Dumb Cane (Dieffenbachia picta)

*Disclaimer: Writer of this post is unsure as to the species of Dieffenbachia photographed below. If a reader has information verifying the species, corrections will be appreciated.

Though a popular houseplant, ours grows well in the garden, and are quite abundant too. It's been in our garden for as long as I can remember.

The Dieffenbachia genus is notorious for its poison; slaves in the olden days were made to chew on its leaves, and its sap was also used for arrow poison. The entire plant is poisonous, so you must take extreme care in handling one. Even a small amount of sap, if in contact with the tongue, can cause extreme swelling, burning pain, and paralysis of the tongue and throat, causing loss of speech for days. Hence the name "Dumb Cane".

Chewing the leaf, or ingesting large amounts of the sap can lead to severe swelling of the throat, so bad that one will no longer be able to breathe. If drops of sap enter the eye, the eyelids can be stuck closed for several days!

Now now, don't get any ideas about dipping a foul-mouthed or lying frenemy's toothbrush into the sap!

Four O'Clock (Mirabilis jalapa)

On July 1767, former US President Thomas Jefferson observed: "Mirabilis just opened, very clever."

He was pertaining to those plants which, several posts down, were proven to respond well to liquid fertilizer of human origin. The fragrant flowers of Four O'Clock suppsedly open up at approximately that time. Mine bloom at night though. Like this!:



This is something that every beginner, slacker, or busy gardener's dreams are made of. I took the seeds both from a beach garden in Anilao, and from a Merville sidewalk. They looked like little black pepper balls. I stuffed said seeds in pots with compost and watered them everyday, and within a week, ambitious little squirts came up. Within a month or two, they were a-blooming. And they bloom magnificently, beautifully, and in a super fragrant way, like sampaguita or something. Really really good stuff here! Minimum effort and maximum sensory return. They re-sow themselves too.

This plant has domineering roots, and is thus considered by a few anal persons to be invasive. They would surely win the common my-taproot-is-bigger-than-yours contests. So keep that in mind, and also remember that the whole plant is toxic to humans. Jesus always knows if you are plotting to place the seeds in your frenemy's pepper mill!