The Devil Made Me Do It
The Devil’s Hand (aka Chiranthodendron pentadactylon) is my new favorite tree. And luckily, there’s one blooming in the San Francisco Botanical Garden right now.
Those red fingers are actually flower stamens, and each has two lines of yellow pollen. When the flowers are done, they fall around the tree, looking like a pile of dismembered hands with claws. No wonder the Aztecs are said to have revered the tree.
If the flowers are fertilized, they form brown, fuzzy seed pods. These guys are tough – there’s no way you can open one with your bare hands. When they’re ready, they open to drop tiny (2mm) black seeds.
The Devil’s Hand Tree is native to South American cloud forests, so they do pretty well here in San Francisco. Unfortunately for me, the trees get huge (60 feet tall, 30 feet wide) which is much too large for my tiny city yard. Of course, that didn’t stop me from planting some of the seeds that accidentally fell into my pocket. The Devil made me do it.
See Also
Plantgasm on Findery
Findery is a fun new site that lets you attach virtual notes to real places. I've been using it to note some of my favorite plants in San Francisco.
Dead Horse in a Parking Lot
It's easy to see how inviting the whole scene would be if you were a fly and into that sorta thing.
Fall at the SF Botanical Garden
It's fall in San Francisco, a great time to visit the SF Botanical Garden.
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