Nothing excites me more than spotting interesting sights and objects to capture whenever I visit a place. I might forget the place afterwards - especially when life gets busy - but the photos hold the memories for me.
I recently visited this compound that has its surroundings adorned with different trees, flowers, vegetables, herbs and more.
At the backyard, which is a garden, there were fruit trees like avocado, cherry, orange, pawpaw, etc., vegetables and herbs like uziza (Piper guineense), uha (Pterocarpus mildbraedii), ukazi (wild spinach), bitterleaf, ginger, turmeric and more. In fact, I couldn't help but fall in love with the place. Don't blame me, I'm a nature enthusiast. Some of you can attest to it. Lol.
And you know what, I was told that the owner is a #vegan, and loves her veggies fresh.
An interesting find is this ornamental plant - Staghorn Fern (Platycerium superbum) growing on an avocado tree.
The thing with these ferns is that they don't grow on soil; they grow on other plants such as trees, on brick walls, wooden fences, and even stone boulders. That's why they're called "epiphytes." Hope you've seen them before.
The Uziza leaves (Piper guineense)
Uziza leaves are one of the sought after leaves here in my region. They serve as both vegetables; used for soup making, and spices. The taste: spicy and peppery, giving the "umami taste" vibe. 😂
Uziza leaf is a vine and can climb the tallest of trees or even crawl around on a large expanse of land as it matures, as seen in the photos
And then the turmeric.
One thing that struck me about these tumerics is the flowers on them. I've seen some gardens where turmerics were grown, and have equally grown some before, but never have I seen them grow flowers. Like, I was surprised seeing beautiful blooms growing out of them. In fact, I couldn't believe when I was told that they were actually turmeric.
Curiosity got the better of me, and I did a search online. The result showed they're "Black Turmeric plant (Curcuma caesia)" also known as "ornamental turmeric or zedoary".
Black turmeric! Interesting. I've only known about the yellow/orange turmeric (Curcuma longa), which I believe is the most common type used in our homes for cooking or medicinal stuff.
And oh, there are even more types of turmeric apart from these two - the white turmeric (Curcuma zedoaria) and the wild turmeric (Curcuma aromatica). If I hadn't visited that house and even explored it, I wouldn't have known that there's more to turmeric than the common type - at least not at the moment. Lol. That's why visiting new places and exploring their surroundings matters. You never know what new things you'll find or learn about!
Have you ever seen the black turmeric before?
Author's Photos
