#common butterwort

[creepyhouseplant]

They're eating well!!! My pitchers are eating too, but you can't really see it the way you can with these guys 😁

Spoon leaf sundew

Common butterworts

[thebashfulbotanist]

The only carnivorous plant that I saw in Scotland - Pinguicula vulgaris, common butterwort, which seemed fairly abundant around Glen Nevis. Sadly, none were in flower in May! P. vulgaris is a circumboreal plant, and I’ve also seen it Washington State and Canada. Its leaves are covered in sort of sticky, slimy fluids and digestive enzymes to trap and breakdown insects, which give it a buttery feeling. 

[creativecommonsplants]

Butterworts by incidencematrix on Flickr.

This work is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

[merakiui]

MERA, THAT NEW TREY FIC HAS TICKLED MY BRAIN SO GOOD LIKE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! ヾ(≧▽≦*)oヾ(≧▽≦*)oヾ(≧▽≦*)o

Surreal horror has always been one of my favorite types of horror because of the unsettling atmosphere and the reality-bending and you wrote it so well! You did amazing when you wrote the dream sequences in DRU, and now to actually read a whole dang fic with the theme?? With Trey of all people???? OTZ OTZ OTZ You've unlocked so many new possibilities with his Doodle Suit, truly the Gaslighting King of all time 👑👑👑

AND THE SYMBOLISM!!!!! please please please please ramble about them if you want-- I'm having so much fun rereading this fic again and again. The Violet Butterwort caught my attention cause isn't that a carnivorous plant? 👀👀 Trapping insects in its leaves like a certain grass-haired man??? 👀👀👀

Anyway, all I'm saying is, Trey is not the only chef around cause you definitely COOKED with this one 🔥🔥✨✨

( ≧ᗜ≦) AAAAA OMG OMG THANK YOUUUUUU!!!!!! ✨ ✨

I'm so happy it tickled your brain! I adore surreal horror in film and writing. There's just so much potential for the craziest of things to happen! Dream sequences or sequences that feel like dreams are some of my favorite things to write. The ones in DRU are also just as surreal. <3 I originally wanted to write this concept with Jade (Kalim was second on my list), but I decided upon Trey in the end because I think he suits the surreal horror vibes so well! Doodle Suit + the power of seamless gaslighting........ what a terrifying combination.

I wanted the story to feel obscure and almost like a trip with the imagery and descriptions. Sort of like the vibes in Alice in Wonderland. Just,,,,, utterly bonkers.

👀 you are very right about the butterwort hehehe!!! As for other symbolisms/details, these are the main ones in the story! I left out some of the symbolisms of various lines or words because that would make for such a long analysis of my own work. ^^;;;

It is under the cut due to length (forgive me)! A warning for mentions of sexual assault and drugging!

✧ the binary can be translated into messages. :)

✧ the feeling of itchiness - feeling as if you don't fit in your body after it's been violated. Feeling like something (trauma/blocked memories) is beneath your skin and you can't get it out no matter what you do. Also, itchy as in discomfort.

✧ grass - this is meant to be Trey. It's how Reader views him throughout the story.

✧ violet butterwort - as you noted, it's a carnivorous plant that traps insects! It's also a symbol of resilience and a common charm used to ward off supernatural evils.

✧ birthday cake with 20 candles - the plot is that Reader and Trey are/were in a relationship and on Reader's twentieth birthday Trey drugged their tea (chamomile) and had his way with them when they were half-conscious. Thus, Reader was never able to indulge in their birthday cake because Trey took it all. Cake can also be a metaphor for Reader's body.

✧ the line "it will take twenty more..." is in reference to the healing process and how it's going to take Reader time to heal from everything.

✧ xylophone chimes/broken glass - the juxtaposition of something sweet-sounding with something jarring.

✧ the white rabbit - a sense of innocence/comfort lost.

✧ "Soups are easy to eat. Easy to slip special sentiments in." - a reference to drugging.

✧ "Soup is what becomes of your brain when your body is too itchy." - disassociation during something traumatic (in this case, sexual assault).

✧ the hedge maze that never has a true exit - the feeling of being lost and trapped and never having a real escape.

