Blooming Again After Ten Long Months!

Last week I noticed our Garlic Vine or Wisteria Vine was again blooming. It must have been close to a year since it last bloomed and this got me all excited. For one, the flowers of this particular plant are quite lovely. It is Violet and white and they form a bouquet when in full bloom. It was already late in the afternoon and there was no sun but that did not stop me from taking pictures of it.

Mansoa alliacea, or garlic vine, is a species of tropical liana in the family Bignoniaceae. It is native to Northern South America, and has spread to Central America and Brazil. Among the mestizos of the Amazon rainforest it is known as ajo sacha, a Spanish-Quechua name that means "forest garlic" or "wild garlic". Wikipedia

It is a close relative of the trumpet flower. But the Garlic Vine, unlike the Trumpet Flower, has the distinct odor of garlic. I could not believe it until the person who gave us this plant took a leaf, crushed it and asked me to smell it. It really smelled like garlic!

In other words this plant is a beauty but at the same time a stinker (at least to some). But, if it smelled like garlic, then it must have properties of the herb which could benefit us! I immediately looked up Garlic Vine in the internet and found out that this Vine not only has medicinal uses but seasoning uses as well like basil or rosemary. The young leaves can be chopped up and sprinkled over salad or pasta. The more matured leaves and other plant parts like the bark and flower can be used as ingredient for herbal formulas in capsule form to treat various ailments such as arthritis, rheumatism, colds, flu and fever. The Garlic Vine contains several sulphur compounds like alliin and allyl sulphides similar to those in garlic, that the plant parts are analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-rheumatic and anti-pyretic and used for the treatment of the various ailments mentioned earlier.

Here are a few more photos of this amazing Garlic Vine.

Here with a Yellow Bell Flower

With a Purple Bell Flower

I also took some photos a few days after, this time in the morning when the sun was out. I was so happy that the plant has many blooming flowers

Taken 10 months ago on its first bloom

Talk about beauty and blessings from this marvelous plant. Amazing. How nature can provide aesthetics and utility in so many things around us. Let me end this post with this quote about nature.

I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order. —John Burroughs

A very Merry Christmas to all of you. May you find peace and happiness in this season of love, joy and hope.

(All photos are mine.)