Traveler's Palm Could Save Your Life

Dr Abe V Rotor

Water stored in the leaf axils of Traveler's Palm (Ravenala madagascariensis) is likened to a living oasis to weary travelers lost in the forest or crossing uncharted open fields. Other than emergency source of drinking water, its seeds are edible and are gathered by natives of the place.   Author demonstrates how the water is tapped like  miniature spring.  UST Botanical Garden.  Manila 

Gardeners are fascinated by the neat and orderly fan-like leaf arrangement of traveler's palm. Today the palm is one of the popular ornamental trees in homes and parks in the tropical and sub-tropical regions.  Natives claim that the plants follow a common pattern and direction which serve as living compass when lost in the forest or in the open, hence the name of the plant. 

Right photo shows the inflorescence or flower clusters from which seedlings develop and subsequently disseminated. The other means of propagation is by means of suckers (like the banana). 

Traveler's palm was once classified with the banana Family Musaceae), but later classified under Family Strelitziaceae, to which the Bird-of-Paradise plant belongs. (Acknowledgement: Internet photos)

NOTE: Ravenala is a genus of flowering plants with a single species, Ravenala madagascariensis, commonly known as traveler's tree or traveler's palm. It is not a true palm but a member of a monocotyledonous flowering plant family, Strelitziaceae. In Madagascar where the plant is endemic, lemurs are astute pollinators of Ravenala; they use their long tongues to reach the deep seated water.

Cumulus Cloud

Dr Abe V Rotor

                  

Rise up from the sea and come down as rain;

wake the ponds and drench the hills to

make the brooks laugh and the river swell;

fill the lakes and make the fields green,

 the trees and the mountain;

show your ephemeral beauty in changing faces,

in rainbow and a myriad figures

delight many a child to draw, to dream and grow;

rise, rise up and be weaned, to be free;

and if one day the water of the sea is not enough,

drink, drink deep from my little cup. ~

Acknowledgement: Photo from Internet

Protists - the Missing Link?

Protists - the Missing Link?

"... where lie the missing link and common genes,

the mystery of Creation ever since."

Dr Abe V Rotor

 Protists - Prototype Plants and Animals in acrylic by the author (4ft x 4ft) 2017

Phylogeny - the hypothetical tree of taxonomy,
from simple to increeasing complexity,
tracing the origin and place of all things living -
microbes, plants, animals, human being.

Thanks to Swedish Carl von Linnaeus' genius,
pioneer of classification we now use;
and Charles Darwin's theory of evolution,
tracing biodiversity and life's union.  

Yet life continues to defy man's knowledge, 
 from ocean depth to volcanic ledge,
where lie the missing link and common genes,
  the mystery of Creation eversince. ~

NOTE: Protists are protozoans, green algae, seaweeds, and other unicellular organisms which comprise  Kingdom Protista. In modern classification  Protista gives rise to multi-cellular organisms under Kingdom Plantae and Kingdom Animalia. Scientists have recently separated fungi as Kingdom Mycophyta. which also arises from Protitsta, whereas Protista crosses the border of bacteria and blue-green algae (BGA) which are grouped under Kindom Monera, the most primitive living things which have no organizd nuclei (prokayotes). Organisms under Protista and the other three kingdoms have organized nuclei (eukaryotes).  Thus protists link the prototype organisms and the multi-cellular organisms. 

Behind Bars in the Mind - Two-liners for Everyday Living

Behind Bars in the Mind - Two-liners for Everyday Living (Series 3) 
A problem easily solved

Often returns unresolved.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Now and then I jot ideas as they come spontaneously at work, leisure and even in the middle of the night. 

Ideas are fleeting, they just disappear and are difficult to recall.  Fortunately, with a notebook at hand, I was able to capture  and transcribed them painstakingly into two-line verses. 

