Gondwanaland Trading Company
From the Ends of the Earth, to the Beginning of Time!

Jade Vine

We were exploring the island of Mindanao in the Philippine archipelago and were sailing around the rugged east coast called Surigao del Sur. Our intention was to moor our small boat in a calm inlet so the captain was “threading the needle” as they say. The surf was tremendous and there were large sharp rocks on each side of our craft. We were being lifted several meters high with each wave crest and we had to execute our entrance with perfect timing if we were going to make it through the rocks without being smashed. As the captain gunned the motor with the calm assurance of someone who had done this many times before, our boat started out into the gaping maw between the two huge sharp rock formations at the bottom of the wave trough. As the boat was just in front of the rocks we heard a loud pop and the motor went silent! The captain yelled for all of us to get to the starboard side of the boat but it was too late. The boat swung around and was lifted onto the huge rock with a terrible grinding, cracking sound. The craft literally disintegrated right out from under us. We were all in the water within seconds. All of us made it land shaken but not hurt and after collecting most of our supplies that had washed up, the captain went off to get assistance. We put our time to good use and started exploring the remote and pristine jungle. There were Platycerium grande 3 meters across in the trees and orchids everywhere. We collected seeds from a massive and very rare Jade Vine (Strongylodon macrobotrys). The Jade vine’s flowers have a beautiful sea - green/turquoise color that is almost beyond description. This color is the rarest in the world of flowers and now you can purchase one of these amazingly rare plants in 6” pots for $85.00