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The Metamorphosis of Plants
Botany, a potentially fascinating subject ......dealing with
plants, living and extinct, and their uses, their classification,
their anatomy, physiology, and geographic distribution,
was from the early beginning….reduced to a dull taxonomy.
An endless Latin dirge…in which progress..... was measured
more by the number of corpses catalogued, than by the number of
blossoms cherished. Why it was approached
this way, is the greatest mystery........
in the study
of plant life.
It was not till the end of
the 17th century, that it was
realized........... that
plants were sexual creatures…with a flourishing
sex life of their own. The first botanist
to demonstrate that flowering plants
have sex, and that
pollen is necessary........... for fertilization
and seed formation, was a
German, "Rudolf Jacob Camerarius"!
A professor of Medicine, and
director of the Botanical Gardens at
Tubingen.
The idea that there
could be a sexual difference in
plants............ caused astonishment! Camerarius's
theory was fiercely combated, by the current
establishment. It was considered "the wildest and most
singular invention.......... that ever evolved
from a poet's mind."
The heated controversy lasted almost a generation, before it
was finally established........... that plants had sexual organs.
And could therefore, be elevated to a
higher sphere of creation.
Even so, that plants have female
organs.......... in the form of:
Vulva, Vagina, Uterus, and ovaries….serving precisely the
same functions......... as they do in women, as
well as distinct male organs........... in
the form of: Penis, glands, and
testes, designed to sprinkle the
air.......... with billions of spermatozoa; were facts
quickly covered up, by the 18th century establishment.
With an almost impenetrable veil…......of Latin
nomenclature. Which stigmatized the "Labiate
Vulva", and mis-styled the vagina. (The former being
called "stigma" and the latter
"style"). Penis and
glands, were
equally disfigured….into "filament",
and "anther".
Plants had been going through
countless millennia............ of improvement
to their sexual organs, often in the face of staggering climatic
changes. And had invented the most
ingenious methods.......... for mating and
spreading their fertile seed.
Students of Botany, might have
delighted in the sexuality of plants…but
were frustrated by such terms as "stamens",
for the male organ, and "pistils", for the
female organs.
School children........... might have been fascinated to
learn that each "corn kernel",
on a cob........ in summer, is a
separate ovule.
That each strand on the pubic, corn silk.......... tufted
around the cob, is an individual vagina…...........ready
to suck up the pollen sperm, brought to it
on the wind. That it may wriggle.........
the entire length of the stylized
vagina, to impregnate each kernel of the cob. That every
single seed…......produced on a plant, is
a separate, independent impregnation.
Instead of struggling with archaic nomenclature, teenagers
might be interested to learn that, each pollen grain............
impregnates but one womb, which contains but one seed.
That a capsule of Tobacco, contains, on an average, 2,500
seeds. Which require 2,500 impregnations.
All of which must be accomplished within a period of 24 hours!
In a space, less than one-sixteenth of an
inch, in diameter!
Instead of using the wonders of
Nature….....to stimulate the budding minds of
their pupils, "Victorian Teachers", misused the birds
and the bees….........to denature their own
sexuality.
How many Universities, even now, draw the parallel between
the hermaphroditic nature of plants,
(which bear both penis and vagina, in the same body); with the
"ancient wisdom" which relates......... that man is
descended from an Androgynous predecessor?
The ingenuity of some plants in avoiding self-fertilization is
uncanny. Some kinds of Palm Trees............ even bear
"staminate" flowers one year, and "pistillate"
the next. In grasses and cereals,
cross-fertilization is insured
by the action of the wind…..........most
other plants, are cross-fertilized by birds and
insects.
Like animals and women, flowers exude a powerful and
seductive odor…...........when ready for mating.
This causes a multitude of bees, birds, and butterflies, to join
in a Saturnalian Rite of fecundation.
Flowers that remain unfertilized, emit a strong
fragrance…...........for as many as
eight days, or until the flower withers and falls.
Yet once, impregnated, the flower ceases to exude it's fragrance,
usually in less than half an
hour.
