Mexican vacation and plant discoveries

Mon. Feb. 20, 2023

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As you know I was on vacation in Mexico a couple of weeks ago and did manage to take a few pictures of the plant life! The hibiscus were blooming. That was a welcome sight in the middle of winter!

Hibiscus Puerto Aventuras
Hibiscus or not?

Correctly identifying the other flora pictures turned out to be more challenging than I thought.

The one I id’d easily was Monstera deliciosa. The leaves are WAY larger outside in their native habitat than my darling in the kitchen. 

Monstera deliciosa Puerto Aventuras
1-15-23

There was a beautiful bush with variegated green and white leaves and an abundance of flowers that looked like clusters of small orchids.

This looks like it would be easy to identify but I still haven’t figured it out

I use an app called PlantNet that misidentified the plant. OR it may be a cultivar of the Purple false erantheumum which has purple leaves and I didn’t get a picture of those shrubs.

I know it’s hard to see! Sorry but it wasn’t a huge help
These flowers are so pretty – I’ve gone through many options including azalea, rhododendron, weigela and more

A pretty orange flowered shrub had a few names, which meant further digging. I took a photo of a plant identifier the resort had but it did NOT have all the plants and mixing Latin names around is real easy to do! What I thought was Cordia sebestena is, according to the resort sign, Cordia Dodecandra. I’m still not entirely convinced!

What do YOU think?

I’m pretty sure I got the coconut palm correct!

Coconut palm

And the Florida Thatch palm aka Thrinax Radiata is correct and a really impressive specimen.

Florida thatch

One plant I think may be correct but looks different due to excessive pruning MAY be Manilkara zapota or more commonly known as sapodilla. What you see in the photo is immature fruit.

Sapodilla

These are all slow growing plants. Take a look and share your thoughts!