Leonotis leonurus is also known as lion’s tail or wild dagga. It’s native to South Africa and is known for its medicinal and mild psychoactive properties. It seems like I mostly see it after it has bloomed and the heads have dried to a brittle brown. This one, however, was still in flower, its bright orange flowers contrasting with the green of the rest of the plant.
I’m not sure what these tree fungi are, but I liked the stair step effect in the photo to the left.
Dendrobium Jacquelyn Thomas is a hybrid orchid. I’ve seen descriptions that date it to the 1970s and others that go back to 1949. Either way, it is a popular orchid with long lasting flowers.
This one was at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. For more information about Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, go to htbg.com.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Macro or Close-up Photography.’ (See more responses here.) In response, here’s a close-up photo of a monarch butterfly feeding on a tasselflower.
Tulip trees (Spathodea campanulata) were introduced from tropical Africa. When blooming the flowers can be red, orange, or yellow. Tulip trees can grow to be very tall, up to 80 feet, and with their prolific, vibrant flowers they’re easy trees to spot in otherwise largely green forests. Newly fallen flowers also look great on a lawn.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Yellow.’ (See more responses here.) Naturally, I thought of a butterfly with orange in its name on a very red flower.
This is a large orange sulphur butterfly investigating the feeding possibilities on a red Chinese hibiscus flower.
What I like about tropical foliage is not just its rampant nature, but also its splashes of color. Here, red leaves and anthuriums stand out from the numerous shades of green.
This paper wasp was working on a new nest attached to a loulu palm (Pritchardia affinis). In one of the cells – the top one of four on the left side – an egg has already been deposited.
