Tag Archives: bishop’s balls

Balloon Plant, for FOTD Sept 21, 2024

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Click on photos to enlarge.

 

I saw this small tree at a local outside restaurant and had to look it up.  It is a balloon plant, asclepias physocarpa. It is a relative of milkweed, which explains the monarch butterflies we saw floating over the pool in front of these trees.  Yves, the owner of the restaurant, who always likes to stop and sit and chat a bit, called in the man who stands in front of the restaurant, offering to wash cars, and he picked two of the pods off the trees, saying we could dry them and plant the seeds  and also gave me two small trees in coffee cans, which I of course paid him for.  When I got home, I looked the plant up, thinking it might be a relative of Chinese lanterns, which are orange, but in a similar inflated shape. I can’t find any evidence that they are but did find out the sticky white sap they exude is mildly poisonous. It reminds me of the caustic sap of crown of thorns, so I was not surprised to hear this.  Now I have to decide where to plant it. Perhaps outside the window in front of my desk so I can see if it does attract monarchs.

During further research, I discovered that other names for this plant are hairy balls plant and bishop’s balls!

For Cee’s FOTD

Bishop’s Balls Bloom: FOTD Feb 9, 2022

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I’ve already posted photos of the Roses of the desert and the bougainvillea, so this rudely-named flower is the only one left in the garden of the house where I’m staying this week, so sorry, bishops of the world, I was not responsible for the naming of this non-assuming flower.

“Bishop Balls,” “Bull’s Balls” or Thevetia Ahouai: Flower of the Day, Jan 15, 2018

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Found this mystery plant in the back garden seating area of Palapa Joe’s. No one could figure out what it was. The “fruit,” which the waitress said was inedible, looked like hard cherry tomatoes, somewhat misshapen. It was much firmer than a tomato and filled with a white fluffy-looking substance like cotton which was actually very firm and surrounded a large seed nearly the size of the outside skin. I spent a long time searching through Google and never could discover what it was. until Iwbut finally found our answer for us.  He gave clues that led to Thevetia ahouai as the name of this mystery plant.  Jan contributed information from Omar, a local man who has one in his front yard, who says it is called “Bull’s Balls.” I can imagine why. My research, prompts by Iwbut’s, says that the useless fruit is also known as “huevos de obispo” which translates as “bishop eggs.” Since huevos is a slang expression for testicles in Mexico, perhaps the intended meaning is “bishop balls” as well. Is it because bishops wear red vestments?  Ah the trails these plant searches take us down.

 

Don’t miss seeing this amazing delphinium shot by Cee.