Human Flower Project

Friday, June 30, 2006

Flowers & Mummies

Archaeologists find a 3000-year-old flower garland in the Valley of the Kings.

Egyptologist Nadia Lokma points with light inside the sarcophagus.
Photo: Khaled Desouki, for AFP

Flowers are ephemeral, right?

We tended to think so, until this week’s discovery in Egypt. Archaeologists and the press had gathered for the opening of the last sarcophagus in chamber KV63, adjacent to King Tut’s tomb. All were spellbound as Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, opened the coffin. Expecting to find the mummy of Tut’s mother, they were greeted instead with a garland of flowers, 3000 years old.

“A tangle of fabric and rusty-colored dehydrated flowers woven together in laurels that looked likely to crumble to dust if touched,” writes AP’s Alfred de Montesquiou. (We’re glad the hard-working ancient florist is spared this unflattering description.)

Since the chamber was discovered last year and more recently excavated, several archaeologists have suggested that it was a kind of underground funeral home, where royal bodies were embalmed, decorated, and otherwise prepared for formal burial. In addition to the flower garland, pottery and embalming materials—but no mummies—have been found in KV63.

Though perhaps Mr. Hawass was chagrined not to have encountered Mother Tut, Nadia Lokma, curator of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, appeared elated. She vouched that the living and the dead of ancient Egypt wore about their shoulders such garlands of flowers, woven with strips of gold. Familiar with drawings of these ornaments, Lokma said, “we’ve never seen this before in real life - it’s magnificent.”

We’re puzzled. For thanks to the equally magnificent Project Gutenberg, which is making fine books freely available online, we found this photograph of a 3000-year-old Egyptian floral collar in Arthur E.B.P. Weigall’s 1912 work, The Treasury of Ancient Egypt. And according to the credit line, this very piece belongs to the Cairo Museum. Perhaps it’s significantly different from the newly discovered garland. We’ll try to contact Prof. Lokma and learn more.

Garland of leaves and flowers (c. 1000 B.C.)
“placed upon the neck of a mummy”—A. Weigall
in the Cairo Museum collection
Photo: Project Gutenberg

If you’d thought the Egyptians were rather stodgy—always standing around in profile—take a look at Weigall’s book. He has quite a lot to say about the ancient Egyptians’ joie de vivre, with special attention to their love of flowers:

“An intense craving for brightness and cheerfulness is to be observed on all sides, and the attempt to cover every action of life with a kind of lustre is perhaps the most apparent characteristic of the race. At all times the Egyptians decked themselves with flowers, and rich and poor alike breathed what they called “the sweet north wind” through a screen of blossoms. At their feasts and festivals each guest was presented with necklaces and crowns of lotus-flowers, and a specially selected bouquet was carried in the hands. Constantly, as the hours passed, fresh flowers were brought to them, and the guests are shown in the tomb paintings in the act of burying their noses in the delicate petals with an air of luxury which even the conventionalities of the draughtsman cannot hide.

“In the women’s hair a flower was pinned which hung down before the forehead; and a cake of ointment, concocted of some sweet-smelling unguent, was so arranged upon the head that, as it slowly melted, it re-perfumed the flower. Complete wreaths of flowers were sometimes worn, and this was the custom as much in the dress of the home as in that of the feast. The common people also arrayed themselves with wreaths of lotuses at all galas and carnivals. The room in which a feast was held was decorated lavishly with flowers. Blossoms crept up the delicate pillars to the roof; garlands twined themselves around the tables and about the jars of wine; and single buds lay in every dish of food. Even the dead were decked in their tombs with a mass of flowers, as though the mourners would hide with the living delights of the earth the misery of the grave.”

With “intense craving for brightness and cheerfulness,” we remember Stan Humphreys (1954-2006).

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

‘Daisy Girl’—The First Attack Ad

Lyndon Johnson’s nuclear daisy game may have clinched the presidency.

