Right Here the Whole Time

What the worst thing that can happen while you're away in paradise? Actually, don't answer that! It could be any one of a million things. For me, it's getting sick with something like a cold/sure throat which is especially annoying when you're at a warm weather destination!

I tried not to let it get to me. What did I try? Nothing at all, actually. Until one day, my great aunt seemed to notice my suffering. She began, "Do you know what's good for throat infections?"

The first thing that came to my head was, I hope she doesn't say some superstitious nonsense like drinking goat milk from an old mother goat of 2 while riding the goat under a full moon shouting yeehaw with 3 more goats in tow. Fresh raw goat milk is actually quite good, now that I mention it...

But no, that's not what my aunt suggested. No ritual magic involved this time. She suggested tea made from a specific flower song with some cinnamon. Which flower?

Does anyone remember this famous picture??

I'm actually laying down right in front of said flower, bougainvillea. Or as my people call it, Camelina. Who would've known it was right here the whole time??

The pot exploded one year as it was trying to relieve the pressure. That's still the original root ball that's been exposed ever since. The plant made due though and probably has a new real root ball deeper underground. Ever since tapping into the limitless soil below, it exploded again... in growth! It now straddles the house and is making its way up one of the "cemetery pines", the one that the owl sits upon at midnight. That is the red one.

The white one was about to bloom but I accidentally obliterated the pot. It was destroyed by my big foot as I used it to hold the pot at an angle an effort to unblock its drainage hole. Needless to say, drainage is no longer an issue. However, it did lose all of its leaves. Replanting it in the soil set it back some, but in no time at all it will spring back just like the red one.

And that leaves us with the most dainty one and with the only surviving pot. For my affliction, my aunt said to boil the fuchsia colored flowers specifically. I strategically harvested some while keeping the plant looking pretty.

Hummingbirds like this plant. I've also noticed that they don't produce seeds. All the flower petals just fall and cover the ground sort of romantically... That is until you walk on them and hear the crunch crunch like autumn leaves. Since I know nothing of the propagation of this plant, I'm going to do something risky: bring a fresh cutting with me in my suitcase. Today. For today is the the day I leave the hill of my fatherland and return to the hustle and bustle of city life. Somehow I always seen to come back with a little bug. No not an arthropod! Oh...um... How did that get in there? No I mean I always return with some sort of illness be it food poisoning, flu, sore throat, or what have you.

Cloning this particular plant is not something selfish. It is so that we can have this medicine readily available at home. Bougainvillea is apparently known to have antiinflammatory properties and a natural expectorant. It's like Mucinex DM grown from a plant! Paired with the antiseptic cinnamon and of course no small amount of honey, I am well on the way to recovery!

Did you know that such a beautiful and widespread plant had such powerful medicinal qualities?

It was right here the whole time.