View allAll Photos Tagged Bronchitis
Pelargonium is a genus of flowering plants that includes about 280 species of perennials, succulents, and shrubs, commonly called geraniums, pelargoniums, or storksbills. Geranium is also the botanical name and common name of a separate genus of related plants, also known as cranesbills. Both genera belong to the family Geraniaceae. Carl Linnaeus originally included all the species in one genus, Geranium, and they were later separated into two genera by Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle in 1789.
While Geranium species are mostly temperate herbaceous plants, dying down in winter, Pelargonium species are evergreen perennials indigenous to warm temperate and tropical regions of the world, with many species in southern Africa. They are drought and heat tolerant but can tolerate only minor frosts. Some species are extremely popular garden plants, grown as houseplants and bedding plants in temperate regions. They have a long flowering period, with flowers mostly in red, orange, or white, but intensive breeding has produced a huge array of cultivars with great variety in size, flower colour, leaf form and aromatic foliage.
Etymology
One of hundreds of garden and houseplant cultivars
The name Pelargonium is derived from the Greek πελαργός, pelargós (stork), because the seed head looks like a stork's beak. Dillenius originally suggested the name 'stork', because Geranium was named after a crane — "a πελαργός, ciconia, sicuti vocamus Gerania, γερανός, grus" (from pelargos, stork, as we call the Gerania, geranos, crane).
Description
Pelargonium occurs in a large number of growth forms, including herbaceous annuals, shrubs, subshrubs, stem succulents and geophytes. The erect stems bear five-petaled flowers in umbel-like clusters, which are occasionally branched. Because not all flowers appear simultaneously, but open from the centre outwards, this is a form of inflorescence is referred to as pseudoumbels.
The flower has a single symmetry plane (zygomorphic), which distinguishes it from the Geranium flower, which has radial symmetry (actinomorphic). Thus the lower three (anterior) petals are differentiated from the upper two (posterior) petals. The posterior sepal is fused with the pedicel to form a hypanthium (nectary tube). The nectary tube varies from only a few millimeters, up to several centimeters, and is an important floral characteristic in morphological classification. Stamens vary from 2 to 7, and their number, position relative to staminodes, and curvature are used to identify individual species. There are five stigmata in the style. For the considerable diversity in flower morphology, see figure 1 of Röschenbleck et al. (2014).
Leaves are usually alternate, and palmately lobed or pinnate, often on long stalks, and sometimes with light or dark patterns. The leaves of Pelargonium peltatum (Ivy-leaved Geranium), have a thick cuticle better adapting them for drought tolerance.
Taxonomy
Dillenius' introduction of the term 'Pelargonium' in Hortus Elthamensis 1732
Pelargonium inquinans, (Geranium Afric. arborescens), Hortus Elthamensis
Pelargonium is the second largest genus (after Geranium) within the family Geraniaceae, within which it is sister to the remaining genera of the family in its strict sense, Erodium, Geranium, and Monsonia including Sarcocaulon. The Geraniaceae have a number of genetic features unique amongst angiosperms, including highly rearranged plastid genomes differing in gene content, order and expansion of the inverted repeat.
Genus history
The name Pelargonium was first proposed by Dillenius in 1732, who described and illustrated seven species of geraniums from South Africa that are now classified as Pelargonium. Dillenius, who referred to these seven species with apparent unique characteristics as Geranium Africanum (African Geranium) suggested "Possent ergo ii, quibus novi generis cupido est, ea, quorum flores inaequales vel et irrregulares sunt, Pelargonia vocare" (Those who wish a new genus can therefore call those, whose flowers are unequal or irregular, ‘Pelargonia’). The name was then formally introduced by Johannes Burman in 1738. However Carl Linnaeus who first formally described these plants in 1753 did not recognise Pelargonium and grouped together in the same genus (Geranium) the three similar genera Erodium, Geranium, and Pelargonium. Linnaeus' reputation prevented further differentiation for forty years. The eventual distinction between them was made by Charles L’Héritier based on the number of stamens or anthers, seven in the case of Pelargonium. In 1774, P. cordatum, P. crispum, P. quercifolium and P. radula were introduced, followed by P. capitatum in 1790.