LBJ’s “Daisy Girl”
aired September 1964

Probably the first political attack ad was painted on a cave wall somewhere in France. But the one we first remember was aired on U.S. television September 7, 1964.

“One, two, free, four...” A tiny girl pulls petals off a daisy. Birds chirp in the distance. Then her count up is muffled by a bellowing countdown. The camera closes in on her dark, innocent eye, where a nuclear bomb blast swells.

Johnson’s voice runs over the image of a mushroom cloud. These are the stakes! To make a world in which all of God’s children can live, or to go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die.

Follow this link to watch it yourself.

People were appalled by the ad, which never aired again. But it drove home the idea that Johnson’s Republican opponent for the presidency, Barry Goldwater, was trigger happy, and in an age of hideous weaponry could bring world holocaust. In our view, the use of the simple daisy game is what makes this such powerful propaganda. A childhood custom so simple it seems born of Nature is blown apart by technologies of hate. 

Daisies have been associated with women and children for many centuries. By the “logic” of the ad, a vote for LBJ was an act of sanity first, but also of chivalry. “I think LBJ would have won without it. It probably didn’t win or lose him any states,” says Sean Wilentz, “but it was a real moment in advertising history.”

Here are a number of commentaries about both the original ad and a new version, created by MoveOn in 2003 to oppose George W.  Bush’s reelection.  This article suggests that the TV attack ad has had its day (and certainly the failed MoveOn experiment suggests that’s so).

If you’d like to watch a bunch more political ads and snippets, including Bush Senior’s appallingly effective “Willie Horton” commercial, have at it.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

She Stoops to Five Dozen, to Conquer

Sandra Bulloch tried floral deception and, unfortunately, it worked.

Sandra Bullock, overwrought in earlier days
Photo: Sandra Bullock Photo Gallery

“I have no problem talking about a very shallow, needy time in my life,” says movie star Sandra Bullock.

And since the last brunette in film is willing to tell on herself, we can pass the word. Bullock admits to having sent herself five dozen long stemmed roses, with cards too, to get a man’s attention.

“I knew he was coming by to drop off some keys,” Bullock explained, so she had the bouquets on view. “He left and I got a call from him right away! That’s what depressed me - it worked!”

Bullock goes on to say “We ended up dating for a very long time,” so we’re thinking she’s referring to a local Austin Guitarzan, but who knows? A year ago she married somebody else, and had a Wyoming florist decorate with wildflowers. You’ve come a long way, Sandy.

We suspect that Bullock didn’t invent this trick of seduction. So now, Needy, I mean, Gentle Readers, please tell us about your floral lies. What do think of this come on? It strikes us wiser than most—maybe better if it doesn’t work. All those flowers are hors d’oeuvres for a hungry heart.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Midsommar in Wisconsin

Swedish heritage comes full circle with a Midsummer wreath.

Ingrid’s birthday crown, June 2006
Photo: courtesy of Moonfoolish

We’re not certain whether our friend Moonfoolish is Swedish, but if she’s not, she sure does act the part.

Her family celebrated Midsummer over the weekend as is traditional in much of Scandinavia. Close to the solstice, it’s observed “the eve of the Saturday between June 20- 26.” In more southerly parts of Europe, May Day is the big floral holiday, but this far north, “spring” flowers don’t come into full bloom until late June. Last year, we wrote about the glorious majstang (May pole), but with inspiration from Moonfoolish we concentrate this year on the Midsommår wreath.

The Old World custom seems to reserve the making and wearing of wreaths for youngsters. The “girl who goes out in the meadow and, under unbroken silence, picks seven different kinds of flowers and tucks them under her pillow, will dream of the man she will marry.”

Midsummer, celebrated near Janesville, Wisconsin, June 24, 2006
Photo: courtesy of Moonfoolish

Moonfoolish and her family took tradition into their own hands, and made a gorgeous floral crown to honor sister Ingrid on her 60th birthday. Our friend writes, “We had a wonderful day.  We went on a garden tour in Janesville in the afternoon, came home to a dinner of Swedish meatballs and all the fixings and plenty of birthday cake.  Then we decorated the ‘Majstang’ and celebrated Midsummer in a very satisfying way.”

