Blue in the Maasweerd. Knautia arvensis at Venlo, Limburg, The Netherlands
What's in a name?! The Meuse River as it flows north from Venlo in Limburg, The Netherlands, is banked by horticulturalist fields of roses, by acres of vegetables and maize, by woodlands and mushroom grottos. Recently it was decided to 'return' the margins of the riverbanks both left and right to 'nature'. Of course, nature was aided by man and by new laws and bylaws regulating the 'naturalisation' of what is now called the Maascorridor.
Our Blue Button's official name in Latin is Knautia arvensis, "Knaut of the Cultivated Fields"; and yet the place where I took this photo is now supposed to be 'natural' and non-cultivated. Indeed: what's in a name!
In his succinct "The Blue Book", Ludwig Wittgenstein begins his discussion of language with the sentence: 'What is the meaning of a word?'. 'Arvensis' I've explained... What's this 'Knautia'? Knautia is for the siblings Christoph (1638-1694) and Christian (1656-1716) Knaut, fine German physicians and especially botanists. The younger brother was a librarian as well, and would have had sympathy for stories with regard to the curious history of Wittgenstein's 'The Blue Book'... Carolus Linnaeus, my hero, had a high regard for the Knauts' botany, and thus named this pretty plant for them. And there's a medical connection as well: Knautia was used as a remedy against the itching of scabies.
I put aside my wandering thoughts and ambled further through the fields to the little chapel at Genooi, where The Lady in Blue is honored...
Blue in the Maasweerd. Knautia arvensis at Venlo, Limburg, The Netherlands
What's in a name?! The Meuse River as it flows north from Venlo in Limburg, The Netherlands, is banked by horticulturalist fields of roses, by acres of vegetables and maize, by woodlands and mushroom grottos. Recently it was decided to 'return' the margins of the riverbanks both left and right to 'nature'. Of course, nature was aided by man and by new laws and bylaws regulating the 'naturalisation' of what is now called the Maascorridor.
Our Blue Button's official name in Latin is Knautia arvensis, "Knaut of the Cultivated Fields"; and yet the place where I took this photo is now supposed to be 'natural' and non-cultivated. Indeed: what's in a name!
In his succinct "The Blue Book", Ludwig Wittgenstein begins his discussion of language with the sentence: 'What is the meaning of a word?'. 'Arvensis' I've explained... What's this 'Knautia'? Knautia is for the siblings Christoph (1638-1694) and Christian (1656-1716) Knaut, fine German physicians and especially botanists. The younger brother was a librarian as well, and would have had sympathy for stories with regard to the curious history of Wittgenstein's 'The Blue Book'... Carolus Linnaeus, my hero, had a high regard for the Knauts' botany, and thus named this pretty plant for them. And there's a medical connection as well: Knautia was used as a remedy against the itching of scabies.
I put aside my wandering thoughts and ambled further through the fields to the little chapel at Genooi, where The Lady in Blue is honored...