I took my wife, sister-in-law, niece, & son to this recreational park. Behind the park is natural jungle that is constantly trying to retake the park. I went walking with my wife in this area, & collected quite a few plants to bring home. Here is the entrance to Chilvi!



Here are some of the planted flowers on the site.



Chilvi is located about a half hour east of Tumaco on the continent. My wife says it is about 28 KM from Tumaco.



:welcome: to the jungle!



My wife & I took a walk behind the recreation center called Chilvi. There we observed many plants as we walked on the small walking trail they are currently building in Chilvi. Here is the first "interesting" plant that we found, & subsequently collected.



We did not find any more "interesting" plants on the trail, but took photos of this flower that seems to grow all over in Tumaco. My wife & I both adore it, & will be planting it on our property once we find some land. Bird of paradise I think, but I am not sure.



I also saw another plant I was curious about, but I did not collect it. It was infested with ants which were eating the leaves. Here are the photos of it, but I do not expect much.



My wife & I left the short trail, & went to the other side of the park where a fence surrounds the outer edge. We followed the fence where the park crew tries to keep the lane clear of the fence. As we walked, we encountered this plant which I thought was Monstera adansonii until inspected closer. The leaves are more papery instead of leathery, they do not have the holes that most monstera have, & none of the leaves have the odd elbow like joint on the petioles like all monsteras have. I forget what that is called.
I think it is some sort of philodendron, but I would like an ID to be sure.



We encountered many different plants including some miniature angel wing begonias which I do not know the scientific name of, & two versions of this plant which I have no clue about. There is one with stripes, & one without stripes on the oval shaped leaves.


I nearly got swarmed by ants getting these pictures of some philodendron or antharium that I already have in my home. I will be coming back once I have more space for mature specimens.




This plant was awesome. I believe it is Monstera pinnatipartita Schott. It was about 4 meters up in this tree among all those air roots you see. Those are actually air roots of the tree itself ,& of the plant that I took pictures of. I climbed about 3 meters up the tree on slicked up bark due to the rain earlier this day, pulled the plant free, & almost fell out of the tree as I slid down about to the ground. The plant has two ripening fruit on it, & about 8 mature leaves. The vine did not reach the ground at this point, & the air roots were attached to the tree. They did not reach the ground either. I scraped up my right arm pretty bad as I slid down the tree , but I got my plant.


The last plant I found of note that I have photos of is this odd philodendron. I have seen something like it before in Philodendron geoldii, but this does not match that plant from what I can tell.



My wife & I are planning to go back to this area tomorrow to find out about buying my land there. I have located some local people who are helping me find land inexpensively to purchase. I should have 2 & 1/2 acres inside of a month. Wish me luck!

More to come later this week, & possibly photos of frogs that I found in the same location.

Great pics Noel, your wife is very accommodating, lucky you. I'm enjoying seeing these photos of plants in their natural habitat.

What is the mud nest? Bugs, birds,? Your talk about ants reminds me of the fire ants I ran afoul of in Costa Rica. One ant per seed pod, of what I can't remember (I think it had 2 horns and 1 little hole), but they were very territorial and delivered a nasty sting.

Good luck on the land deal and can't wait for future pics.

Hello Evan.
Those are termite nests. I am going back this weekend for more pictures as well as more mature specimens. I also learned some of the modes on my camera so pictures should be better (there is a mode for back-lighting). My wife is wonderful if she is not jealous of the time I am spending on the plants, she loves them as much as I do! HEHE!

The ants were just under an inch long, & kind of short & fat body wise. Brownish grey, & there were thousands of them. I was lucky not to get stung as they were on the hunt for sure.

I am hoping to stop at the wild lot that is filled with Colocasia esculenta var. antiquorum 'Illustris' or 'Black Magic' when I come back this way this weekend.

Curious to see the Colocasia. Must be naturalized. Are Colocasia a commonly available food crop in Tumaco?

