Camel’s Foot Leaf
Bozeman, Montana
2022
I was doing some much-needed sorting through of miscellany in my studio a few days ago and came across this leaf (not the photo, but the actual leaf) in a portfolio of photos I took with me on my last trip to China some five years ago but had not opened after bringing it home. I don’t even remember picking up this leaf and saving it while I was in China but I know why I did–because it has a unique (to me anyway) and satisfying shape. As best I can tell it is from a piliostigma thonningii tree. It’s shape has spawned the more easily pronounced common name of camel’s foot tree. The tree is native to Africa but can be, and obviously has been, grown in China and many other parts of the world.
Absolutely gorgeous!! What luck to find it intact & not crumbled to dry bits.
Thanks Kathy!
Er, I see you need to be woke. I just read a piece on the politically charged name of the common plant Wandering Jew. According to the author, only those that are or associated with Judaism may use the phrase that includes J_w. With the rise of the casual and semi formal use of women’s yoga pants, the term that is used for the casual description of this plant may be seen as either descriptive of a gender fashion po-pah or downright appropriation of proper camel and female usage. So, probably best to use the proper scientific name, however long that word lasts before plant classification doctoral students change it again 🙂 …
O.K., I didn’t really follow much of what you wrote there, but that may just reinforce your assessment of my current state of wokeness. I’m probably best described as a simple half-woke anyway.