Yesterday, as a Community Nurse serving to the people at Barangay Don Francisco, Butuan City (Mindanao) had me the urge to capture this beautiful creature after giving services to my patients. This a freshly germinated seedlings of a native lxora
Ixora is a genus of flowering plants in the Rubiaceae family. Ixora or commonly known as the " Red Santan" . Santan is a widespread cultivated as a landscape and garden plant. Flower colors would range from crimson red, yellow, orange to cream and pure white. Though we have our native varieties, none of these garden-popular santans are proudly Philippine native. The white variety is I. finlaysoniana, a Thai species. The red are either I. coccinea or I. javanica, respectively from China and Indonesia. Which makes you wonder why we have to look outside of our backyard just to find flowers for our gardens.
This Santan Flower has this unique use of its purpose. It can be a necklace, bracelet and a head dress for a playing children or me my self used to create a "bracelet santan". I just dissect each flowers removing the juicy needle-like structure inside and connect each of them just like a centipede.
I remember when I was little kid, together with my brother and my friends,we pick-up those little flowers and start plucking those thin needle-like structure from its stem
and start drinking its sweet nectar liquid.
I admit it. This is the most weirdest thing I've ever tried in my life. Fried flower! Yes, its fried flower!. It doesn't taste bad though.
