While you are waiting to go on your Cool Runnings Catamaran Cruise you may want to take a look around Ocho Rios, here are some of the flowers you may find growing.
Hibiscus
Those who know the hibiscus will not be surprised to find out that there are several hundred species of this plant. They all grown in the warmer places of the world.
In Jamaica we make our Christmas drink from hibiscus buds. This is the red drink sorrel, which is sometimes also flavored with a little ginger. In some countries dried hibiscus is eaten as a vegetable.
They come in so many shapes and colors, they lift the heart and make the soul sing, but then so do the other flowers shown on this page.
Source: Photo by Chuck via Flirty Flowers. Also known as Fior di Jamaica. http://flirtyfleurs.com/flower-science/nightfire2/
Begonia
There are about 1 400 different plant species that go by the name of begonia. Here is one that you will find growing around Ocho Rios. There is a deep pink one variety, that we call King Begonia in Jamaica.
Source: Pink flowering begonia via Wiki Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Petals_0016.jpg
Bougainvillea
If you land in Montego Bay and drive along the coast road towards Ocho Rios, you will see vast bushes of these flowers in many different colors. In some countries only the purple grows, which your compiler finds is very sad.
This plant is quite thorny, so be careful if standing close for a photo. The vine species grows from 1 to 12 m, and can be found climbing over walls and leaning up against houses.
You might find any or all of these colors growing along the roadside in Oho Rios pink, magenta, purple, red, orange, white or yellow.
Source: Pink bougainvillea. Photo by Rosa-Maria Rinkl via Wiki Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bouganville_5.JPG
Canna Lilly
This is what we call a lily in Jamaica, although it has nothing to do with the lily family. The flowers grow on tall stems, the leaves are sometimes wide and veined, and as beautiful as the flower itself. They are related to the ginger family of flowering plants.
You will probably see yellow canna lilies growing around Ocho Rios.
Source: Variety Canna Crozy Group ‘Albèric’, Pfitzer 1949Wiki Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Canna_Alberich_20030824_014.jpg
Ginger
The ginger plants include 1 300 species distributed around the world, among them is the shell ginger (Alpinia zerumbet). This shell ginger, Albinia is named after Prospero Alpini, a seventeenth-century Italian botanist an expert in exotic plants.
Shell ginger (Alpinia zerumbet) is a native of southeast Asia, but it has been seen growing in gardens in the hills behind Ocho Rios.
Photo of Shell Ginger by Tatiana Gerus http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alpinia_zerumbet_3.jpg
These are only a very few of the flowering plants growing around Ocho Rios and in Saint Ann Parish. So now I am off for a sail, hope to see you on board a Cool Runnings Catamaran Cruise!
