Resembling Poison. Redstem Filaree, Erodium cicutarium, Océ-weerd, Venlo, The Netherlands
In yesterday's posting I talked a bit about that Real Purple Poison, Aconite. Perhaps that's why my attention during a pleasant, sunny walk on this Autumn morning was drawn to pretty little Redstem Filaree (actually the same patch that I've revisted over the years: www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/12726249034/in/photoli...).
In Latin our plant goes by the name Erodium cicutarium. The 'Erodium' goes back on the Greek for Heron - with reference to Herons' or Storks' bills which the long, pointed seeds resemble. 'Cicutarium' declares the foliage to look like that of Cicuta, Water Hemlock. A poison potion from that deadly plant was used to execute Socrates. The story's told in Plato's Phaedo, a moving - for some perhaps a bit 'purple' - biographical read for a Sunday whatever you might think about the arguments for the Soul's Immortality.
Resembling Poison. Redstem Filaree, Erodium cicutarium, Océ-weerd, Venlo, The Netherlands
In yesterday's posting I talked a bit about that Real Purple Poison, Aconite. Perhaps that's why my attention during a pleasant, sunny walk on this Autumn morning was drawn to pretty little Redstem Filaree (actually the same patch that I've revisted over the years: www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/12726249034/in/photoli...).
In Latin our plant goes by the name Erodium cicutarium. The 'Erodium' goes back on the Greek for Heron - with reference to Herons' or Storks' bills which the long, pointed seeds resemble. 'Cicutarium' declares the foliage to look like that of Cicuta, Water Hemlock. A poison potion from that deadly plant was used to execute Socrates. The story's told in Plato's Phaedo, a moving - for some perhaps a bit 'purple' - biographical read for a Sunday whatever you might think about the arguments for the Soul's Immortality.