I would like to introduce you to Stella, my Arisaema sikokianum. I named her Stella because she is such a stellar specimen in the Araceae family. I get a huge amount of joy from her. Actually she is bisexual at this point in her life and for the past few years she has preferred to remain female. However, when she was a youngster, she was a male. She is about 7 years old now and has endowed me with her glorious looks reliably for the past 4 years. She loves to be admired by everyone. Stella is a real flirt and likes to catch your eye when you walk by her!
I just love her outfit, don’t you? Stella is clothed in a beautiful deep carmine-black velvet funnel-shaped gown (spathe-tube), her head & neck (spadix-appendix) just peeking above the very attractive symmetrical collar which is a pearlescent snow white. Her complexion is flawless which sets off the playful headdress (spathe-limb), a contrasting inner light green with thin white stripes, melting into the same deep colour as the gown. As you can see it acts as a sun screen or an umbrella, very cleverly designed I thought.
Stella will be on the runway for approximately 14 - 21 days anywhere between the beginning of March and the end of April, however, this year she is a bit later than usual, having just emerged on April 17 (previous engagements I suspect!). When her show is complete she will exit stage left, to begin her mundane duties of preparing for the winter collection; fertilization, seed set, seed maturation, then disrobing of clothes to disappear for another season. What will she wear next year? You’ll have to wait and see.
Pat Taylor, Vancouver MG
