Peacock flower or Mexican shellflower is native to México, Guatamemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. It has also escaped cultivation as an ornamental plant, and naturalized in parts of central America and South America.
This was a treat to see in the wild last October, although it was tinged with a bit of sadness. My former co-worker David Tarrant had traveled the road to Xilitla from Querétaro ten days prior, so he knew we would be seeing some of these in flower. What he didn’t know is that the roadsides would be hand-mown (with machetes) in the meantime. We were fortunate that some areas had yet to be cut. This was one of the few plants that hadn’t been mown down, so I had to make the best of it (the backgrounds in the photos are a bit messy for my taste). Still, the flowers more than made up for the lack of photographic choice.
Tigridia pavonia can be extremely variable in flower colour. The flower in today’s BPotD is about as red as the flowers can be, but flower colours can also be white, yellow, pink, or orange. Some have become named cultivars. Another property of the flowers is that they will open early in the morning and close by late afternoon.
For additional photographs of Mexican shellflower, visit the JC Raulston Arboretum site: Tigridia pavonia.
Bryant wrote about Tigridia chiapensis in 2012, with some general information about the genus.
Beautiful …… Would this grow in Florida ….. zone 19A.? I love natural, wild plants.
Joanne
I think these would be perfect for Florida growers, but it would be nice if someone else who has experience chimed in. Perhaps the only concern would be if they were going to sit in wet soil in that climate.
Since it has already escaped cultivation and naturalized outside it’s native range, I would be concerned about bringing it to Florida if it hasn’t already been introduced there…
With flowers as stunning as these, no one is looking at the backgrounds. Your photos are great. Take some credit for capturing such ephemeral beauty.
It’s not even that. For my taste, not that we are considering my taste, if there is not something happening in the background, it looks like a studio portrait and is not as interesting as when there is some context. So these backgrounds are pretty much perfect. And the foregrounds are amazing.
beautiful
Daniel, excellent macro shots! Superb clarity. Congratulations!
Wondering at the workers mowing these down with machetes. Wouldn’t they pause before the beauty and think of leaving them ? I would.
One would think so, but… I recall many instances of the ditches being mowed where I grew up in Manitoba, sometimes destroying patches of lady’s-slippers (or at least that year’s blooms).