Senna in Bloom and the Heart of the Banana

Michel Salas walked through the sanctuary grounds this afternoon with wide-open eyes and camera at the ready. Among the discoveries of his rounds, he came upon a rural plot where several banana plants — Musa sp. — wore their heavy green clusters hanging low, and their deep purple blossoms, those inflorescences that look like a newborn heart. In the background, mango trees with fruit peeking out through the canopy, and a small brick structure with a zinc roof that gives the place the timeless air of a Caribbean farmstead. But the other find of the day was more subtle, and perhaps more striking for those who know how to look: a plant of the genus Senna — family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae — flowering in the midst of dense forest vegetation. Michel held it between his fingers to show it more clearly, and in the photograph you can see the open yellow blooms alongside several buds still biding their time. That clean, bright yellow against the dark green of the forest is the kind of gift the sanctuary offers without any warning.