Circumscription
Pelargonium is distinguished from the other genera in the family Geraniaceae by the presence of a hypanthium, which consists of an adnate nectar spur with one nectary, as well as a generally zygomorphic floral symmetry.
Subdivision
De Candolle first proposed dividing the genus into 12 sections in 1824, based on the diversity of growth forms. Traditionally the large number of Pelargonium species have been treated as sixteen sections, based on the classification of Knuth (1912) who described 15 sections, as modified by van der Walt et al. (1977-1997) who added Chorisma, Reniformia and Subsucculentia.
These are as follows;
section Campylia (Lindley ex Sweet) de Candolle
section Chorisma (Lindley ex Sweet) de Candolle
section Ciconium (Sweet) Harvey
section Cortusina (DC.) Harvey
section Glaucophyllum Harvey
section Hoarea (Sweet) de Candolle
section Isopetalum (Sweet) de Candolle
section Jenkinsonia (Sweet) de Candolle
section Ligularia (Sweet) Harvey
section Myrrhidium de Candolle
section Otidia (Lindley ex Sweet) de Candolle
section Pelargonium (Sweet) Harvey
section Peristera de Candolle
section Polyactium de Candolle
section Reniformia (Knuth) Dreyer
section Subsucculentia J.J.A. van der Walt
Phylogenetic analyses
All subdivision classifications had depended primarily on morphological differences till the era of phylogenetic analyses (Price and Palmer 1993). However phylogenetic analysis shows only three distinct clades, labelled A, B and C. In this analysis not all sections were monophyletic, although some were strongly supported including Chorisma, Myrrhidium and Jenkinsonia, while other sections were more paraphyletic. This in turn has led to a proposal, informal at this stage, of a reformulation of the infrageneric subdivision of Pelargonium.
In the proposed scheme of Weng et al. there would be two subgenera, based on clades A+B, and C respectively and seven sections based on subclades. Subsequent analysis with an expanded taxa set confirmed this infrageneric subdivision into two groups which also correspond to chromosome length (<1.5 μ, 1.5-3.0μ), but also two subclades within each major clade, suggesting the presence of four subgenera, these correspond to clades A, B, C1 and C2 of the earlier analysis, A being by far the largest clade with 141 taxa. As before the internal structure of the clades supported monophyly of some sections (Myrrhidium, Chorisma, Reniformia, Pelargonium, Ligularia and Hoarea) but paraphyly in others (Jenkinsonia, Ciconium, Peristera). A distinct clade could be identified within the paraphyletic Polyactium, designated section Magnistipulacea. As a result, Polyactium has been split up to provide this new section, which in itself contains two subsections, Magnistipulacea and Schizopetala, following Knuth's original treatment of Polyactium as having four subsections.
Subgenus Pelargonium section Otidia: P. crithmifolium
Thus Röschenbleck et al. (2014) provide a complete revision of the subgeneric classification of Pelargonium based on four subgenera corresponding to their major clades (A, B, C1, C2);
subgenus Magnipetala Roeschenbl. & F. Albers Type: Pelargonium praemorsum (Andrews) F Dietrich
subgenus Parvulipetala Roeschenbl. & F. Albers Type: Pelargonium hypoleucum Turczaninow
subgenus Paucisignata Roeschenbl. & F. Albers Type: Pelargonium zonale (L.) L'Hér. in Aiton
subgenus Pelargonium L'Hér. Type: Pelargonium cucullatum (L.) Aiton
Sixteen sections were then assigned to the new subgenera as follows, although many species remained only assigned to subgenera at this stage
subgenus Magnipetala 3 sections
section Chorisma (Lindley ex Sweet) de Candolle - 4 species
section Jenkinsonia (Sweet) de Candolle - 11 species
section Myrrhidium de Candolle - 8 species
subgenus Parvulipetala 3 sections
section Isopetalum (Sweet) de Candolle - 1 species (Pelargonium cotyledonis (L.) L'Hér.)