Check this site, for more on the Swedish settlement of Wisconsin. Attracted by the Wisconsin topsoil, “the first Swedish colony was established by Gustav Unonius in New Upsala,” 1841. Several bad harvests in a row convinced a wave of Swedish farmers to emigrate in the 1850s.

Thank you so much, M., for sharing with us how your family is living out these floral customs. Ingrid, here’s hoping that wreath conjured delicious dreams. Happy birthday to you.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Is This Trillium a Liberal?

Ontario’s new logo may have partisan leanings.

Ontario’s logos, old and new
Photo: Toronto Star

The people of Ontario, Canada, love their wildflowers—in fact, chose a native trillium to represent them as the province’s emblem.

But “to attract new business and investment to create jobs,” some among Ontario’s leadership thought the old trillium logo, designed in 1964, needed freshening up. They paid an ad firm $219,00 for a redesign and got more than they bargained for: floral controversy.

Critics are claiming that the new trillium, an “ A-shaped logo, closely resembles the shape of the trillium embedded in the text of the Ontario Liberal Party‘s trademark.” In fact, the Liberal incumbents did order the new logo and, oops, hired the same PR firm that, according to one source, had done free work for the party in recent elections.

Ontario Liberal Party’s logo

Turns out that political forces in Ontario have been haggling over the trillium for quite some time. “Under the Tories of former premier Bill Davis in the early 1980s, the government popularized the use of a white trillium with a blue background. In the late 1980s, David Peterson, the Liberal premier, came under fire for using a photograph of a red trillium, not the typical white one, on the cover of the provincial budget.”

Here’s a deciduous forest of Canadian Liberal emblems. And here is John Wright’s gallery of Ontario trilliums.

Trillium
Photo: John Wright

The Star posted a variety of citizens’ reactions to the latest trillium tempest.

“I grew up with the original trillium and have identified with it throughout my life. It always gives me a warm feeling when I saw it on a highway or in print,” wrote Scott Lomas of Toronto. Easy, Scott. That’s a logo, we’re talking about, not a religious icon!

“This is totally disgusting, given the almost daily talk about the crisis of our health-care system,” huffs Luca Ballarini, Richmond Hill.

With an eye toward botanical accuracy, Craig Jenson of Newmarket notes, “Trillium petals have rounded ends, not pointed.”

And William Bedford, Toronto, misses the point by transcending it. “The picture of a real trillium on the front page of today’s Star is beautiful, and would make a far better symbol for Ontario than any of the stylized ones, and wouldn’t cost anything.”

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Water Hyacinth—Double Edged

Note: Thanks to scholar Jeremiah Kitunda for this extended response to an earlier entry (January 31, 2005). The detailed information here warrants a post of its own. In the interest of building an online library, The Human Flower Project welcomes inquiries and corrections.

You’ll find lots more about this plant at Jennifer Orth’s Invasive Species Weblog. JA

Harvesting water hyacinth, Lake Victoria
Photo: Aquarius Systems

By
Appalachian State University

In response to Water Hyacinth—Africa’s Not So Pretty Settler I would like to suggest some corrections with regard to the history of this plant (Eichhornia Crassipes) in Africa and elsewhere. My main point of contention is your statement that water hyacinth spread from Brazil in the 19th century and reached Africa in the 1980s.

Rather than being limited to Brazil, this plant has a wide range in South America including Jamaica, Venezuela, and Peru. Through circumstantial evidence and cross-examination of secondary sources, I have come to the conclusion that European explorers had seen and probably carried Eichhornia Crassipes from South America to Europe and Africa between the 16th and 17th centuries. It is evident that the plant was in Europe by the early 18th century, and I surmise that European travelers to Africa at the time had also taken it to African islands of the Indian and Atlantic oceans, as well as the Niger, Congo and Nile River valleys. Contrary to the claim of your website, it is therefore noteworthy that Eichhornia Crassipes reached Africa as early as the late 18th century.

