Sunday, November 16, 2008

Scadoxus multiflorus, a.k.a. Flowerus Wickedcoolus

I know I said my next post would be the follow-up to my last one about Maasai education, and I am hoping to get to that soon, but in the meantime, how awesome is this plant? It's colloquially called a blood flower or a fireball lily, and it's a poisonous perennial found throughout tropical parts of Africa. Here are a couple photos of one that's growing in camp. The photos don't give a good sense of scale, but the diameter of the flower is probably a good eight inches. For more info, visit http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantqrs/scadoxkath.htm (duh, where do you think I found its scientific name? field guides are SO passé...).

1 comment:

Katy said...

Gee, I wonder if you're from Boston? "Wickedcoolus" j/k!


Michigan State University | College of Natural Science