PHILODENDRON

The giant tree philodendron growing in Balboa Park is blooming. The plant’s name derives from the Greek philo or “love” and dendron or “tree.” I have no idea how it got such a name. All parts of the plant are poisonous.

I caught a glimpse of the flower emerging from the center of a cluster of large, imposing leaves as I walked through a courtyard behind the Casa del Prado. I was smitten. Poison or not, the flower is exotic and beautiful. Georgia O’Keefe would have wanted to do this one to hang alongside her jimson weed paintings.