As in humans, sexual frustration can gradually turn fragrance
into coolness. . Similarly, when a plant is ready for
impregnation, there is an evolution of heat....... in the female
organ. The pollen of most plants has a highly inflammable
character. When thrown on a red - hot surface, it will
ignite as quickly as gunpowder!
Artificial lightning was formerly produced on the
theatrical stage, by throwing the pollen grains
of "Lycopodium", or club
mosses, onto a hot shovel.
In many plants the pollen diffuses an odor, bearing a striking
resemblance to the seminal emission of animals
and man.
Pollen performs the same function, in
almost the same manner, as does the semen....... of
animals and men. It enters the folds of the plant
vulva, and traverses the whole length of the
vagina, until it enters the ovary, and
comes in contact with the ovule.
Pollen tubes elongate themselves, by a most remarkable process.
As with animals and humans, the sexuality of certain plants is
guided by taste. The spermatozoa of certain mosses,
carried in the morning dew…in search of females, is guided
by it's taste............ for "malic
acid". Which is located
in the delicate cups.......... at the bottom, where
moss eggs lie waiting,
to be fertilized.
The spermatozoa of ferns, on
the other hand, liking sugar, find their females
in pools of sweetened water!
"Johann Wolfgang Von
Goethe"
To break away from the "taxomania",
to put life and love and sex,
back
into the plant world, took real poetic genius.
In September of 1786, eight years after the death of Linnaeus….a
tall, handsome man of thirty-seven, (extremely attractive
to women), who had been spending holidays at Karlsbad,
taking the waters….and strolling with
the ladies........... in the woods, suddenly
rebelled against the whole system!
Secretly and stealthily, he abandoned mistress and friends, to
go south towards the Alps. Incognito, the traveler, in
real life, privy councilor and
director of mines, (for the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar);
was delighted at the beauty and variety.......... of the southern
vegetation, beyond the Brenner Pass.
This secret trip to Italy, the culmination........ of years of
longing….was to constitute a climax.......... in the life of
Germany's greatest poet…"Johann Wolfgang Von
Goethe".
"Goethe" was overcome with a sudden poetic vision.
It was to give him insight........... into
the very nature of plants. It was
also to give him a place in the history of Science, as the
precursor of Darwin's theory.......... of organic
development.
For years, Goethe had been
distressed.......... by the limitations
involved,
in a merely analytical and intellectual approach........... to the
plant world. Typified by the cataloging
mind, of the 18th century.
Disgusted at the petty contradictions......... of university
savants, the young poet, whose early verses........ glowed
with a passionate delight in nature, sought knowledge
elsewhere.
Avidly studying galvanism, and mesmerism, and pursuing the
electrical experiments of "Winkler". He discovered
Paracelsus, Jacob Boehme, Giordano Bruno, Spinoza, and
Gottfried Arnold.
To Goethe's delight, he found
magic and alchemy!
Goethe learned that the
"Occult", because it deals with
living reality, and not dead
catalogs, might come closer to the
truth…..than science. And that the
Sage, "unveiling the secrets of nature", was not
necessarily, profaning a forbidden sanctuary.
But might be walking in the "footsteps of divinity",
a person privileged to look deeply.......... into the
mystery of souls, and of cosmic
forces…
Goethe learned that the treasures of nature, are not discovered
by one.......... who is not in "Sympathy with Nature".
He saw that propagation and proliferation of one organ into
another, was simply a process of
metamorphosis.
He saw that each organ, though outwardly
changed........... from a similarity, to a dis-similarity….had
a virtual inner identity.
With his new way of looking at plants, Goethe came to the
conclusion that nature, by bringing forth.......... one part
through another….could achieve the most diversified
forms, through modification of a single
organ.
He also recognized that........... the process of
development and refinement of
form........in plants, worked through a
three-fold cycle........... of expansion and
contraction.
