An Enigmatic Plant in the Garden

An Enigmatic Plant in the Garden

Living with Nature Center

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Photos by Dr Abe V Rotor

 

 

Anthurium or Lilium? Family Araceae or Liliaceae?

It's a strange plant, heretofore an unknown specie(s).

mutant or hybrid, induced or natural, by man or the bee,

nuclear or cosmic, if radiation be the underlying key.

I consulted Quisumbing and Brown, experts in botany,

Linnaeus, Darwin, and Merrill, masters in taxonomy.
if it's Homer's or supernatural, or my own discovery.

 

Author's Note: There's a huge number of living organisms yet to be discovered and properly identified. Scientists believe that taxonomy has barely scratched the surface of our world's rich biodiversity, specially in the vast and deep ocean, the hinterlands, and those seen only under the lens, physical variations due to environment, notwithstanding. Speciation is another case. It's uncertain to classify an organism as a species at any stage of its development (speciation). "Discovering" a plant, animal or any living organism follows strictly a globally accepted scientific protocol.  Thus the "new" specimen can not be simply claimed and named after the "discoverer" or any person or organization - more so in patenting it as exclusive property, as there's a saying, "No one owns life, but the Creator." ~

An Allegory with Nature

                                      An Allegory with Nature

Dr Abe V Rotor

"Life is saving other lives, other than your own." - avr

Freedom with Nature in acrylic on wood, by AV Rotor 2025

Days are long, work hard, nights sleepless, home prison,
    Unchain your life, get out of the cave, follow the sun;
Go to the woods where creatures are free to come and go;
    Fields where the tame and wild live together as one,

When the city's no longer jungle, sky's blue, roads clear,
    home a piece of Eden you have built and shown;
Go tell the world beyond your confine, life's true meaning,
    that life is saving other lives, other than your own.

* Article inspired by Plato's Allegory of the Cave, found in The Republic, describes prisoners chained in a dark cave. They face a blank wall and watch shadows cast by a fire. They think these shadows are real. One prisoner escapes into the sunlight, learns the truth, and returns to free the others, who only reject and mock him. AI Overview on Internet

Rhinoceros Beetle - Scourge of Coconut and Other Crops

Rhinoceros Beetle - Scourge of Coconut

and Other Crops

Oryctes rhinoceros (Linnaeus 1758), Family Scarabaeidae, Order Coleoptera

Dr Abe V Rotor

  

Rhino beetle, immune to today's pesticide,

adapted to alternate hosts and widespread,

almost ubiquitous on farms and in the wild;

evolution induced by science, now dreaded.

Surreptitious weapon of biological warfare,

in whose dirty hands we can only surmise,

a warning we heed that nature's in distress

under our ignorance, or terrorism in disguise.

  

 

On-site study of the Rhinoceros Beetle reveals vulnerability of other plants like pandan (Pandanus tectorius), and anahaw, as shown in these photos taken by the author at the Living with Nature botanical garden, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur.

   

Anahaw and Oliva

Other than coconut, hosts of the Rhino beetle, include anahaw (Livistona rotundifolia), and oliva (Cycas revoluta), which resembles palm but actually belonging to an ancient group of gymnosperms dating back over 200 million years, thus the Cycad is often called living fossil. 

Speciation - evolution of new species, 

insects the most versatile;

ancient to modern, in countless number,

and ever increasing still.

They belong to the largest animal kingdom,

with relatives* in the  sea;

yet represent li'l of their kind unknown,

awaiting discovery. 

*Insects belong to the biggest phylum - Arthropoda, which contains 

more than 80 percent of the known animal species.

 

Decline of the coconut industry is largely attributed to this pest 

as shown in these field photos.

 

Triceratops Beetle (Phileurus truncatus). Photo at left by the author,

right from Internet.

What reminds us of the rhino beetle,

the likes of the extinct triceratops; 

what secret has this persistent pest,

scourge of coconut and other crops?

 

Dynastinae or rhinoceros beetles are a subfamily of the scarab beetle family, named for their rhinoceros-like horns. Other common names – some for particular groups of rhinoceros beetles – include Hercules beetles, unicorn beetles or horn beetles. Over 1,500 species and 225 genera of rhinoceros beetles are known. Wikipedia

Author's Note: There are practical ways to control rhino beetles.  Throw sand into the leaf axils of infested trees. Sand kills larva and adult as it penetrates into their body joints (conjunctiva in adults), a lesson I learned by observing healthy coconut trees along sandy shores. Another practical means of  control is through sanitation. Clear rotting coconut trees and other host plants in your garden. Get rid your garbage pile.  Check compost pit. Gather grubs for poultry and fishpond feeds.  Why not use the grubs as fishing baits?  Enjoy.