Hello Evan,
They call "Taro" Papa China here, & there are several varieties sold. It is quite common though I have not tried eating them yet. I am going to do that after I have enough land to grow massive amounts of the things! HEHE! In this area, Colocasias, & Alocasias are invasive, or at least do quite well. The people here cut them down instead of removing the corms so I do not think everyone understands the plants. I am looking forward to collecting 5 or 6 corms to store, & at least one plant to have for my collection. I know where I collected the others, so collecting more to seed my land when I am ready is not a problem.

All of the colocasia,xanthasoma, & Alocasia are naturalized as they came from Asia if I understand what I have been reading correctly. I would ask LariAnn to be sure since she is the expert on this stuff.

Noel

The Xanthosoma are new world plants while the Colocasia and Alocasia are old world. Can't wait to see your pics.

Noel, in your pictures, the plant you said was infested with ants so you did not collect it might be Passiflora quadrangularis. Here are pictures of my plant without all the holes in the leaves. The leaf is similar, but the angular stem is the reason I thought this might be the same plant.

This passiflora is a more tender tropical variety, so would do well where you live. It is commonly known as "Giant Granadilla" and is supposed to produce football-sized yellow fruits. I have only had a couple of flowers on mine, but they are huge, beautiful purple flowers. When you go back, look up in the tree, to see if there are yellow fruits, or the big, purple flowers up higher where there is more sun. btw, the ants are not actually eating the leaves, they more likely are eating some other insects (or honeydew from them) that are eating the leaves.


Also, the low-growing plant with the markings on the leaves might be a Kaemferia, a low type of ginger. Here are pictures of mine, which have a similar variegation but this one has been bred for the color. Again it is a tender variety that goes dormant here, (that's why these look so scraggly) but where you are it would have leaves all year 'round. If you pull up a plant and smell the small rhizomatous roots, they will have a bit of a ginger-y scent that might help you to identify it. It blooms all summer here, with pretty little flowers that open in the mornings and finish by afternoon.

Hello Elaine,
I know the ants were not eating the plants, however they are cutting the leaves & removing the material to farm their particular fungus in their nest. That is what ants do. They also milk aphids for a milky fluid called honeydew they like to drink. I do not think I have seen aphid damage this extensive on a plant.

I am going to have to look up more information about this plant now that I have a lead as to what it might be. I am not sure why, but I love vine climbing plants like this. I will look for the fruits this weekend, but I dunno if I will collect it. Right now I am very short on space, but that will be changing soon.
I am buying a hectacre of and in the jungle here next week(2.47 acres).

The low growing plant seems to be recovering quite nicely. I put the specimens I collected in with my Monstera deliciosa & Monstera pinnatipartita Schott. So far it seems to like the abundance of water, & semi-shade from my monsters. From the short search I did, I think you might be right about what these are. I think they are beautiful, & bonus...they make flowers too for my wife! Sweet!
Evan, thanks for the information about the Xanthosomas being local instead of naturalized. That info will help when I build my little jungle reserve here in the jungle... hmm that doesn't sound weird does it? I want to build a place for the locals & tourists to visit to learn about the plants, & local animals too. I am going to have frogs, lizards, birds, & fish running around on the property. I should be quite happy increasing the size of my collection until I am very old. This place has half the known plant species in the world.
Noel

Heck Noel that doesn't sound weird at all. In fact it sounds exciting to me. As to fish running around I think that is or was a problem in dyzzypyxxy's haunts at one time.

Hello Evan,
Yea I thought that comment about the fish might get a joke or two. Once I get this set up & going well (I anticipate 2-5 years), I plan to start inviting friends & associates to come visit. I am working on locating local talent that knows how to construct the parts of my system that I do not know at the moment like my irrigation system,freshwater well, high altitude water holding tanks like water towers on a smaller scale, electrical system, & help installing solar panels to run everything. Can you imagine not using the sun I have available here???

As for my other interests, I purchased small painters brushes & some bottles that will serve for collecting & saving pollen. The collection bottles that are normally used are not available here , but I found an alternative filled with glitter. I think 12 of them cost me 2 or 3 dollars, & they have an air tight cap. Should be perfect to label & freeze/cool. I do not think my first attempt at hybridizing caladiums worked. The pollen was too old, & dried in the refrigerator before I was able to use it on another plant.

