Dancing in the Sunlight. Fairy Fans (Scaevola aemula) at Arcen, Limburg, The Netherlands
In his marvellous poem 'On Nature', Lucretius observes that when you enter a dark place like a barn you often see dust particles 'dancing in the sunlight'. This 'dance' is akin to what today in physics is called Brownian Movement. It's named after the great Scottish botanist and explorer Robert Brown (1773-1853). He was an ardent user of the microscope and had observed similar 'movement' within grains of pollen. But Brown was far more than a laboratory man. He had been earlier an avid explorer.
Brown travelled to Australia on HMS Investigator under captain Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) in 1801. They had circumnavigated that continent, and Brown collected around 3500 plant specimens of which some 2000 were until then unknown to Europe. One of these plants was this Scaevola aemula, Fairy Fan Flower.
It's obvious why it's called a Fairy Fan. The Latin name is clear, too, for the readers of Livy's 'Ab Urbe Condita'. In Book II of that work, Livy tells the story of courageous Gaius Mucius. The young man attempted to assassinate Lars Porsenna, the tyrant king. He got the wrong guy, and was captured. Brought before the king, he was threatened with being roasted alive if he didn't divulge the details of the plot. Mucius then put into the fire his right hand until it whithered to demonstrate he would say nothing... Impressed by his courage, Porsenna sent him back to Rome, and he became Livy's left-handed (=Scaevola) hero.
Our flower was named 'Scaevola' because of it's curious 'half-way' - "left-handed" - look: Emulating or Imitating Scaevola.
At the pretty castle gardens on the outskirts of Arcen on the right-hand banks of the Meuse River in Limburg, the Netherlands, the already low Autumn Sun was brilliant but the garden dappled in shadow. In the rays penetrating the almost Falling Leaves, our Fairy Fans danced above the water...
Dancing in the Sunlight. Fairy Fans (Scaevola aemula) at Arcen, Limburg, The Netherlands
In his marvellous poem 'On Nature', Lucretius observes that when you enter a dark place like a barn you often see dust particles 'dancing in the sunlight'. This 'dance' is akin to what today in physics is called Brownian Movement. It's named after the great Scottish botanist and explorer Robert Brown (1773-1853). He was an ardent user of the microscope and had observed similar 'movement' within grains of pollen. But Brown was far more than a laboratory man. He had been earlier an avid explorer.
Brown travelled to Australia on HMS Investigator under captain Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) in 1801. They had circumnavigated that continent, and Brown collected around 3500 plant specimens of which some 2000 were until then unknown to Europe. One of these plants was this Scaevola aemula, Fairy Fan Flower.
It's obvious why it's called a Fairy Fan. The Latin name is clear, too, for the readers of Livy's 'Ab Urbe Condita'. In Book II of that work, Livy tells the story of courageous Gaius Mucius. The young man attempted to assassinate Lars Porsenna, the tyrant king. He got the wrong guy, and was captured. Brought before the king, he was threatened with being roasted alive if he didn't divulge the details of the plot. Mucius then put into the fire his right hand until it whithered to demonstrate he would say nothing... Impressed by his courage, Porsenna sent him back to Rome, and he became Livy's left-handed (=Scaevola) hero.
Our flower was named 'Scaevola' because of it's curious 'half-way' - "left-handed" - look: Emulating or Imitating Scaevola.
At the pretty castle gardens on the outskirts of Arcen on the right-hand banks of the Meuse River in Limburg, the Netherlands, the already low Autumn Sun was brilliant but the garden dappled in shadow. In the rays penetrating the almost Falling Leaves, our Fairy Fans danced above the water...