Painted Leaves

India · nature

The pink-and-maroon leaves of a cordyline plant unfurl in tight rosettes — a plant that does flowers' work entirely with its leaves.

Cordyline fruticosa — the Hawaiian Ti plant — has no business being more colourful than the flowers around it, but it manages anyway. The new leaves come in deep pink and burgundy, fade through orange and rust as they age, and finally darken to a green-black before they drop. A single plant cycles through this palette continuously, so it always looks freshly painted.

This specimen was planted near a doorway, half in shade. The newer leaves had folded inward in tight curls, the older ones splayed flat. I shot looking down into the centre because the symmetry rewarded it. There's a kind of plant that earns its keep by being patient about colour — flowering once a year is wasteful when you can dress your leaves in the same palette and hold the show for months.

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