Well if you are swimming on the 23rd of December, why should the plants not be happy? Jonna, I wonder if he is walking around in a singlet, lucky you. Up North after a certain age we get a problem known as joints locking in winter. So, we are all huddled up against the fire and I can assure you, leave aside swimming even a bath is a difficult call to make.
Wonderful pictures and if the ants are taking pieces of leaf they are also providing protection. From you for one, see? These ants which you described are Asian in origin, check see.
Beautiful lady and her sparkling eyes tell me she is going to help you a lot even though the sparkle is for another reason. Two and a half acre, twenty kanals ideal size. Make a go at it and start a pictorial record, starting from how it looks like just now. There might be some salvageable plants in there.
Regards,
Arif.

We're having a heat wave here, it was 35°c (95°f) here yesterday! It was a little cooler today, and it cools down at night to 21°c (70°f). So, no huddling by the fire with creaking joints

Those ants sound like leafcutter ants, the bane of every tropical garden. We have bait here that kills the nest, it's called Trompa, and I have no qualms about using it. I'm sure that ants will inherit the earth and live in splendor in the crabgrass. We have dozens of types of ants, from the almost microscopic to the huge with wings. I don't like any of them.

Hello everyone,
The ants are horrid here. Most ants are controlled with winter seasons at least ants that I am familiar with, but in a tropical jungle there is no such thing. They just take over.
I am getting information now about how to import/export plants to the states, so soon my little tropical jungle business will be off & running.
My fruit on my Monstera pinnatipartita Schott ripened this afternoon, so I took a photo record of the steps to clean the seeds, & I will be planting them in cardboard egg-crate like the other seeds in the morning. Those things have some putrid slimy fruit inside. How would you ever even find out if that is edible EWWWWWWWWWWW!
the beautiful woman with the sparkle in her eyes is why I am here in the first place, so happiness is assured. I am just working on stability & comfort now!
I will be making more posts to my blog in a few days with photos.
Sincerely,
Noel

Hello Jonna, I am glad that there are no creaking joints where you are at, any thing above 15c with movement and I will break out in sweat . The glorious sun will be out by midday but with no blanketing cloud cover to trap heat, tonight our temps will go below zero dragging the day time temps along with it. Soil moist due to rain, clear skies, above 90% humidity we are in for frost.
Noel hunger can drive people to extremes. Snail, cockroaches, maggots, snakes and slimy bugs of all kinds, yuuuuum! So whats EWWWWWWWW about a fruit? That stability & comfort comment, within a few years I see one cow at least, one buffalo, maybe a dozen goats and poultry in a photograph of yours with a at least a 48 inch belly, fat rosy cheeks with a patina/shine of sweat from good and comfortable living. Oh! Well! In the end that is the fate of most of us. They do love to book a direct flight to Valhalla for us. At least for them more gain, less pain.
Waiting for your photos, by the way Janet is a very good photography instructor.
Regards,
Arif.

Hello Arif,
I hope you had a wonderful holiday season, & are looking forward to the new year. I am buying land here very soon, & I see at least the goats & all kinds of foul in the near future. I am also building the Botanical Garden I was mentioning before as part of my property. I am entranced by these jungles, & want part of them to always be safe. I keep seeing tree frogs here, & want to take some home when I have my own property, but my wife tells me she hates the sound of mating frogs. Go figure. HEHE! I am posting more pictures on my blog, so go check it out.
Sorry about the bones creaking thing, but I get to sweat for the rest of my life...So which is better?

Sincerely,
Noel

Any time of the year you are better then I am. In summers here put a pat of butter on the car roof and up to you, you want to fry an egg or make an om-elate. Paint a tin can black and after leaving it in the sun for an hour, put a bit of oil in and cook. In winters freeze your toots off. Take your pick.
Well, an intelligent person should know when to argue and when to say, 'Yes dear, you are always right" and I can assure you the latter statement will keep you more content then any amount of arguing .
I wish they had a smiley for lips sealed. Will check your blog, which of course is becoming a highlight in my trip to ATP.
Regards,
Arif.