Wednesday, May 07, 2008


















A suburban cat in a suburban jungle full of wild and and unruly vines. Monstera Deliciosa is well known and easily grown indoors or outdoors. It is a split leaf philodendron that is also known as fruit salad plant, Ceriman, Jiboia, Mexican bread fruit and came from southern Mexico. I suppose it would grow in Burma.

The fruit, like a green ear of corn, is ripe when the rind, made of small hex plates or scales, loosens and falls off to uncover pleasant tasting creamy soft pulp, in segments, a blend of banana and pineapple.
Don't be put off by the unripe fruit being sort of poisonous with sharp little crystals that burn the throat and are harmfull but these mostly dissolve as the fruit ripens. This calcium oxalate is also in kiwifruit ( or Chinese gooseberries) and in pineapple.

An unruly corner in the backyard plus some junk makes a good habitat for males, for insects and spiders, for lizards and possibly frogs while termites remain tolerated if they are lucky, not forgetting biodiversity and the ubiquitous cockroach must get special mention.

For more diversity, I vote for a female Dr Who and a fascinating male sidekick in the next series on ABC 1&2 Free To Air TV.


3 comments:

~tanty~ said...

She/he is cute. And thanks for the knowledge.

GMG said...

Hi Julia! Amazing shot!
Now, losing weight; do you have the secret to make it without giving up the good things of life? ;))
55 Days at Peking; wow, I was 14 and still remember it; or better, her (Ava)!
Thanks for your comment on Blogtrotter, where I’m still around Rabat, but preparing to move to Casablanca… ;))
Hope you have a great weekend!

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