Inspired

A few things have come together over the last few days to inspire me.  I spent some time writing and thinking.  Today I went to a book launch and met Edward Chell, whose work I have admired since I heard him talk a few months ago.  Very lovely book too. I have one and am very much looking forward to reading it!  Click on this link to see.

http://www.edwardchell.com/bloom/

Sweet gum tree seed pod.

This Autumn I have been thinking about Dispersal.  Seeds - and the clever way plants have of scattering themselves far and wide, with all shapes and sizes of pods and velcro to help them.  When I started looking at indigenous wildflowers I realised there was a problem with the word "indigenous".  I wasn't sure what that meant, and how long a plant has to be "here" to be classed as indigenous.  I understand that if a bird has been resident in Britain for eight years the RSPB give it leave to remain and it becomes a resident.  Sweet william, a much loved summer border plant is actually from India. It seems to have been in the UK since the 16th century. The Sycamore tree is often dismissed as non-native - an alien - but it has been here since the Romans.

Thinking about this, and reading Fred Pearce's "The New Wild" has made me realise that the same rhetoric that has recently been applied to refugees is also given to what invasion biologists refer to as "alien invaders". ("a catchall for nastiness and a recipe for muddled thinking" says Fred Pearce) Plants such as Himalayan Balsalm and Knotweed would come into this category.

A lot of wild flowers are not appreciated because they are so widespread and wilfully pop up, ignorant to the fact that humans don't want them on 'their' patch.    The dandelion of course,  has a particularly clever way of dispersing and has become part of our landscape  and childhood memories.

http://anitagwynn.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=dandelion

So I have collected and drawn a lot of seed pods, as part of this thinking and research. I have a way to go yet.

The seed pod of the Himalayan Balsalm. It explodes energetically and curls up.