There are reasons why plants take a back seat
- Herb Broda: Nature Notebook
- August 23, 2019
- 1642
Quick, name some mascots for NFL teams. Now look at your list. How many teams are named after plants? Yep, none.
College teams also are not plant inclusive. Alas, I could only find the Delta State Fighting Okras. Admittedly the Baltimore Begonias or the Denver Dandelions don’t create quite the excitement of a raven or bronco, but there must be one or two fearsome blooms out there.
Plants also are getting slighted in higher education. Author Angelique Kritzinger cites National Science Foundation research funding statistics showing the number of research universities offering botany degrees has dropped by half since 1988. Herbaria, those “plant libraries” containing thousands of specimens of dried plants, also are being eliminated to save the cost of climate control and storage.
We just tend to recognize more animals than plants. There is even a tendency for very young children to recognize animals as living organisms sooner than plants. When walking in a park or even in our own yards, we usually see the plants as a multi-green textured background with a few splashes of color, rather than as individual species.
About 20 years ago, botanists Elizabeth Schussler and James Wandersee coined the term “Plant Blindness” to refer to the inability to see or notice the plants in one’s own environment. As a result there is an inability to recognize their importance, appreciate them or rank them as equal to animals.
There are lots of reasons why plants take a back seat to animals. Botanist Schussler notes that plants lack visual clues for individuality. They blend together in color and shape and usually have no “face.” Because they don’t move, they are less threatening than animals and in most cases are not dangerous. We notice much more quickly what moves and could possibly harm us.
So what’s the big deal? According to author and scientist Kritzinger, “Many of our biggest challenges of the 21st century are plant based: global warming, food security and the need for new pharmaceuticals that might help in the fight against diseases.”
You probably have several plant-based medicines in your medicine cabinet. Think aspirin and menthol throat lozenges. There also is an impressive list of life-saving drugs that are plant based — quinine for malaria and digitalis for heart conditions, for example — but there are dozens more. Today, many drugs are synthetic formulations based upon earlier plant discoveries.
Keep in mind we have not nearly identified all of the plant species on the planet. By some estimates, only 20 percent of the plant and animal species in the world have been found. Plus habitat loss, climate change and world-wide pollution problems can lead to the extinction of plant species even before they have been discovered. Who knows how many life-saving plants are still waiting to be found?
To put it simply, the world needs more folks who notice plants, people who appreciate them and recognize their importance.
Flower of the month
You have to look closely for delicate spring wildflowers pushing up through winter detritus. Mid-summer’s wildflowers, though, have an in-your-face swagger. Don’t miss the amazing display of outrageous colors, shapes and textures of flowers at this time of year.
Although it’s tough to pick a favorite, the purple coneflower has to be on my list. It’s a great example of a native prairie plant that grows 2-4 feet tall with daisy-like flowers that have a spikey “cone” at the center. The petals are reddish-purple and tend to droop from the cone center.
If you can't make it to a meadow, there’s an excellent chance a coneflower is blooming in a garden very near you. Because the flower blooms into early October, it’s a popular plant for landscaping. Coneflowers last as cut flowers and make a great summer accent to a table.
To see an impressive example of what modern horticulture can create, visit the Secrest Arboretum on the OSU Wooster campus. The Arboretum recently planted 96 different varieties of coneflowers in the former Rose Garden. According to curator Jason Veil, 10 years ago there were only a few varieties, but now there are more than 100 varieties of this genus of coneflower.
Coneflowers are the go-to plant for goldfinches; cardinals and blue jays like them too. If you have coneflowers in your garden, leave the dead blossoms on the plant to create a natural birdfeeder providing nourishment all winter.
Email Herb Broda at 4nature.notebook@gmail.com.