Seloum - dabbling with paint

from w
Spicks and specs of paint added to the pencil drawing but I really need to just look at shapes, flatten them out and create a pattern. Anyway I did get out the paints - watercolours with a lot of white added.

We've done two hours work along the fencline cleaning up ready for the fence-maker to arrive. The bulldozer is still clearing up hundreds of branches cut from our trees along the 'line'.


Accidentally cut some leaves from a plant which is a relative to the seloum! Now I have to get back to chopping out some of the ivy that has rooted everywhere. As I chop I'll think of some of the stupidity that is going on in Fiji at present!

Selloum

from w
I discovered the name of the strange plant by googling 'aerial roots' in images and racked it down as a kind of philodendron so it's a relative of a plant I have near the back door with holes in the leaves! I also found an interesting website of photographs of leaves.

And about the Philodendron selloum (Split Leaf Philodendron)
Family - Araceae
Genus - Philodendron
Species - selloum
P. selloum is a climbing plant that has long aerial roots that grow from the stem. They have dark green leaves that are deeply lobed and finger-like and branch off in all directions from the stem. They can grow as large as three meters and their leaves can grow up to 2 feet long. Under good conditions their leaves bear little white flowers that resemble Calla Lilies. The split leaf philodendron is a tropical mesic plant that originated in South Brazil. They grow wild in tropical America and the West Indies and can be found growing outside as north as Phoenix, Arizona. They can also grow in homes and greenhouses.
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Peceli took some photos at the local Botanical Gardens of this strange plant and I'll post them when I can, then get back into drawing and painting the tree with the correct shapes and colours. And the trunk is not orange or yellow - it's mainly white!