✧ the grass bow around the white rabbit's neck - the obsessive and unhealthy hold Trey has on Reader. How he can't let them go.

✧ static - lots of noise and amidst the noise there's Trey, whose own voice is sometimes static and other times soothing enough to cut through the static.

✧ the sequence of "it's here and then there and then here again..." - an allusion to the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland when he's giving Alice directions, but they're all over the place.

✧ every time the grass whispers or speaks - things Trey told Reader when he assaulted them.

✧ "In and out. Out and in. In and out. Out. Out. Out. Incessant itchiness. Get it out." - double meaning for breathing but also the act of sex (thrusting).

✧ the questioning of "that didn't just happen, did it?" - how Reader feels in the aftermath. But also just a general question in response to gaslighting. A consistent questioning of one's reality.

✧ Reader's association of the word "gross" with cake (especially birthday/confetti cake) - it ties into the above and also the part in the story about favorite foods and memories.

✧ teeth falling out - usually, in dream interpretation, this symbolizes a recent loss or mourning of something lost.

✧ hyperdontia - the horror of having a mouth and a voice but never being able to use it because it's so clogged with teeth, so no one will ever listen to or hear the things Reader desperately wants and needs to say.

✧ Frozen Charlotte dolls - Victorian era dolls that could float in the bath. They were also baked into cakes. They're called Frozen Charlottes based on a folk ballad called "Fair Charlotte," which tells the tale of a young girl (Charlotte) on her way to a ball with her lover (Charlie). It's dreadfully cold out, but she frets over the fact that wearing a coat will prevent everyone from seeing her pretty dress. She freezes to death on her way to the ball and arrives in her carriage as a frozen corpse. I think these dolls are fascinating and so cute, so I just wanted to compare teeth to Frozen Charlottes. The description of having a dozen tiny dolls stuck in your throat made for unpleasant imagery, so I wanted to write it!

✧ "A black rabbit blinks up at you with its milky-white eyes. Its nose twitches. Once. Twice. Thrice. A loud gust slithers through the field in which you currently observe, surrounded by decaying greenery and wilted wildflowers. They sprawl endlessly, clawing at the horizon beyond with broken fingers. You watch monochrome tones sway, dried petals flaking off like scabs against a battered, bloodless sky." - this is the same paragraph as seen in the beginning, only certain details have been changed. It's a hint at some sort of cycle that Reader's just only beginning to see. Idyllic beauty is no longer so blinding now that Reader sees what they didn't notice before.

[as-easel]

Terms derived from wort

adder's wort (Bistorta officinalis)

adderwort (Bistorta officinalis)

asterwort (Asteraceae spp.)

awlwort (Subularia aquatica)

banewort

barrenwort (Epimedium alpinum)

bearwort (Meum athamanticum)

bellwort

birthwort

bishop's-wort (Stachys officinalis)

bitterwort

bladderwort

blawort

bloodwort

blue throatwort

blushwort

bogwort

boragewort

bridewort

brimstonewort

brotherwort

brownwort

bruisewort

bugwort

bullwort

burstwort

butterwort

cancerwort (Kickxia spp.)

catwort

clown's ringwort

colewort

common ragwort

coralwort

crosswort

damewort

danewort

dragonwort

dragon's wort

dropwort*

dungwort

earwort*

ebony spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron)

elderwort

European pillwort

fanwort

felonwort

feltwort

felwort

[outofangband]

Flowers of the March of Maedhros (possibly part one, there are so many!)

flora, fauna, geography and environment of Arda

I love doing general flora and fauna posts but I can’t fit everything in them so I’m trying to make more specific ones as well! please please feel free to send categories to work on with locations! Or any environmental world building asks!

extensive environmental world building for himring plus more in the Himring tag

Himring was the fortress of Maedhros in the March of Maedhros, a cold realm in Northeastern Beleriand located slightly Southeast of Dorthonion and south of Lothlann and Ard Galen. It was a cold region with taiga forested hills and icy waters, including the sources of several rivers, namely Celon and Little Gelion. The March was located between the cold mountains on the Southern and Eastern borders of Dorthonion and the mountainous regions of the Gap and Thargelion on its own Eastern border.  The cold likely comes from a combination of its proximity to the Ered Engrin and Ered Gorgoroth, especially given the boreal forested region of Dorthonion, as well as altitude in some parts of it. I go into this more on other posts. 

