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Pica-pica and Monteverde Pacific slope forest vines

The Pica-pica (Mucuna urens) was one of the first plants I drew in Monteverde, and it remained one of my favorites.  With so much of the Pacific slope seasonal forest invisible above my head, I could appreciate a vine that dropped its flowers and fruits down on long stems for easy drawing.  Of course, Pica-pica didn't have botanists in mind when it developed its dangling flowers.  Instead, the adaptation is a vine version of cauliflory, ensuring that flowers are easily accessible to pollinating bats and hummingbirds.

Although Pica-pica and Ojo de Buey were common names for Mucuna urens in Monteverde, the plant is better known as Sea Bean.  The air-filled pods float downstream to the ocean, where they may drift for months before washing up on a foreign shore and germinating.  No wonder Pica-pica can be found throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean.

Since I'm about to move on to the cloud forest next week, I wanted to toss in some extra images of three other common Pacific slope seasonal forest vines.  Take a close look at the Passiflora biflora leaves opposite and you'll see tiny dots that mimick butterfly eggs --- the plant's way of saying "This leaf is already occupied.  Move along and feed your kids on somebody else!"




3-27-01
Today the horrible finally happened --- my watch died.  It actually upset me more than it should have.  After all, it's only a watch.  But I haven't gone a day without it for 5 (6?) years and it's really a part of me.  I depend on it a lot and will probably get a cheap watch with date and time to eke me through these last few months.

Later, I did in fact come up with a cheap watch, but it barely kept time.  My relentless records of time in my journal and sketchbooks became vaguer, and one day I accidentally showed up at a lecture nearly an hour early.  Perhaps I had finally discovered the Central American concept of time?