Crocodile in the Sky

Crocodile in the Sky 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Naturalism - The Eighth Sense

15th year, 2813 posts, 1964351 views, to date

These two photographs of Manila Bay along Roxas Boulevard were taken

from the Cultural Center of the Philippines where the 2009 Ramon Magsaysay 

Awards Ceremonies was held on that day, August 30, 2009.

Crocodile in the Sky 

I thought I would see the last of your kind 

With every tree cut, swamp drained, 

The river dammed or made into sewer, 

The shore into resort and fishpond. 

Or at least in homage, I would visit you

In a museum, stuffed or in skeleton.

Darwin and Freud studied you well, 

Didn’t they? So with Orwell and Marx, 

Prophets and sages of old and new, 

Crick and Watson, Venter and Collins – 

If your DNA doesn’t suffice to tell me 

All about you – then who are you? 

You must be a ghost who haunts and lurks, 

Immortal before your mortal demise 

And haunting man since his fall, 

And haunting him still - perhaps forever; 

Ah, you are the biblical devil no less 

To test man's rationality and obedience. 

You have no place then except the place 

Of your birth and those of your ancestors 

In flesh and blood – and if you are a ghost, 

It’s time to say goodbye to your friends, 

Your guardians, benefactors, 

And clear your image in the sky. ~ 

Pangea - The Protocontinent

Pangea - The Protocontinent

Genesis: In the beginning there was only one land mass.

Dr Abe V Rotor
Naturalism - The Eighth Sense

15th year, 2812 posts, 1964350 views, to date

Pangea, relief painting (23" x 24") by A V Rotor 2021'
On display at the author's residence, Living with Nature 

Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Wonder what Pangea looks like in the Book of Genesis,
     view from spaceship, images of satellite,
from facts and theories, turning back the hands of time,
     breaking up beliefs, old dogmas into new light.

Wonder where and how the protocontinent originated,
     from magma rising to the mantle of the earth,
fiery beginning of our planet through millions of years,
     until respite followed such tumultuous birth.

Wonder if life rose from Pangea, and what could it be?
     bed of evolution, seat of biodiversity
whereupon Oparin and Darwin conceived their theories;
     but - had Pangea failed to break out its unity.

Wonder if the phylogeny of living things the same as today's
     five sub-kingdoms, seen and unseen;
monerans, protists, mycophytes, plants and animals,
     too large, too diverse even on a huge screen.

Wonder what directed Pangea's breakup into continents -
     geologic, meteoric, by an Unseen Hand,
north having much more share than the south hemisphere,
     tilting the globe some degrees on its band.

Wonder if Pangea slowly lost its hold to continental drift,
     plates moving apart, plates colliding,
sinking and rising, restless, breathing through volcanoes,
     creating landscapes, weird and soothing.

Wonder if Pangea's memory, its episodes, forever gone,
     save some shaking of the ground, tides rising,
silent, obedient to Nature's call, and man at the helm,
    feebly aware of its remains still moving. ~
 

Breakup of Pangea into seven continents Internet

Bleeding Heart of Mother Nature

Bleeding Heart of Mother Nature

Originally, Bleeding Heart of the Forest

Dr Abe V Rotor

"Oh, the bleeding drops of red

where once a forest stood,

barren, cold and dead..."*

* Adapted from O Captain, My Captain by Walt Whitman

Bleeding Heart of the Forest, acrylic painting, 

(16"x19") by AVRotor, 2015

It is I, Homo sapiens, the thinking man

who changed the concept of creation,

Nature to serve man,

master and guardian.

It is I, Homo faber, the maker,

wilderness to tame, resources to harness,

untouched these are,

they go to waste.

It is I, Homo ludens, the playing man,

forest to hunt, mountain to climb,

work and leisure to me

keep my sanity.

It is I, Homo spiritus, the praying man,

mysteries I submit, mistakes I atone,

I, too, have a heart that bleeds,

the essence of being human. 

“We are all children of one great mother, Nature.” — Charles Dicken ~

In the Heart of a Seed

In the Heart of a Seed

Dr Abe V Rotor

"There is a seed of success inside of you. Let it grow. Keep it alive.”

― Mouloud Benzadi

 Germinating Seed, glass painting by the author. 

In the heart of a seed, 

Buried deep, so deep, 

A dear little plant 

Lay fast asleep. 

“Wake,” said the sunshine,

And creep to the light.” 

“Wake,” said the voice 

Of the raindrops bright. 

The little plant heard; 

And it rose to see 

What the wonderful 

Outside world might be. ~

Acknowledgement with gratitude: In the Heart of a Seed 

By Kate Louise Brown, from Internet