The flora of the March is hardy, resistant to the cold that is present throughout so much of the year. Most flowers and herbaceous plants are herbaceous perennials that bloom in the spring and summer each year, sustained by their root stock despite the cold winters. 

The March contains several habitats; boreal forests/taiga, montane steppes and meadows, riverbanks and marshier areas. Towards Maglor’s Gap, rocky outcrops including many of limestone invite plants that thrive on calcareous soils. Lothlann and Ard-galen were montane or boreal meadows. While boreal forest in many places is divided into three zones (closed forest where trees cover more than forty percent of the ground and have a dense layer of grass, high boreal or alpine and Southern boreal where croppings of temperate decidious trees might be found) I think the March and also Dorthonion which has some similarities in climate and ecology, would see a combination of these ecosystems. 

Canon species: no canon species are associated with Himring, the March, or indeed much of Fëanorian occupied Eastern Beleriand

I use what we can extrapolate as possibly indigenous based on descriptions of climate, looking at similar real world locations, etc. I am also always happy to write posts based on real world locations by suggestion! (I’ve done the Havens of Sirion based on Southwestern Australia for example, etc. I think Tol Himling would have a similar climate to Hokkaidō). 

-Mountain and red clovers bloom on the hills and meadow steppes in the late spring and summer. Arctic dandelion grows in the meadows in the North towards Lothlann and Ard Galen as does Annual Gypsophila, cutleaf coneflower, arctic harebell (also grows on stream banks), broadleaf chives, cow parsnip, longstalk starwort, heath violet

-Mountain avens grow in rocky outcrops throughout the hills around Himring, usually in the summer. Moss campion also grows throughout the hills, above the tree line. Nodding campion, heath grounsel, snow saxifrage, baneberry (also stream banks)

-Great spur violet, fireweed (especially in clearings), snowdrop, wall lettuce, wild tulip and  grow in the forested areas. Boreal forests often contain berries and the forested areas around the hills has many species including bog bilberry, black crowberry, cloudberry, and wild strawberry. 

-Alongside the rivers grows wood or alpine sorrel alongside glacier buttercup, Lapland buttercup, Arctic butterbur, one flower fleabane (which also grows in forested belts and meadows), alpine rockcress, moor king, wood ruff, alpine butterwort, and arctic or prickly rose. 

-Arctic and common meadow rue grows in the North and West of the March in boggier areas as does milky whitlow grass, a flowering plant. 

-Common Groundsel grows throughout the region

World building notes:

-A number of these species have medicinal uses

-Others are used as fodder, in salads, garnishes and other dishes or in teas

-storing and preserving plants of various kinds is highly utilized in the March, more so than other elven realms. Both flora with medicinal and culinary uses are frequently preserved through drying, fermentation or other methods

[amaurotine]

tell me about five (5) of hyth's favorite fungi and/or unique plants!

alright!!!! here are some of his favs, in no particular order or rank:

morel mushrooms. he was raised on these, as despite their weird appearance, they're an edible mushroom that is quite common in the boggy and forested region of akrotiri, where his mother (the previous ha lmarut) hails from.

pitcher plants. he has a lot of these and it's a dear headcanon of mine that he made a semi-mobile pitcher plant concept as a pet for emet-selch, and it would eat any kind of bug that had the misfortune and lack of sense enough to enter his office. he would also use it to dispose of unwanted leftovers from taxonomy-related projects, and due to the sound it made, the plant concept was named "Crunchy." there was even a recreation of Crunchy in emet's office within phantom amaurot.

rafflesia. one of hyth's tattoos is that of a red rafflesia. he just really likes the way they're shaped and thinks that they are neat.

^ the same goes for butterwort. he adores carnivorous plants and the pinkish petals just make it that much better since his favourite color is pink.

orchids. not only because the flowers are pretty, but the tubers are useful for making a very tasty drink (salep).

