French Marigold

This is the latest flower i brought back home last week.The vibrant red color is so attractive. This is one of the marigold species known as french marigold.

Commmon Name:	French Marigold
Botanical Name:	Tagetes patula
Other Name:
Family:	Asteraceae
Location:	Melur.com
origin:	Americas

French marigold is an annual plants native to Americas. Like other annuals it will live until certain period of time. The flower color range from yellow to red.the flowers normally planted as nectar source for butterflies in the garden.

In some places like Caucasus and Republic of Georgia, the ground dried flower  petals are  used as spices . The popular spices known as imeruli shaphrani( Imeretian saffron) give the unique earthy flavor to Georgian cuisine, compatible to the flavor of cinnamon and cloves.

Apart from the culinary use,  the flower is also use for food  coloring. The medicinal use of the plans come from the essential oil extracted from the flowers.It is used to treat candidiasis (yeast infection) and fungal infection.

Propagation is from the seed. The seed will normally germinated within a few days after sowing . It should be transplanted whe it is approximately 2 inches in height. For more information on how to grow marigold click here

Canna Tubers( Ubi Ganyong)

Common Name: Canna Tubers (Ubi Ganyong)
Botanical Name: Canna edulis
Other Name: Canna discolor L. syn. C. edulis, Queensland arrowroot,buah tasbih, ubi pikul, ganyal, ganyol,sinetra
Family: Cannaceae
Origin: Tropical America

Description:

Canna tubers is a plant of the same species with canna lily, scientific name Canna indica Linn. In fact, in some places like indonesia canna lilly is also called Ganyong hutan ( Wild canna tubers) . The plant has soft stems and grows vertically at the height between 0.9 to 1.8 meters. The leaves shape are rounded and somewhat flattened stems and have regular frond and overlap to form the stem. Leaf is wide, the color is reddish green with elongated elliptical leaves. The fruits are small with the inseide space for seed cavity. The tubers is white or purplish.It can be propagated through fractions of tubers and the new plants generated from the old plants.

Usage:

Although ubi ganyong or canna tubers are less popular compared to other tubers such as sweet potato and cassava it also essential that can be powdered. Powders containing calcium, phosphorus and high carbohydrate makes it good for the development of strong bones and teeth, especially to chidren. Ganyong flour can be prepared as can be prepared as cakes, puddings, breads and noodles. The usage of the flour is as the same as the use of cornstarch. The harvesting period of Ubi ganyong depends on the usage.Young roots can be harvested if the preparation is by boiling the tubers and eat as it is. The harvesting should be done when tubers were older if the purpose is make the flour. jelly is usually produced using seaweed. Apart from seaweed, canna tubers also can be prepared as home-cooked jelly. Jelly from canna tubers easy to prepare and can be done at home . The Method is to prepare t canna starch first . The process to produce the canna starch is similar to the process of getting other starches. Ratio of 5 kg grated old canna tubers is mixed with 5 liters of water, it is filtered and the husk removed. Then precipitated starch solution for a day to get the gist. The precipitate is then dried. To prepate the jelly , starch is boiled , add enough flavor and dyes and cooled before being cut. Canna tubers medically used to treat inflammation of the urinary tract. The method is by adding 40g to 30g canna tubers with ca whiskers leaves (Orthosiphon aristatus), lalang root 20g and 600 ml of water. all boiled for 15 minutes. Drin it hot every morning and afternoon. The tubers is also used to reduce the heat in the body. 30g Canna tubers along with 30g temu lawak and 700 ml of boiling water are boiled for 15 minutes and drink hot 2 times a day.