Sunday 12 August 2007

GREEN THUMB SUNDAY


One of my particular favourite flowers "Tricyrtis"came into bloom this week.........although it's inclined to get rather tall in our shady garden it always flowers so well. It is commonly known as the "Toad Lily" because of its value? in attracting frogs & tadpoles. The reasoning behind this is a long and complicated story and one of the outcomes of THE TASADAY HOAX during the 1970s. As part of the hoax the Tasaday showed expedition members their incredible cave man ability to catch frogs. This involved first crushing Tricyrtis imeldai (named after Mrs. Imelda Marcos) all over their arms & hands, claiming the odour was a "frog attractant". Thus it was that the common name "Toad Lily" came to be used because of the plants "alleged" value in attracting frogs & tadpoles to people's fingers. If you'd like to read more about the hoax I found a couple of sites which seem to cover the story quite well BBC - h2g2 and Paghat's Garden



BTW don't forget to keep an eye out for the Perseids meteor shower in the early hours of Monday morning....approximately 3am UK time for all you night owls.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

The flowers have unusual markings and are very pretty. I wonder if it will do well in my shady garden, perhaps something to add to my wish list.

Anonymous said...

I like the idea of a lily that attracts toads to the garden. What an interesting post. Thank you.
Sara from farmingfriends

Mark said...

Hi Ruth,
I think i have a plant like that, it works as a slug attractant, I'm not sure what it is but it definately works.
I think you may also have one...

Anonymous said...

I had no idea that it was because it attracted toads, how fun!

...and it's very attractive, even on humans ;-)

Aiyana said...

What an interesting story. I love reading the history of plants and am always curious as to how they got their common names. I'll have to read more. The flowers are lovely.
Aiyana

Jean said...

I've heard of toad lilies but never seen them. Very interesting bloom!

Anonymous said...

Those are some wacky reasons to call it a toad lily.
If I crushed up the leaves of a money plant and rubbed it all over my body, do you think it would work the same way?

I always thought that they were called toad lilies because of the markings on the flowers. You learn something new every day.

Deb @ Sugarfused said...

I've always heard of toad lilies but have never grown any. Interesting background you've shared about it! I must have mosquito grass in my yard lol ;~)

Thanks for visiting today!

BenSpark said...

That is a really interesting looking flower. I like it. Great shots.

RUTH said...

Chigiy; I've some money plants too...may have to try that...LOL

Anonymous said...

Beautiful flowers you havein your garden.

Anonymous said...

I tried to catch the meteor shower, but it was cloudy one night, and the next I didn't see much. I think I caught only one before I realized what it was.

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