16 September 2023
Just a couple of plants from today’s walk but quite interesting ones. I spotted those in Double Bay in Sydney, walking my dog along some quiet residential streets behind Woollahra Library.
The first plant looked absolutely fascinating due to displaying flowers in purple, light lavender and white on the same bush at the same time. It turns out that the flowers first open bright purple, then fade to lilac or lavender and finally become white as they mature. That gives the bush its multi-coloured appearance. So all flowers start the same colour that then changes as they age. How amazing is that!
The official name is Brunfelsia and it is also known as yesterday-today-tomorrow (or Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow) because of its changing colour flowers.
Something to keep in mind is that all parts of the plant are toxic especially the berries.
It is native to Brazil and belongs to the Solanaceae (or nightshade) family, together with tomatoes, eggplants, capsicums and chilli peppers.
Another today’s plant is called Duranta erecta and is nicknamed Golden dewdrop, Brazillian sky flower, Forget-me-not bush, Golden tears and Pigeon berry.
I saw it covered in gorgeous orange berries, hence the nickname ‘Golden dewdrop’. The berries are unfortunately toxic.
I haven’t seen any flowers but apparently they look a lot like ‘forget-me-not’ flowers which is where Duranta’s other nickname ‘Forget-me-not bush’ comes from. Will keep an eye out for the flowers next time.
