February20_2010

Botanical Glossary - Home - References Cited

Photos - Frames left and center: I highly recommend exploring Mexico (at least in the immediate area) on foot as it allows you the opportunity to take in the scenes, the aromas and the ambiance ever so slowly. Walking from San Agustin takes about 3 hours or about 15 to 20 minutes by car (today I hitched a ride with a friend and had her drop me at the edge of Oaxaca so I could take in the sights). Madero at Montes de Oaxaca street where folks are waiting for the bus to take them the rest of the way into the city center (left frame). Looking south at Madero Hill from Madero street. On the top of Madero Hill there is an Observatory, Planetarium and Television transmitting station (center frame).

Frame right: Opuntia Spp (Prickley Pear) young flower bud - each of these 'paddles' can be cut off and a new cactus plant can be grown. Opuntia, also known as nopales, or Paddle Cactus from the resemblance to the ball-and-paddle toy, is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae. Currently, only prickly pears are included in this genus of about 200 species distributed throughout most of the Americas.

Photos - Frames left and right: Not quite what we are used to in Canada... this is a Beer delivery truck, delivering cases of Corona servesa to an establishment on Alende in Oaxaca. If you look at frame left and follow the road down and away, you will see a large building with two nipple shaped towers - this is Iglesia de Santo Domingo Church. The church is about 4 blocks east of the Zocalo, which is the center of Oaxaca City.

Center frame: A beautiful Hibiscus Rosa Sinensis (Hibiscus Shrub) blossom beside the road. I can see why this is a very popular shrub in Oaxaca and blossoms keep popping up all winter long.

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L. the genus is wide and varied, consisting of around 250 different species, not all tropical as native hibiscus species are represented on all continents except Antarctica. Some of these species are annual or perennial herbs while others are flowering shrubs or small trees. The common traits are: Short-lived showy five petal flowers, most only last for a day or two, with prominent staminal columns and lobed leaves with proper stems.

Lilibiscus are a group of tender hibiscus shrubs native to coastal areas surrounding the tropical waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, roughly between the east coast of Africa to Hawaii. The group contains around a dozen species, all with rather flashy blooms, that are closely enough related to crossbreed freely. How they once developed is unknown as a prehistoric common ancestor to the lilibiscus is yet to be found.

Photos - Frame left: An old fountain on Alende street now not in use due to indoor pumbing. One thing to remember while walking through the streets in Mexico: Watch where you are putting your feet. The rules that govern repairs aren't the same as they are in Canada - there can be lips and cracks, protuding iron bars, holes and all sorts of things that a person can twist an ankle or stubb toes on.

Frames right and center: Adobe bricks made bare with the erosion of weather and time.

Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, horse manure and water, with some kind of fibrous or organic material (sticks and/or straw,), which is shaped into bricks using frames and dried in the sun. It is similar to cob and mudbrick. Adobe structures are extremely durable and account for some of the oldest extant buildings on the planet. In hot climates, compared to wooden buildings, adobe buildings offer significant advantages due to their greater thermal mass, but they are known to be particularly susceptible to seismic damage in an event such as an earthquake.

Buildings made of sun-dried earth are common in the Middle East, North Africa, South America, southwestern North America, and in Spain (usually in the Mudéjar style). Adobe had been in use by indigenous peoples of the Americas in the Southwestern United States, Mesoamerica, and the Andean region of South America for several thousand years, although often substantial amounts of stone are used in the walls of Pueblo buildings. (Also, the Pueblo people built their adobe structures with handfuls or basketfuls of adobe, until the Spanish introduced them to the making of bricks.) Adobe brickmaking was used in Spain already in the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age, from the eighth century B.C. on. Its wide use can be attributed to its simplicity of design and make, and the cheapness thereby in creating it.

An adobe wall can serve as a significant heat reservoir due to the thermal properties inherent in the massive walls typical in adobe construction. In desert and other climates typified by hot days and cool nights, the high thermal mass of adobe levels out the heat transfer through the wall to the living space. The massive walls require a large and relatively long input of heat from the sun (radiation) and from the surrounding air (convection) before they warm through to the interior and begin to transfer heat to the living space. After the sun sets and the temperature drops, the warm wall will then continue to transfer heat to the interior for several hours due to the time lag effect. Thus a well-planned adobe wall of the appropriate thickness is very effective at controlling inside temperature through the wide daily fluctuations typical of desert climates, a factor which has contributed to its longevity as a building material. In addition, the exterior of an adobe wall can be covered with glass to increase heat collection. In a passive solar home, this is called a Trombe wall.

Click here for more photos of Oaxaca Mexico for this day.