French Botanist Alire Raffeneau-Delile was cultivating that plant in Egypt by the late 1790s under the auspices of Empress Josephine and Emperor Napoleon (who occupied Egypt between 1797 and 1807). Delile had probably obtained seeds or seedlings sent to Josephine from Amazonia by Alexander Von Humboldt and Aime Bonpland, who went out collecting specimens along the Orinoco River—a tributary of Amazon—between 1790 and 1800. Botanist Delile was instrumental in the expansion of a French network of Botanical Gardens (and Amazonian plants) across Africa, the most imminent extensions being those of the King’s Garden and Montpellier Botanical Gardens to the African islands and the Nile Valley.

Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia Crassipes)
Photo: teninoue

The plant was given its current names—Water hyacinth and Eichhornia Crassipes -- in Europe in the early 19th century, its botanical name honoring Prussian Minister of Education, Culture and Medicine, John Albert Friedrich Eichhorn. The existence of other names, prior to the 19th century, makes the study of this plant’s origin and dispersal an intractable endeavor to environmental historians. [See sources at “Continue Reading"]

After the French departure from Egypt, records indicate that British naturalists continued the cultivation of water hyacinth in Egypt.  By the 1850s Agricultural Officer Mr. Birdwood was cultivating water hyacinth along the Nile. By the 1870s water hyacinth emerged as an ecological disaster in Egypt as it would be soon in other parts of the world as well.

Between 1880 and 1980, water hyacinth appeared as an ecological nuisance in many parts of Africa. It caused a popular crisis in South Africa in the 1910s, Madagascar in the 1920s, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya in the 1930s through the 1970s. In the 1980s and 1990s, water hyacinth bloomed heavily on Lake Victoria, the Nile, the Congo and almost all watercourses of Africa.

Why did biologists, botanists, and travelers carry water hyacinth to Africa between the 16th and the 20th centuries? How did they carry and tend it? Can we peg down the earliest dates, specific points of introduction and pathways of dispersal in Africa? These are hard questions to answer given the dearth of evidence. However, it is worth mentioning that several institutions were instrumental to the transfer of biota between Africa and other continents before the 20th century.

First, Christian missionaries, particularly Catholic missionaries, brought to Africa their long-standing tradition of collecting and carrying with them exotic plants and growing them in mission stations that they established in foreign lands. Jesuits, Capuchin, and the White Fathers missionaries are said to have introduced water hyacinth in the offshore islands of Africa from the early 17th century onward. Around 1900 the White Fathers introduced water hyacinth in Rwanda, at the headwaters of the Kagera River, which drains into Lake Victoria and exits the lake as the Nile River.

The second important institution in the transfer of water hyacinth to Africa was the network of botanical gardens and fish hatcheries that Europeans established in Africa from the middle of the 17th century. Subsequently, navigation activities between various European missionary or botanical stations promoted accidental spread of water hyacinth along the African water courses. From an early date European armies discovered that in addition to its aesthetic value, water hyacinth could be employed as a military asset to enhance camouflage in battlefields. In Eastern Africa surviving veterans of the two World Wars recall using water hyacinth mats for that purpose in South East Asia, and when the war was over they carried the plant abroad.

The third factor in the spread of water hyacinth in Africa was a network of museums, which emerged in the 19th century. Early samples of water hyacinth are still available in museum herbaria in Africa. The plants escaped from these herbaria to the open water in the 20th century, but mere escape was not enough to allow the plant to proliferate. Another set of factors—change in hydrology and chemistry of African water courses—promoted the expansion of small amounts of water hyacinth to crisis levels.