[acidmatze]

Maybe its the Tism but i dont understand why having your plant die on you is treated as less terrible than when a pet dies. "Oh everyone kills a couple of plants" Yes but why? Why is that less bad? Why does that happen? There surely are people who HAVENT done that. Nobody would say "Oh but Everyone kills their first few pets" that would be fucking insane and i think we would ban people from having pets. I KNOW there are people who are like this, ive witnessed it so many times by kids who saw my budgies when i was a kid, loved how tame they were and wanted some as well and then stopped caring about them a week later. Me telling them it will take time and theres no guarantee for success but they must try anyways was not accepted. "Its a learning curve after all" So is having a pet. Again, WHY is it different? is it really or are we just accepting this because humans happen to see plants as lesser so we put less effort into them (not everyone but most do) Plants survive being trampled on, being nibbled on, freezing, burning in the sun and other shit. Pets usually dont. Especially not the Being Trampled On part.

I see failing to notice that Hotel California (my butterwort who is now an ex-butterwort....) had a mold issue as something that is as serious as failing to notice that a pet is sick. It is a personal failure. I brought this plant home and failed to provide for it accurately. I caused suffering to a Living Being. I know it is a common issue but WHY

[travel2unlimited]

Wildflowers of Eastern Greenland Greenland may not be green, but it the short summer period it explodes with wildflowers. Many bloom for a very short time - weeks or perhaps even days, almost all are small and close to the ground, if not miniature, but all are super showy and bright to attract the few pollinating insects that exist. There were many coming Arctic wildflowers like cottongrass or poppies or various saxifrages, but there were some quite rare finds like the carnivorous butterwort. All in all, there are 25 species collected in this post plus 3 types of berries. I hope it’s one of the more comprehensive lists of the Eastern Greenlandic flora, and my job as a botanist-at-heart is complete and done. The species pictures are Dwarf willow, Arctic cottongrass, Northern common cottongrass, Mountain sorrel, Alpine bistort, Arctic wintergreen, Arctic alpine fleabane White Arctic bellheather, Entireleaf Aven, Mountain aven, Drooping saxiflage, Alpine saxifrage, Tufted saxifrage, Purple saxifrage Yellow mountain saxiflage, Dward fireweed, Arctic mouseear, Moss campion, Arctic campion, Hairy lousewort, Alpine Cinquefoil, Common Butterwort, Showy Pussytoes, Mountain Harebell, Tundra Chickweed, Arctic Mouseear, Mountain crowberry, Bearberry, Bog Blueberry #travel2unlimited #travel #travelblog #arctic #arcticcircle #greenland #eastgreenland #oceanwideexp #expedition @oceanwideexp #flora #wildflowers (at Greenland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CiOip-0j-Rf/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[lmuurpress]

Cornwall’s Numerous Beautiful Flowers!

[The reporting numbers of flowers in Cornwall is roughly around 200 and this was the informational report that inspired the motions to create this fine arts printed matter. While the field working journeys took me to numerous different sites, I wasn’t counting the number of flowers that I was just photographing. Out of the potential 200 different flowers in Cornwall I only need appropriately 120 photographs. It’s funny, what was the initial constructing idea for this book it wasn’t what I ended up executing as the final design layout of this publication. Along the Cornish countryside some of the plants I saw along the banks of the waterways and almost everywhere are Wild Garlic, Yellow Iris, St John's-Wort, Dandelion, Cowslip and many others.

I noticed that throughout the Cornwall area many same species of plants are thriving in surrounding wildlife areas, cities, & townships, as such it’s very common to see all around the plants like Carline Thistle, Wild Daffodil, Burdock & Common Butterwort. Likewise, when you have travelled from locations to locations, you’ll also notice that many of the garden plant species that the Cornish locals are growing you’ll also have a similarity of abundance in the people’s gardens. Even after saying that, you’ll still find some unique plants amongst the local walking. Inland and the sea; there are some varieties of plant species that would only thrive in the Cornish inland areas while there are also some plant species that have found their places by the seaside.

