Flower Power
The super-weedy yards here at the sanctuary are blooming with Rose-of-Sharon, cypress vines, and, most strikingly, sunflowers. Sunflowers always surprise me, and not just because (around here, where spilled birdseed guarantees lots of volunteer flowers) they sometimes pop up where I least expect to see a splash of sunshine.
I remember one summer day when I was about the age I referenced in the Turtle Talk. My mother and grandparents worked so my sister and I were in the care of Miss Joyce across the street, who was Luthern and sent her two kids to vacation Bible school at a nearby church for two weeks each summer. Since there was nothing else to do with us, we went too. It was all very strange to me since my family was Catholic and not at all devout. My memories of those weeks are a bit of a psychedelic blur, undoubtedly induced by contemplation of 70s-era string sculptures while enduring endless repetitions of Kumbayah.
But one day stands out clearly: We all took a walk to visit a firehouse a few blocks away, passing a backyard full of sunflowers along the way. Flowers that were taller than me?!? I had never imagined such a thing. I was entranced, enchanted, beside myself with glee.
Sunflowers still induce in me that sense of childish wonder. When their heads nod collectively in the breeze, as they are outside my window right now, I feel like I’m looking in on a conversation. (I feel that way with daffodils too.) I wonder what they’re talking about? And what might the trees be thinking?
Which reminds me that it’s been a while since we’ve had a “flower power” post here at SuperWeed. A few weeks ago, the New York Times ran a *very* interesting article on the ability of plants to recognize their relatives.
The studies are part of an emerging picture of life among plants, one in which these organisms, long viewed as so much immobile, passive greenery, can be seen to sense all sorts of things about the plants around them and use that information to interact with them.
The article goes on to give lots of groovy examples so please do click the link to read it if you’re at all intrigued by biodiversity or fascinated by the ways that other kinds of beings perceive and interact with each other and the world.
As the article notes, the study of plant sentience and communication has had a bad rap ever since the publication of the book The Secret Life of Plants, which is one of my all-time favorites but does have the annoying feature of intermixing the results of careful observation and inquiry with wilder and more spiritual speculations. It’s one of those books you have to read carefully, exercising your critical thinking while at the same time suspending unjust skepticism rooted in human exceptionalism.
Luckily, mainstream incredulity has not kept some scientists from considering the possibility that those seemingly passive plants might be up to things we can’t even imagine. Some of those scientists have come together to form the Society of Plant Neurobiology.
In other news, trees have been found to use a variety of mechanisms to keep their leaves at the ideal temperature for photosynthesis — about 70F degrees — regardless of whether they are growing in the tropics or the arctic, the desert or the rainforest. You can read/hear the NPR report on that here.
Related past post: Wheat seeds are doing it for themselves.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Given that I’m feeling especially hopeless today, this is a wonderful post. Thank you.