The expansion of foliage......... was followed by a
contraction......... into "calyx" and
"bracts". Then followed a
splendid expansion......into the petals of
the corolla…and a contraction.....into the meeting
point........of "stamen" and "stigma".
Finally, there came a
swelling........... into fruit….followed by a
contraction…...into seed. This six-step cycle
completed, the essential plant was ready to
start all over again.
In the life of the plant, this principle shows itself.........
most conspicuously, where the green leaf.........is
heightened into the flower. While
progressing from leaf to flower, the
plant undergoes a decisive ebb........ in
it's vitality.
Compared with the leaf, the flower
is a dying organ. This dying,
however, is of a kind.......... we
may aptly call.......... a "dying
into being". Life in it's mere
vegetable form, is here seen
withdrawing….in order that.......... a higher
manifestation......... of the spirit…..may
take place.
The same principle can be seen at work, in the insect kingdom.
When the caterpillar's tremendous vitality passes over, into the
short-lived beauty of the butterfly.
In the human being, it is responsible for that metamorphosis,
or organic process, which occurs......... on the path from the
metabolic, to the nervous system, and which we came to recognize
as......... the pre-condition, for the appearance of
"consciousness" within the organism.
One marvels at the powerful
forces............. which must be at work,
in the
plant organism.......... at the point of
transition, from it's green to it's
colored parts. During each expansion…the active principle
of the plant presses forth, into visible
appearance.
During each contraction, it withdraws from outer embodiment,
into what we may describe........... as a more
formless, pure state of "being".
We thus
find the spiritual principle of the
plant…....engaged in a kind of
"breathing rhythm", now appearing, now
disappearing. Now assuming power over
matter............. now withdrawing from it
again.
The thought became more and more alive in him, that it might be
possible............ to develop all plants
from a single one. This
small conceit.......... was destined to transform the science of
Botany, indeed the whole concept of the world; with it came
the idea of evolution.
Seeing that every part of the
plant.......... is a metamorphosis of the
archetypal "leaf" organ, Goethe came
to the conception........... of an
"archetypal plant". A super
sensible force, capable of developing............. into myriad
different forms. This is no single plant, but a
force......... that holds the
"potentiality" of every plant
form........ within it.
All plants are thus seen............ as specific manifestations
of the archetypal plant. Which controls the entire
plant kingdom…...and gives the value to nature's
artistry.......... in creating forms. It
is in ceaseless play.......... within the world of
plant form. Capable of moving
backwards and forwards, up and down, in
and out, through the scale of forms.
Goethe declared he could now invent plant forms…even if they
had never been realized on Earth before.
Back in Germany, after two years in Italy, Goethe found........
that the new vision of life.......... he had acquired, was
incomprehensible, to his fellow countrymen.
It was 18 years, after the Congress of Vienna, before
references to the "metamorphosis of plants",
began to appear in botanical texts and other writings. And
thirty years......... before it was
fully accepted by Botanists…..
When the essay......... became known in
Switzerland and France, people
were astonished.......... to find that a Poet,
"normally occupied with moral phenomena.......... associated
with feeling and power, and imagination, could have
achieved such an important
discovery"!
Goethe, taking his inspiration from the Rosicrucian,
Aurea Catena, of 1781, saw the whole Universe............ as being
moved by opposite polar forces. Which manifest
as light and dark, or "plus and minus" in electricity,
or oxidation and reduction in chemistry.
In his old age, Goethe conceived the Earth......... to be an
organism….animated by the same rhythm......... of inspiration
and evaporation, as a plant or animal. He
compared the Earth......... and her hydrosphere, in which he
included.......... the humid atmosphere.............. and it's
clouds, to a Great Living Being…..........perpetually
inhaling and exhaling.
When Goethe died....... on March 22, 1832, twenty-seven
years.......... before Darwin was to proclaim his
principle.......... of organic evolution, he was considered
Germany's greatest Poet. With a "Universal Mind",
capable of compassing every domain.......... of human activity and
knowledge. But as a Scientist, he was considered
a layman.
Continue to the Soul Life of
Plants & Trees
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