The coordinates of 50.2660 degrees North N, & 5.0527 degrees West these are the nautical locations on the latitude and longitude for the amazing environmental area called Cornwall. The breath-taking waters that is the embodiment of summertime leisure and pleasures is none other than the Atlantic Ocean and for centuries it’s been the channelling waypoint to travelled from land to see to the Cornish side of England. The numerous flowers of Cornwall are just a literary appetizer, while my expanding creative interests and visual sights are to aid the production of more fine arts books in the durations of pursing higher educational accomplishments, such as studying and acquiring a Marine Conservation Diploma & an Environment Photography PhD degree.

I have lived in many areas of the UK, & I must say, it’s the first time in my life while here in the UK that I am seeing such an area teeming with so many different floral lives. When I was out and about in the Shetland Island of Scotland; yes, there were wild flowers around; however, not in the abundance as in Cornwall, and the extreme cold weather of Shetland made it uncomfortable & difficult to photographed. Even in the Cornish winter seasons, outside photography in Cornwall is a much warmer environment to be in, because my hands were not freezing burning cold while engaging in the journeying fieldwork for this publication. The terrain of Cornwall with its rich floral patterns produced a serene effect on the body, which caused smiling to occur.

This caused me to think, does flowers cause people to smile and the studies shows yes flowers does have an immediate impact on people’s happiness. I am very happy here in Cornwall and this flowery book can attest!]

L-Muur Press P3 PLAY! Journeying Fieldwork! Ne Plus Ultra!

JUS COGENS ERGA OMNES! SELF-DETERMINATION FLOWING TO ALL!

[creepyhouseplant]

I thought my carnivorous plants would make a great first post!

Top left, purple pitcher

Top right, common butterwort

Bottom left, cape sundew

Bottom right, spoon leaf sundew

Carnivorous plants have always been one of my special interests. I'm just so fascinated by them! I've had Venus fly traps in the past, other pitchers. I actually have another pitcher, a velvet pitcher, but it's not doing so hot. I got it discounted, and I think the seller may have been feeding it tap water instead of distilled, and she wasn't thrilled about having the plant in her shop in the first place because she is vegan. So she ended up giving it to me at a discount because she wanted it out! I'm still trying to revive it, but I'm starting to get less hopeful about it.

[galadhir]

If you have houseplants, it's galling to discover that one of the things they breed is small flies. Tiny flies breed in the soil and soon you have swarms of them.

Also, in the summer (in the UK) you have your windows open and flies come in. That's when you could resort to fly-killer sprays (bad, toxic) or you could put up fly-paper (medium, not very recyclable.) Alternatively you could make house-room for old Barley here:

aka the common Butterbur.

It hasn't got soil on it, it's not dirty - that's flies that it's captured with the sticky surface of its leaves, and which it is slowly digesting. That big splotch where you can still see a wing is a mosquito.

Never did I think I would love a plant designed to live in a rancid bog which digests flesh for nutrients, but I do. It had a beautiful, delicate purple, violet-like flower in early May and now it's chomping down on my unwanted flies.

I don't know what to think about the fact that Tolkien named his friendly innkeeper after a plant that lures creatures in with its lush green leaves and then eats them, but as living fly-paper goes, I couldn't be more thrilled with it.

...[edit]

Ugh. That'll teach me to rely on common names and then misremember them.

I went off to google my butterbur last night and discovered that it isn't a butterbur at all. It's a butterwort! It is in fact Pinguicula Grandiflora, the Irish butterwort.

Butterbur (Petasites hybridus) otoh looks like this

its big leaves were apparently originally used to wrap pats of butter before they were put in the storehouse, and it's also the name of a kind of felt hat. So that makes a lot more sense from the perspective of a Tolkien innkeeper.

My Barleyman Butterwort is keeping its name though. It's fond of it now.

[creativecommonsplants]

Mexican Butterwort by incidencematrix on Flickr.

This work is licensed under CC BY 2.0. 

[botaniqueer]

I posted 254 times in 2021

89 posts created (35%)

165 posts reblogged (65%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 1.9 posts.