section Peristera de Candolle - 30 species
section Reniformia (Knuth) Dreyer - 8 species
subgenus Paucisignata 2 sections
section Ciconium (Sweet) Harvey - 16 species
section Subsucculentia J.J.A. van der Walt - 3 species
subgenus Pelargonium 8 sections
section Campylia (Lindley ex Sweet) de Candolle - 9 species
section Cortusina (DC.) Harvey - 7 species
section Hoarea (Sweet) de Candolle - 72 species
section Ligularia (Sweet) Harvey - 10 species
section Magnistipulacea Roeschenbl. & F. Albers Type: Pelargonium schlecteri Knuth - 2 subsections
subsection Magnistipulacea Roeschenbl. & F. Albers Type: Pelargonium schlecteri Knuth - 2 species (P. schlecteri & P. luridum)
subsection Schizopetala (Knuth) Roeschenbl. & F. Albers Type: Pelargonium caffrum (Eckl. & Zeyh.) Steudel - 3 species (P. caffrum, P. bowkeri, P. schizopetalum)
section Otidia (Lindley ex Sweet) de Candolle - 14 species
section Pelargonium L'Hér. - 34 species
section Polyactium de Candolle - 2 subsections
subsection Caulescentia Knuth - 1 species (Pelargonium gibbosum)
subsection Polyactium de Candolle - 7 species
Subgenera
Subgenus Magnipetala: Corresponds to clade C1, with 24 species. Perennial to short lived, spreading subshrubs, rarely herbaceous annuals. Petals five, but may be four, colour mainly white. Mainly winter rainfall region of South Africa, spreading into summer rainfall region. One species in northern Namibia and Botswana. Two species in East Africa and Ethiopia. Chromosomes x=11 and 9.
Subgenus Parvulipetala: Corresponds to clade B, with 39-42 species. Perennials, partly annuals. Petals five and equal, colour white or pink to deep purplish red. Mainly South Africa, but also other southern hemisphere except South America. a few species in East Africa and Ethiopia. Chromosomes x=7-19.
Subgenus Paucisignata: Corresponds to clade C2, with 25-27 species. Erect sometimes trailing shrubs or subshrubs, rarely geophytes or semi-geophytes. Petals five and equal, colour pink to red sometimes white. Summer rainfall region of South Africa, spreading into winter rainfall region and northern Namibia, with a few species in tropical Africa, Ethiopia, Somalia, Madagascar, the Arabian Peninsula and Asia Minor. Chromosomes x=mainly 9 or 10, but from 4-18.
Subgenus Pelargonium: Corresponds to clade A, with 167 species. Frequently xerophytic deciduous perennials with many geophytes and succulent subshrubs, less frequently woody evergreen shrubs or annual herbs. Petals five, colour shades of pink to purple or yellow. Winter rainfall region of South Africa and adjacent Namibia, spreading to summer rainfall area, and two species in tropical Africa. Chromosomes x=11, may be 8-10.
Species
Main article: List of Pelargonium species
Pelargonium has around 280 species. Röschenbleck et al lists 281 taxa. There is considerable confusion as to which Pelargonium are true species, and which are cultivars or hybrids. The nomenclature has changed considerably since the first plants were introduced to Europe in the 17th century.
Distribution
Pelargonium is a large genus within the family Geraniaceae, which has a worldwide distribution in temperate to subtropical zones with some 800 mostly herbaceous species. Pelargonium itself is native to southern Africa (including Namibia) and Australia. Southern Africa contains 90% of the genus, with only about 30 species found elsewhere, predominantly the East African rift valley (about 20 species) and southern Australia, including Tasmania. The remaining few species are found in southern Madagascar, Yemen, Iraq, Asia Minor, the north of New Zealand and isolated islands in the south Atlantic Ocean (Saint Helena and Tristan da Cunha) and Socotra in the Indian Ocean. The centre of diversity is in southwestern South Africa where rainfall is confined to the winter, unlike the rest of the country where rainfall is predominantly in the summer months. Most of the Pelargonium plants cultivated in Europe and North America have their origins in South Africa.
Ecology
Pelargonium species are eaten by the caterpillars of some Lepidoptera species, including the noctuid moth angle shades, Phlogophora meticulosa. The diurnal butterflies Cacyreus marshalli and C. tespis (Lycaenidae), native to southern Africa, also feed on Geranium and Pelargonium. C. marshallii has been introduced to Europe and can develop into a pest on cultivated Pelargoniums. It has naturalised along the Mediterranean, but does not survive the winter in Westen Europe.
