The Name Game

The Mock Turtle’s Story

"Very true", said the Duchess:                         

"Flamingos and mustard both bite.”

And the moral of that is – 
“Birds of a feather flock together."                       
"Only, mustard isn’t a bird", Alice remarked. 

"Right as usual,” said the Duchess: 
"what a clear way you have of putting things!"                    "It’s a mineral, I think," said Alice. 
"Of course it is" said the Duchess,      
 who seemed ready to agree to everything

                                                       

  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, 1865                                                 Lewis Carroll 

Since we share our planet with anywhere from 1.5 million-30 million species of organisms, there is a need to 1) identify them; 2) name them; 3) organize these species into categories which reflect their characteristics & evolutionary relationships.  Such is the science of taxonomy. 

Binomial nomenclature (remember high school biology?) refers to the  scientific name (not Latin name- this is a misnomer-as many names have Greek origins) of an organism. Black mustard, for example, Brassica nigra, belongs to the genus, Brassica and the species, nigra.  This precise way of naming things (thanks to Carl Linnaeus ) not only provides us with evolutionary information about the organism, it also allows us to unambiguously refer to and communicate internationally about a particular species.

Do You Believe in Magic?

Brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)

A wonderful bird is the pelican.
His beak can hold more than his belly can. 

He can hold in his beak
enough food for a week.
But I'll be darned if I know 

how the hellican!

              - Dixon Lanier Merritt

Fossil records indicate that pelicans have changed little over the last 30 million years. They are found on all continents except Antarctica and are often persecuted by fishermen who perceive them as competition, although scientific evidence proves otherwise.

Quite iconic, the pelican has long been a symbol in mythology, magic, & religion; the Egyptians considered it a goddess as did early Peruvian cultures. Pelicans frequently peck at their breasts whilst preening, and in Medieval Europe it was thought that these avian mothers were so caring of their young that they wounded their breasts to nurse them with their own blood.  This myth of self-sacrifice launched the pelican into Christian symbolism. Elizabeth I of England wore the symbol on her chest, and the pelican feeding her young appeared in the first edition of the King James Bible in 1611.

Can't Find my Way Home...

Sycamore (Acer Pseudoplatanus)

When we are stricken and cannot bear our lives any longer, then a tree 

has something to say to us: Be still ! Be still ! Look at me! 

              Life is not easy, life is not difficult. Those are childish thoughts. . . .

 Home is neither here nor there. Home is within you, or home is nowhere at all. 

 

                                    Herman Hesse, Trees: Reflections and Poems

                                                                                           Published 1984

You Stepped Out of a Dream

The Sleeping Gypsy, 1897 (oil on canvas)

Museum of Modern Art, New York

'There are some who can live without wild things and some who can't.'
                                                  Aldo Leopold, American nature conservationist

Henri Julien Rousseau, a Post-Impressionist painter, was largely self-taught and did not paint full time until he was 49 years of age.  The jungle is featured in many of his works, however he never actually set foot in one, taking his inspiration from the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and illustrations he found in books. Often described as poetic, The Sleeping Gypsy is one of his most recognizable works and conveys a remarkable sense of serenity.

And Your Bird Can Sing

 Or listening to the  laughter of the loon;

 Or, in the evening twilight's latest red;

Beholding the procession of the pines..

   R.W. Emerson (The Adirondacs) 1858  

Gavia immer, or common loon, is a water bird. Like albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters, they are tube-nosed swimmers, having a salt gland in their heads and two elongated nostrils which they use to get rid of salt. Known as 'divers' in the UK, their song is haunting and evocative.