“Even Mother Nature Loves Maroon and Gold” is the slogan of my alma mater’s ad campaign. Each year for the past six they have come out with a poster featuring the university’s colors as found in nature, in a Jim Brandenburg-esque photo. Last year it was prairie grass in autumn. One year it was a lady slipper orchid, another it was a sunset. I think I remember one with maple leaves too. I like the ads. They appeal to me in a botanical way, but also are kind of gutsy and primeval: The gods smile upon us.
The plant this year is a liana (woody vine) from southern India. It’s a tropical flower filled with nectar that attracts its pollinator, hummingbirds. The photo was taken by Patrick O’Leary at one of my old haunts, the Biological Sciences Greenhouse on St. Paul campus.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 27th, 2006 at 4:41 pmand is filed under Plant Of The Day. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.