I added 283 tags in 2021

#plampts - 67 posts

#plants - 60 posts

#food plants - 31 posts

#plantblr - 30 posts

#flowers - 23 posts

#succulents - 16 posts

#indigenous - 16 posts

#solanum - 15 posts

#carnivorous plants - 14 posts

#pinguicula - 11 posts

Longest Tag: 126 characters

#unless we want to go the treacherous route of defining meat to include all opisthokonts causing mushrooms and yeast to be meat

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Someone has been very busy! (Pinguicula X sp.)

Feeding time seems to be when I water things because it disturbs the soil and causes them to take flight. :P

97 notes • Posted 2021-01-06 01:39:09 GMT

#4

I am permanently jealous of the local plant shop’s butterwort rock. Look at how cute and serene they all look!!

99 notes • Posted 2021-05-27 06:58:41 GMT

#3

I originally ordered Malabar spinach seeds (Basella alba var rubra, 49 days) because I wanted some edible greens but it turns out they’re very pretty and good as ornamentals as well! They look like Pileas and Peperomias except edible and not related to either!

Check out that vining action!

115 notes • Posted 2021-08-27 06:24:47 GMT

#2

Thinking a lot about how the concept of species is socially constructed.

We tend to conceptualize species as neat slots (which philosophically can be described as Ideals) in the ground that organisms gravitate towards, but in reality species are more like motes of dust sliding around on an infinite frictionless surface and always in motion.

What we see as a species we're just trying to take a statistical average of those piles of dust representing a population, but the genetic distribution of those individuals changes from year to year and what constitutes that species changes, since Ideals or baselines don't exist for any species.

What we know now as a sparrow isn't exactly the same as what people 20,000 years ago knew as one, but the change isn't easily noticeable because of how a species can change (at least the ones visible to the naked eye anyways) and if we were to resurrect a population from thousands of years ago, they'd most likely be different than modern ones. Life changes in a smooth continuum.

The continuation of life (and thus, evolution) is just a very very long ship of Theseus where living group of organisms' genetics slowly change in a slow game of telephone. What we see as a species and think of in terms of ideals is actually a continually changing process being run until that population has no more living descendents (extinction).

121 notes • Posted 2021-08-09 03:00:30 GMT

#1

Finally got these!! This is Solanum pyracanthum! A very punk rock-looking nightshade from Madagascar.

I didn’t expect the colors to be so bold in real life! I thought the photos were all enhanced or something.

I got two of them with the idea of getting seeds in case they’re not self compatible, with the intention to help make these more available, since they’re still a little difficult to get.

One of the common names is Porcupine tomato, though they’re entirely toxic so these shouldn’t be eaten unlike actual tomatoes.

178 notes • Posted 2021-09-16 02:53:45 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[tseneipgam]

"Summer on the high plateau can be delectable as honey; it can also be a roaring scourge. To those who love the place, both are good, since both are part of its essential nature. And it is to know its essential nature that I am seeking here. To know, that is, with the knowledge that is a process of living. This is not done easily nor in an hour. It is a tale too slow for the impatience of our age, not of immediate enough import for its desperate problems. Yet it has its own rare value. It is, for one thing, a corrective of glib assessment: one never quite knows the mountain, nor oneself in relation to it. However often I walk on them, these hills hold astonishment for me. There is no getting accustomed to them.”

"the whole wild enchantment , like a work of art is perpetually new when one returns to it. The mind cannot carry away all that it has to give, nor does it always believe possible what it has carried away.”

"To pit oneself against the mountain is necessary for every climber: to pit oneself merely against other players, and make a race of it, is to reduce to the level of a game what is essentially an experience. Yet what a race-course for these boys to choose! To know the hills, and their own bodies, well enough to dare the exploit is their real achievement."

