many bromileads that die after flowering and fruiting, a pineapple will continue to produce fruit from its original stem. But they only allow a second crop, because they become coarse and stringy after that.


Ravenella madagasceriensis - Traveller's Palm. I think this is a beautiful shape, and would love to grow it. But I believe it would outgrow any glasshouse in about three years.


Unknown orchid. I went to the Harrogate Flower Show today, and listened to a talk on orchids by one of the very few orchid growers in this country. He said there were about 20,000 to 30,000 different species. So I feel excused from knowing them all.


And another.

Allamanda cathartica.


Another orchid.


Piper nigrum - Black Pepper.

In fact, black and white peppercorns are both the fruit of the pepper plant, but they are processed differently. Black peppercorns are picked when almost ripe and sun-dried, turning the outer layer black. To produce white peppercorns, this outer layer is removed before or after drying, leaving only the inner seed.


And some bananas growing in the wild.

 

@PeterS
Last pic, that wouldn't be a papaya leaf in the foreground, would it?

 

Sorry to hear you lost your photo's ...i've lost some in the past and it as annoyed me

You can't beat those external memories as my hubby as one and he's got thousands of pic's like yourself

 

Some stunning pic's peter...reminds me of when i went to Ibiza

 

You could be right
@pete, and a Cassia didymobotrya in the background.

 

Yep, didn't notice the Cassia.

 

Pete and Strongy - well spotted. I wouldn't have known those two.


Street Scene in La Fortuna, with two members of our party.


At the end of that road is the Arenal volcano, better shown in this picture from the internet. The volcano had been dormant for hundreds of years, and then suddenly in 1968 it erupted and destroyed three towns to the north. This picture shows this town to the east, that used to be called El Borio. But after its close shave in 1968 it was renamed La Fortuna.

I fear they might have been a bit premature, because as this picture shows the volcano has become active again, and our itinerary had to be altered for the sake of safety.


In the town square, a hedge of Pentas.


And some Alpinia.


As well as Cannas.


I am not sure what this was


An Iguana.


This was meant to be a picture of a Howler Monkey, who is probably hidden in there somewhere. But more importantly it shows the abundance of epiphytic plants, literally everywhere.


We saw several Spectacled Caiman. But this picture of their young caught my eye. The sex of the young is determined by the temperature at the time of incubation.


A Jesus Christ lizard. So called because it can run across the surface of water.


And a Spider Monkey.

 

Very nice Peter...a reptile

 

The blue flower pic 6 almost looks like a Mimulus

Another good selection @PeterS

 

It looks rather like Torenia to me................
Torenia by longk48, on Flickr

Torenia - Purple Moon by longk48, on Flickr