Carnivorous in Ipoh. Passiflora foetida, Jalan Raja Di Hilir, Ipoh, Malaysia
Mosquitoes... Writing my earlier description of the Aedes albopictus photo, I wondered whether mosquitoes can be called 'carnivorous'. They do love to feast on humankind's largest organ: Blood.
Walking to the little but very pretty Japanese Garden on Jalan Raja Di Hilir (formerly Tambun Road) in Ipoh this morning, I saw this pastel-beauty in a ditchy, shady stretch. It's a so-called Fetid Passionflower, reeking rather badly of septic tank if the foliage is damaged or broken. In fact, this is the fetid or putrid smell exuded, too, by the breeding places of those clean-looking and quite beautiful Tiger Mosquitoes. Moreover, this particular Passionflower is known to be 'proto-carnivorous'. You can just see the green bracts on this photo. They are sticky and trap small insects. What the exact funtion of this is, is - as far as I know - as yet unclear. It had rained hard in the night and the petals are shot through with moisture...
The Tambun Road leads to caves near Ipoh in which some forty years ago rock paintings were discovered which date back to neolithic people perhaps 4000 years ago. Apparently carnivorous hunters, they depicted their prey on the limestone walls, e.g. deer.
Such a morning of coincidence... Maybe I should have put T.S. Eliot's description into practice: on Sunday mornings we stay at home and read the newspapers... But I'd already been through mine. No, even in this context I won't refer to the background of the name 'Passionflower'.
Carnivorous in Ipoh. Passiflora foetida, Jalan Raja Di Hilir, Ipoh, Malaysia
Mosquitoes... Writing my earlier description of the Aedes albopictus photo, I wondered whether mosquitoes can be called 'carnivorous'. They do love to feast on humankind's largest organ: Blood.
Walking to the little but very pretty Japanese Garden on Jalan Raja Di Hilir (formerly Tambun Road) in Ipoh this morning, I saw this pastel-beauty in a ditchy, shady stretch. It's a so-called Fetid Passionflower, reeking rather badly of septic tank if the foliage is damaged or broken. In fact, this is the fetid or putrid smell exuded, too, by the breeding places of those clean-looking and quite beautiful Tiger Mosquitoes. Moreover, this particular Passionflower is known to be 'proto-carnivorous'. You can just see the green bracts on this photo. They are sticky and trap small insects. What the exact funtion of this is, is - as far as I know - as yet unclear. It had rained hard in the night and the petals are shot through with moisture...
The Tambun Road leads to caves near Ipoh in which some forty years ago rock paintings were discovered which date back to neolithic people perhaps 4000 years ago. Apparently carnivorous hunters, they depicted their prey on the limestone walls, e.g. deer.
Such a morning of coincidence... Maybe I should have put T.S. Eliot's description into practice: on Sunday mornings we stay at home and read the newspapers... But I'd already been through mine. No, even in this context I won't refer to the background of the name 'Passionflower'.