Puzzles 2012

[Anthony Darby]

Let's see how quick someone gets this, which is flowering in my garden now.

[Hoy]

Looks very Bromeliaceae-ish! Tillandsia usneoides?

[Sarmienta]

Yep i think you are right Hoy ..........I also like these Bromeliaceae and keep them outside in summer . Together with orchids and other epifytic plants they make a nice tropical look.

[Anthony Darby]

That was quick.

[Maggi Young]

First puzzle of the year... successfully solved by the clever forum members.... Well done!!

[Anthony Darby]

The plant is just hanging from a bush in the garden. I pulled a bit off for a friend who'd come to deliver some flies for my geckos on Ne'er Day and noticed it was flowering. The flowers are less than 5mm across. I didn't need to use my give away clue: doesn't grow in Spain.

[Maren]

Forgive me but what's that pretty blue flower/shrub/tree?

[Anthony Darby]

Forgive me but what's that pretty blue flower/shrub/tree?

Duranta erecta 'Geisha Girl', Maren. It will flower now until late April.

[Hoy]

The plant is just hanging from a bush in the garden. I pulled a bit off for a friend who'd come to deliver some flies for my geckos on Ne'er Day and noticed it was flowering. The flowers are less than 5mm across. I didn't need to use my give away clue: doesn't grow in Spain.

it doesn't grow at your place either, well not as a wild plant!
I wouldn't mind growing such plants in my bushes! I don't grow any neither inside or outside.

[Anthony Darby]

.........so why is it called Spanish moss?

[Maren]

Thanks, Anthony. Would the Duranta erecta grow in Buckinghamshire, UK?

[Anthony Darby]

It seems to like a warm sunny position. It comes from tropical America and its hardiness is said to be USDA zones 9 - 11. In frost prone areas it dies down to the ground, but would need warm summers to grow well.

[Hoy]

.........so why is it called Spanish moss?

from Wikipedia:
    As the story goes; there was once a traveler who came with his Spanish fiancée in the 1700s to start a plantation near the city of Charleston SC. She was a beautiful bride-to-be with long flowing raven hair. As the couple was walking over the plantation sight[sic] near the forest, and making plans for their future, they were suddenly attacked by a band of Cherokee who were not happy to share the land of their forefathers with strangers. As a final warning to stay away from the Cherokee nation, they cut off the long dark hair of the bride-to-be and threw it up in an old live oak tree. As the people came back day after day and week after week, they began to notice the hair had shriveled and turned grey and had begun spreading from tree to tree.

Or another more plausible:
From http://www.beaufortcountylibrary.org/htdocs-sirsi/spanish.htm
Native Americans called the plant "tree hair", which name the French explorers turned to "Barbe espagnole" -- "Spanish Beard" -- to insult their bitter rivals in the New World. The Spanish retorted with "Cabello franc�s" ("French hair").

[Sarmienta]

Hi Anthony,

You mentioned about flies for your gecko,s what kind of species do you have,and do you have other reptiles or amphibian?
I keep some poison dartfrogs and the waxfrog.

[Sarmienta]

Thanks Hoy ......... now i can send some pictures too.
The pictures are some epifytic plants like Tillandsia