Over the years of its existence in Africa, water hyacinth oscillated from a crop to a weed and back. That is to say, while the majority of scientists see water hyacinth as a noxious weed posing an ecological disaster on pristine aquatic environments, many locals have taken water hyacinth as an economic opportunity.  Programs to remove the plants have employed thousands of people who were jobless before. But there have been other, more important advantages to Lake Victoria’s shoreline residents.

Furniture of water hyacinth
made in Vietnam
Photo: VVG Vietnam/Handicrafts

Members of several women’s groups and handicapped groups that I interviewed in 2001-2002 had come together to form “Community Based Organizations” (CBOs) to harvest and process water hyacinth and manufacture a variety of exotic products: paper, from which the CBOs make books (I have several samples; my current diary 2005-2006 is make of water hyacinth paper!), pulp, cards, lampshades, excellent furniture, baskets, footwear, cordage, fodder for animals, and gas. Along the Nile, water hyacinth is turned into ropes, which are used to make makeshift bridges across the mighty river. I have heard that some people have experimented with water hyacinth as a substitute for tea and will confirm this during my forthcoming trip to Lake Victoria.

While scientists claim that water hyacinth kills fish and other aquatic species, in the 1990s locals testified to a spectacular return of fish species that had disappeared since the 1930s. On close examination, other researchers and I realized that hyacinth provided shelter for these species against the predatory Nile Perch, which was artificially introduced into the lake in the 1930s. Water hyacinth also provided a breeding ground for the endangered species. The residents claim that between the 1930s and 1970s policy makers advocated the removal of floating islands (locally called Abuoro), which though an impediment to navigation, were the breeding ground for those fish species. Clearly, people who live along Lake Victoria see water hyacinth as a double-edged sword of nature. 

Continue Reading

Friday, June 23, 2006

Criminal Sage

A Mexican salvia may send you waltzing to a Tennessee jail after July 1.

Diviner’s Sage (Salvia divinorum)
Photo: Lady Salvia

“Eee-Leck-Trick- Ull Banana, is bound to be the very next phase....”

Want a short cut to wisdom? Good luck. Lots of boosters from the plant world have been tried, and for every one, including Eve’s apple, there’s been an authority, sometimes a divinity, who tries to lower the psychic ceiling as wanna-be wiseacres are blasting off.

We were alarmed to read that one of the three flowering plants that has survived summers in our Texas yard, salvia, is now among America’s Most Wanted-- an outlaw.  Actually, we have salvia greggii, and the “criminal” variety is salvia divinorum. Growing this plant for anything but ornamental reasons is already against the law in Missouri, Delaware, and Louisiana, and come July 1, it will be illegal in Tennessee, too.

Diviner’s Sage, from the Mexican state of Oaxaca, has long been used ceremonially by the Mazatec people, to induce hallucinations and visions. Like many other short-cuts, though, it often has distinctly negatively consequences. The Delaware prohibition, for example, was pressed into law by grieving parents whose son dabbled in the stuff and later committed suicide. Of course, teenagers seem to be the eagerest short-cutters of all, and lacking much authentic wisdom, don’t manage too well with a sudden draught of the stuff (or whatever boosters provide).

Right-to-ingestion forces, like the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics, have been busy. But so have been ersatz parents in many more statehouses around the nation.

Louisiana’s law, which went into effect last August, is the sweeping model. Louisiana outlaws 40 plants for human consumption, salvia divinorum and others that we DO have in the yard—datura, brugmansia—and still others we’ll need to check on—like mimosa hostilis and Ipomoea violacea. The penalty for manufacture or distribution of these plants “when intended for human consumption” is two to ten years. We don’t live in Louisiana, but even if we did, none of the plants we grow is “intended for human consumption.” Our intention is a homelier one— survival— which in this climate is just as miraculous as dancing teacups or purple haze.

Will Cook of North Carolina has provided this wonderful online salvia primer, which includes a nonchalant reference to salvia divinorum, as well as a lovely photo. Robin Marushia’s research into the ethnobotany of this “Mexican mint” is extensive and reader-friendly.

