Damn it; it’s a weed

A message from a wildflower

With the arrival of spring, the human spirit found its escape to nature. Where else is a place better than nature?

Pandemic forced all of us to take refuge within four walls. In some sense, it was a blessing to some. Families could live together; a home became really a sweet home and not just 4 walls. However, the human adventure of being out was curtailed. With the arrival of spring, the human spirit found its escape to nature.

Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction-Edward Wilson, American biologist, naturalist, and writer.

Since the bygone era, gentle people have realized the importance of living, loving and preserving nature’ splendors.

We are the blessed children of the universe bestowed by the unconditional gifts of nature; the verdant trees, gentle wind from primeval woods, vast oceans, the shining stars, Oh! God, I can’t count your gifts.

Still, fools are busy destroying nature and the self.

Just before entering the car, my attention got distracted to the roadside bright flowers rhythmically dancing unaware of who is passionately watching.

Seeing my focused attention on the roadside plant, my friend said, forget it. It’s a weed, there are many in our garden. I clicked the beauty that has attracted me and silently drove back.

After returning home, with a cup of hot tea on the table, I downloaded all the photos to the laptop and again, time on the screen got frozen when the mesmerizing flowers gracefully filled the screen; the uncared, growing along the verge of the pavement, a worthless weed…..

My heart and mind were occupied. Time froze unaware and we could communicate silently with each other.

A flower’s appeal is in its contradictions — so delicate in form yet strong in fragrance, so small in size yet big in beauty, so short in life yet long on effect-Author unknown

It was a pleasant 4 hours hike on a narrow trail and going up and down crossing the streams flowing down the hill. The cool breeze generously oozed out the expensive gift to inhale, the pure oxygen.

Spring is the soul of the blossoming nature. It’s so creative, I wonder, if all the flowers were only roses or lilies, spring wouldn’t have been so colourful and vibrant and our songs too would be monotonous. We need to resonate with our open heart to feel the spring.

My friend’s remark about such a bright flower made me think, a weed. Why Dandelion has become a weed-like than being in the manicured garden?

The reason is in its instinct of survival, seed dispersal.

After flowering is finished, the dandelion flower head dries and petals and stamens drop off, and the parachute ball opens into a full sphere. When development is complete, the mature seeds are attached to white, fluffy “parachutes” which easily detach from the seedhead and glide by wind covering large distances. The unique morphology works to create a unique type of vortex ring that stays attached to the seed in the air. In addition to the creation of a vortex ring, the pappus adjusts its morphology depending on the moisture in the air. This allows the plume of seeds to close up and reduce the chance to separate from the stem, waiting for optimal conditions to maximize dispersal and germination [1]. What a wonderful survival and reproduction mechanism!

A fragrant wild-flower beautifully blooming on a roadside proves that adversity, no matter how powerful can be overcome with an amazing instinct of survival.

So the encrypted message is:

Like wild flowers, let us grow wherever we are; be generous by virtues; unaffected to the worth of the receiver.

Tara Desai Thank you for reading

[1] Wikipedia