Juan Angulo

I'm hooked on cellulose. By that I mean that plants play a large role in my life. They are all I eat (no meat!), mostly all I study, and one of my greatest passions. Out of the 300,000 species of plants, I have a couple favorites that come to mind.

Hailing from Colombia, the land I was born in, Clusia orthoneura, or the Porcelain plant, is an epiphytic shrub that enjoys tropical climates and plenty of rain. Its common name comes from its waxy pink flowers that look almost fake.

An overlooked little plant that is all over the State Botanical Gardens here in Athens is Tipularia discolor, or the Cranefly orchid. This terrestrial orchid has exactly one leaf that comes out in the winter. Although it flowers in the spring and prefers warmer weather, its hardy leaf fights through Georgia's bitter winters. On my cold morning walks to school at 7:00 am, this orchid is on my mind.

Green is the color most associated with plants, however Monotropa hypopytis has shades of pink and red mingling with a soft cream color winding up its stem and on its leaves. This plant has no need for green pigment, as it is mycoparasitic and obtains all its food from fungi in the ground. It calls the mountains of Appalachia its home, and when I take hikes in Blue Ridge I never fail to find clusters of it relishing the cool mountain air.