Blue Porterweed
Like many plants that grow around Nosara and the Harmony Hotel, Blue Porterweed is a multi-tasker. Known as Stachytarpheta jamaicensis to the more scientifically minded, it is resistant to pests and never very thirsty, and offers excellent low maintenance ground cover in gardens and along walkways. It also makes a welcome addition to butterfly gardens, as its small blue flowers are more popular with butterflies, birds, and bees than its larger and flashier floral counterparts. Its leaves can be boiled to make a fine tea that has traditionally been used to combat a whole host of common ailments, and, most interestingly, this plant gives a whole new meaning to the term beer garden. A dark, porter-like beer can actually be brewed from its leaves, which is believed to be good for everything from combating stomach ulcers to ‘cooling the blood’. Very cool indeed, though it probably won’t be showing up on that hip new microbrewery’s menu anytime soon.
Photo by Wayne Matchett
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