
Photo by Barry Brown. Source: http://www.coralreefphotos.com.
Our wild lady, Beyísima (Antigonon leptopus) simply requires a few spritzes of rain to transform into the Belle of Curaçao. She snakes her way into our hearts in record time, spreading her weedy tendrils (as long as 40 ft!), digging small tubers deep into the ground, adorning our otherwise dry, crackling soil. Her oblong heart-shaped leaves and tiny, fiery red-rose flowers hang in tight clusters, seducing nectar-starved bees, butterflies, wasps, barika hèl, usurping our equatorial sun, blanketing all that lies beneath… suffocating us with her chains of love.