Sunday Sketches

In Peru at the Willka T'ika Guesthouse, I became fascinated with flowers of the Ruda plant also known as Rue.

Carol, who created the fabulous gardens and guesthouse, says that the it is an important protection plant and one of the native Andean medicinal plants. Because it is the "golden light of life" she planted it abundantly in the fourth chakra garden relating to the sun and the solar plexus. Each day Carol adorns her hat with flowers and Ruda is one of her favorites.

I sketched the flowers of the Ruda plant one day while enjoying the gardens.



The bright yellow fringed flowers with protruding stamens are star-like, and grow in clusters, facing straight up. The central flower has five petals, while all other have four. The rounded petals are initially curled around the center and slowly open up, forming a protective shield for the light green, four/five-lobbed ovary, which gradually swells up, until the petals are no longer necessary and drop.

One of the most striking features of this plant is the strong, aromatic, bitter or acrid scent, but once you get used to it, it can be very soothing and comforting.

Here are a couple of photographs of Ruda.