"The presence of another person does not detract from, but enhances, the silence, if the other is the right sort of hill companion. The perfect hill companion is the one whose identity is for the time being merged in that of the mountains, as you feel your own to be. Then such speech as arises is part of a common life and cannot be alien. To “make conversation,” however, is ruinous, to speak may be superfluous. I have it from a gaunt elderly man, a “lang tangle o’ a chiel,” with high cheek bones and hollow cheeks, product of a hill farm though himself a civil servant, that when he goes on the hill with chatterers, he “could see them to an ill place.” I have walked myself with brilliant young people whose talk, entertaining, witty and incessant, yet left me weary and dispirited, because the hill did not speak. This does not imply that the only good talk on a hill is about the hill. All sorts of themes may be lit up from within by contact with it, as they are by contact with another mind, and so discussion may be salted. Yet to listen is better than to speak. The talking tribe, I find, want sensation from the mountain — not in Keats’s sense. Beginners, not unnaturally, do the same — I did myself. They want the startling view, the horrid pinnacle — sips of beer and tea instead of milk. Yet often the mountain gives itself most completely when I have no destination, when I reach nowhere in particular, but have gone out merely to be with the mountain as one visits a friend with no intention but to be with him."

"This is the river. Water, that strong white stuff, one of the four elemental mysteries, can here be seen at its origins. Like all profound mysteries, it is so simple that it frightens me. It wells from the rock, and flows away. For unnumbered years it has welled from the rock, and flowed away. It does nothing, absolutely nothing, but be itself."

"it is the August-blooming ling that covers the hills with amethyst. Now they look gracious and benign. For many many miles there is nothing but this soft radiance. Walk over it in a hot sun, preferable not on a path (‘I like the unpath best,’ one of my small friends said when her father had called her to heel). "

"The more one learns of this intricate interplay of soil, altitude, weather, and the living tissues of plant and insect (an intricacy that has its astonishing moments, as when sundew and butterwort eat the insects), the more the mystery deepens. Knowledge does not dispel mystery.Scientists tell me that the alpine flora of the Scottish mountains is Arctic in origin — that these small scattered plants have outlived the Glacial period and are the only vegetable life in our country that is older than the Ice Age. But that doesn’t explain them. It only adds time to the equation and gives it a new dimension… My imagination boggles at this. I can imagine the antiquity of rock, but the antiquity of a living flower — that is harder. It means that these toughs of the mountain top, with their angelic inflorescence and the devil in their roots, have had the cunning and the effrontery to cheat, not only a winter, but an Ice Age. The scientists have the humility to acknowledge that they don’t know how it has been done."

"Half-closing the eyes can also change the values of what I look upon. A scatter of white flowers in grass, looked at through half-closed eyes, blaze out with a sharp clarity as though they had actually risen up out of their background. Such illusions, depending on how the eye is place and used, drive home the truth that one of an infinite number, and to glimpse an unfamiliar one, even for a moment, unmakes us, but steadies us again. It's queer but invigorating. It will take a long time to get to the end of a world that behaves like this if I do no more than turn round on my side or my back”

"So simply to look on anything, such as a mountain, with the love that penetrates to its essence, is to widen the domain of being in the vastness of non-being. Man has no other reason for his existence.”

"a flower caught by the stalk between toes is a small enchantment"

"It is nonsense to suppose, when I have perceived the exquisite division of running water, or a flower, that my separate senses can make, that there would be nothing more to perceive were we but endowed with other modes of perception. How could we imagine flavour, or perfume, without the senses of taste and smell? They are completely unimaginable. There must be many exciting properties of matter that we cannot know because we have no way to know them. Yet, with what we have, what wealth! I add to it each time I go to the mountain—the eye sees what it didn't see before, or sees in a new way what it had already seen. So the ear, the other senses."

"So my journey into an experience began. It was a journey always for fun, with no motive beyond that I wanted it. But at first, I was seeking only sensuous gratification – the sensation of height, the sensation of movement, the sensation of speed, the sensation of distance, the sensation of effort, the sensation of ease: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. I was not interested in the mountain for itself but for its effect upon me, as puss caresses not the man but herself against the man’s trouser leg. But as I grew older, and less self-sufficient, I began to discover the mountain in itself. Everything became good to me, its contours, its colours, its waters and rock, flowers and birds. This process has taken many years, and is not yet complete. Knowing another is endless. And I have discovered that man’s experience of them enlarges rock, flower and bird. The thing to be known grows with the knowing."

[justcallmemrc]

Common butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris) near the Clava Hill, Inverness-shire. Thought I'd try something different for a change.

Taken May 2020