Taro and Camellias

 Growing up in Southern Ontario, there is a specific group of plants which I am familiar with, both in terms of food and beauty.  One of the reasons I love to travel is to expand my experiences and yesterday, in Furnas, plants took center stage.  I have been there before and saw both the taro plants and the camellias, but each time I learn a little more.

Taro is a plant which grows in a soaked bed.  It is also called elephant ear and if any part of the plant is eaten raw, the calcium oxalate causes severe irritation in the mouth and the whole gastro-intestinal system. In Furnas, it is irrigated by creeks and appears,

 cooked properly, as a carb in the famous Furnas cozido -- a stew which is cooked in the steam vents of the geothermal area.  The 'stew' usually has 4 or 5 different meats, cabbage, carrots, yams, potatoes and taro root.  

It is not seasonal, so young and mature plants grow in plots side by side.  It is harvested by cutting off the leaves and chopping off the main root .  

I don't see this as something I will try to grow, even indoors, at home.  

However, the other plant featured yesterday is one that I will find for the new sun room.  Most of the camellias are camellia japonica and the variety of flowers is staggering.  Some could pass for roses, others for chrysanthemums or hibiscus.  The colours are generally pinks, reds and whites with forms from simple to double and everything in between.  There is a show currently in Furnas of many of the different varieties.  And, of course, the famous garden in Furnas, Terra Nostra, has not only a special camellia section, but specimens all over the garden property.  I have been to Furnas to see the camellias every February that we have visited here, and I do not tire or become blasé  about them!