Here are some I wish to share in this blog and on Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-the-air) 

1. A boy gets to be a man when a man is needed;
A man gets to be a boy in times unheeded.

2. Beauty seen once may break many hearts,
That heal soon enough as the image departs.

3. To endure the pain of hatred,
A leader’s wisdom often dared.
 
4. Only good wine grows mellow with age;
So does a good man into a sage.

5. Beauty builds upon beauty,
Ad infinitum to eternity.

6. The past may leave remnants to the future,
New to the young while dying bit by bit.



7. On some mountain top, one’s echo is clear and loud;
In the market place it dies, so in any crowd.

8. A clenched fist softens under a blue sky,
Like high waves, after tempest, die.

9. If a little in me dies if only someone must live,
Here then, Lord, here is my whole life to give.

10. The man that you see today
Was the child of yesterday. ------------------------------------------------------
The wind whistles a wild song through the trees 
before it settles into a breeze.
------------------------------------------------------

11. He who nods when old is wise and deep,
Save he by the fireside asleep.



12. How seldom, if at all, do we weigh our neighbors
The way we weigh ourselves with the same favors.

13. We say we do not have the time, is an alibi
To indolence and loafing, letting time pass by.



14. Ephemeral are the ways of our lives
Watching not the sun to set and rise.

15. Yield or refuse, a woman is delighted,
Silence her excuse to decide instead.

16. Virtues suddenly dawn upon him,
Who, behind bars, hears a mournful chime.

17. Passion and lust to a prodigal son,
After the desert blooms, it returns to sand.

18. If the world is going to end either in fire or ice,
Altogether we die once – not twice.

  
Atacama Desert in bloom 

19. What is more mean than envy or indolence
But the two themselves riding on insolence?

20. The worst persecution is one of the mind;
That of the body it can undermine.Acknowledgement: Internet photos

 

Sex of the baby in the womb is known by the looks of the mother.

Dr Abe V Rotor

You can predict the sex of the baby while it is still in the womb by the appearance of the mother. 

If the mother looks beautiful, the baby is likely to be a girl, if it is the opposite it's going to be a boy.

The formula seems easy enough, but the criteria of beauty are relative, and if one is not familiar with the person, he may not have sufficient basis of comparison.  

But I am witness to one who might have the eighth sense.  I asked her and she explained.  "A mother who is carrying a baby girl exudes warmth and radiance, her skin is smooth, her eyes bright and has an easy and positive disposition."  She pointed at her specimen, a relative of hers. 

True to her prediction, the baby proved to be a girl.

Now it was my turn.  

A cousin of mine was five months pregnant.  I studied her intently. She did not have the radiance and disposition the expert found in the mother we had earlier studied.  Everything was the opposite.  "It's going to be a boy," I concluded confidently.  

I forgot all about it until my cousin paid a visit at home. A little girl was tagging behind.  I studied her little face as she peeped behind her mother's skirt.  She looked stern and sore from crying. 

It was no different from the face I saw five years ago.  

Acknowledgement:  Living with Folk Wisdom by AV Rotor; Internet photo     

A Valley of Life

        Dr Abe V Rotor

Kite Flying, a Reflection of Happy of Childhood in acrylic by the author, circa 2012.

Never call it a valley of doom,

       but joy and adventure;

Where kites fly into the blue sky

       In praise of lovely Nature.

NOTE: Valley of death is an aphorism, mentioned in the bible and often recited in prayers.  The fact is, a valley dies mainly by the destruction of its watershed, resulting in erosion and siltation. All over the world and throughout history valleys have been lost as a consequence of calamities induced by man’s activities from deforestation to destructive farming, not to mention overpopulation. Valley of death therefore, is a grim reminder of man’s folly and greed.  This painting by AV Rotor shows a piece of that lost Eden, which man can rebuild as a good guardian of his environment.  Otherwise, after man’s demise, Nature takes over to redeem herself.  As one philosopher, when asked “How is Nature preserved?” said, “Leave Nature alone.”