Lest you think that we descendents of the Puritans are the only killjoys about hallucinogenic plants, here’s a rundown on the (il)legal status of Diviner’s Sage elsewhere. Belgium, Australia and many other lands are anti-short-cut also.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Nicodemus, the Evening Primrose

In parts of the U.S., evening primroses open the Bible.

Evening Primrose, a.k.a. “Nicodemus flower”
Photo: Ivette Loredo

Oenothera, evening primrose, is coming into bloom about now across much of the central U.S. As its name gives away, it’s one of those fascinating night-blooming plants, favored by moths and bats.  Attracting pollinators mainly by scent, these flowers can dispense with bright colors; evening primrose and most of its fellow “owls” bloom in shades of white and yellow, the better to glow.

People who work in offices all day long may take special pleasure in moon gardens of datura, four o’clocks, moonflowers, and evening primrose. After sundown, the fragrant blossoms are cooling as a martini, and better in the long run for an agitated mind.

Today we learned that in parts of the U.S. evening primrose is known as “Nicodemus flower.” A Sunday school group in Knoxville, Tennessee, “gathered at the home of Maggie and Sid Rutherford to watch the blooming. The Nicodemus flower has special meaning… It was named for Nicodeums in the Bible. Nicodemus only met with Jesus at night.” We found one more reference to this Biblical human/flower custom, in an essay by fisherman George Rooks.

George writes that near Owensville, Ohio, evening primrose flowers abound on Fox Farm: “… starting to open at 8:20 p.m. This is a very exciting thing to see.” He learned from “a lady” in his community, “The story of Nicodemus is told in the third chapter of St. John, verses 1-20, of how he went to see Jesus and didn’t want anybody to see him. Now I am sure you Bible scholars already knew this, but I learned something new.” George also generously supplies direction to Fox Farm.

The Dead Christ Sustained by Nicodemus (detail)
by Giovanni Battista Benvenuti
Image: The Arts at Bucknell

For those who are not Bible scholars, here’s a refresher on John’s gospel. Indeed it does describe Nicodemus, a Pharisee, as coming to Jesus after sundown. And a later reference, in Chapter 7, refers to Nicodemus as “qui venit ad eum nocte” (who came to him at night).

We found this interesting Vermont site with 100+ plants in the Biblical garden, but Nicodemus is mentioned in conjunction with Aloe not Oenothera. Seems that the legend of the primrose Pharisee may not have traveled so far north as New England.

No matter where you are, when you last read the Bible, or what time it is, please enjoy the sequence of photos here as an evening primrose—Nicodemus flower—unfurls.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

‘Nature Is in Charge Now’

When the apple trees bloom, a group of Wisconsin friends pursue happiness, and find it.

Charlotte Elizabeth’s first Blossom Party
near Janesville, Wisconsin, May 2006

Photos & article:

“Our property is adjacent to an old orchard, one that was farmed up to about five years ago.  I grew up here and have never stopped being completely entranced with the orchard in all seasons.  It is no longer being farmed and is in decline - Mother Nature is in charge now (guess she always was).

“For many years we have had a blossom party, a gathering of friends and family, where we spend four-six hours out in the orchard when it is in full bloom.  Visiting, walking, napping, entertaining each other with music and conversation.  Some years we have had to cancel because of weather, etc. but this year everything was perfect.  I hope you enjoy these pictures.”

Blossom Party in an old orchard, under the Ozark Gold apple trees
near Janesville, Wisconsin

Note: You can be sure of that! This year’s picnic included fresh strawberries, asparagus, and (whee!) devilled eggs decorated with violets. A thousand thanks to you, M, for sharing with us this beautiful custom. Long may your family blossom.

8:26 a.m. EDT

Nasturtiums
Gustave Caillebotte
Image: Art Imitates Life

Summer Solstice.