I Like Drynaria for 13 Reasons

Original Title: Symbiosis of Drynaria Fern and Acacia Tree - More than Commensalism

Dr Abe V Rotor

Martinez or mynah birds ( Acridotheres cristatellus) thought

to be at the verge of extinction find abode on a century-old

acacia tree (Samanea saman), covered with an epiphytic

fern (Drynaria quercifolia)

Drynaria fern covers the limbs of an acacia tree in Tagudin, 

Ilocos Sur

                                 I like Drynaria for 13 Reasons

I like Drynaria for her feathery foliage in the distance like the proud peacock and the turkey trotting to win favors of their flock;

I like Drynaria for her sturdiness in the wind, cooling the summer air and keeping the coolness of the Amihan in December;

I like Drynaria for her resiliency, bending with the limbs and branches, turning upside down and up again the next season;

I like Drynaria for sleeping through the dry months while her host takes the show, verdant green, robust and free;

I like Drynaria for resurrecting from a state of torpor, as if she defies death and perpetuates life while others simply die;

I like Drynaria for her economy in sustenance, living on captured dirt and rain, yet discreet of such austere living;

I like Drynaria for touching the clouds with her host taming it to fall as rain and shared by all creatures around;

I like Drynaria for her ability to multiply fast through invisible spores, in one sweep of the wind are sown in far places;

I like Drynaria for its benevolence to many creatures, tenant and transient, keeping their brood in her bosom;

I like Drynaria giving the martinez birds a home, where it sings in joy and praise and thanksgiving for a beautiful world;

I like Drynaria for keeping company to passersby, to tired souls in the shadow with her host, in dark and unlikely hours;

I like Drynaria for giving off oxygen and taking in carbon that poisons the earth and living things, among them no less than I;

I like Drynaria, for caring its host and vice versa through symbiosis - a perfect bond that humans have yet to learn someday. ~

Drynaria fern growing on mahogany tree (Swietenia macrophylla) 

at the UST Botanical Garden, Manila.