The Japanese beetle, an important agricultural insect pest, becomes rapidly paralyzed after consuming flower petals of the garden hybrids known as "zonal geraniums" (P. × hortorum). The phenomenon was first described in 1920, and subsequently confirmed. Research conducted by Dr. Christopher Ranger with the USDA Agricultural Research Service and other collaborating scientists have demonstrated the excitatory amino acid called quisqualic acid present within the flower petals is responsible for causing paralysis of the Japanese beetle. Quisqualic acid is thought to mimic L-glutamic acid, which is a neurotransmitter in the insect neuromuscular junction and mammalian central nervous system.
A study by the Laboratory of Apiculture & Social Insects group at the University of Sussex on the attractiveness of common garden plants to pollinators found that a cultivar of Pelargonium × hortorum was unattractive to pollinators in comparison to other selected garden plants such as Lavandula (lavender) and Origanum.
Pests and diseases
Main articles: List of geranium diseases, Pelargonium flower break virus, and Pelargonium line pattern virus
The geranium bronze butterfly is a pest of Pelargonium species. The larvae of the geranium bronze bore into the stem of the host plant, causing the stem to typically turn black and die soon after. Geranium bronze are currently listed as an A2 quarantine pest by the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization and can cause significant damage to Pelargonium species.
Cultivation
Pelargonium triste, the first species of its genus to be cultivated, here shown in its native habitat in Cape Town
Various types of Pelargonium are regular participants in flower shows and competitive events, with numerous societies devoted exclusively to their cultivation. They are easy to propagate vegetatively from cuttings. It is recommended that cuttings should have at least two nodes. Zonal geraniums grow in U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zones 9 through 12. Zonal geraniums are basically tropical perennials. Although they are often grown as annuals, they may overwinter in zones as cool as zone 7.
Cultivation history
The first species of Pelargonium known to be cultivated was P. triste, a native of South Africa. It was probably brought to the Botanical Garden in Leiden before 1600 on ships which had stopped at the Cape of Good Hope. In 1631, the English gardener John Tradescant the elder bought seeds from Rene Morin in Paris and introduced the plant to England. By 1724, P. inquinans, P. odoratissimum, P. peltatum, P. vitifolium, and P. zonale had been introduced to Europe.
Cultivars
Zonal pelargonium
There was little attempt at any rational grouping of Pelargonium cultivars, the growing of which was revived in the mid-twentieth century, and the origins of many if not most were lost in obscurity. In 1916 the American botanist Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858–1954) introduced two new terms for zonal and regal pelargoniums. Those pelargoniums which were largely derived from P. zonale he referred to as P. × hortorum (i.e. from the garden), while those from P. cucullatum he named P. × domesticum (i.e. from the home) In the late 1950s a list (the Spalding List) was produced in the United States, based on nursery listings and the 1897 list of Henri Dauthenay. It described seven groups, listing each cultivar with the list of its originator, and in most cases a date. These were Species, Zonals, Variegated-Leaved, Domesticum (Regals), Ivy-Leaved, Scented-Leaved and Old. In the 1970s the British Pelargonium and Geranium Society produced a checklist and the Australian Geranium Society started to produce a register but it was not completed till its author, Jean Llewellyn's death in 1999. None of these were published. The most complete list in its time was the 2001 compilation by The Geraniaceae Group, which included all cultivars up to 1959.
Registration of cultivars is the responsibility of the Pelargonium & Geranium Society (PAGS: formed in 2009 from the British Pelargonium and Geranium Society and the British and European Geranium Society) which administers the International Register of Pelargonium Cultivars. PAGS is the International Cultivar Registration Authority (ICRA) of the International Society for Horticultural Science for pelargoniums.
Contrasting leaves: Ivy-leaved Group (Left) Zonal Group (Right)
Cultivated pelargoniums are commonly divided into six groups in addition to species pelargoniums and primary hybrids. The following list is ordered by position in the PAGS classification. Abbreviations indicate Royal Horticultural Society usage.
A. Zonal (Z)
B. Ivy-leaved (I)
C. Regal (R)
D. Angel (A)
E. Unique (U)
F. Scented-leaved (Sc)
G. Species
H. Primary hybrids
Of these, A, U and Sc groups are sometimes lumped together as Species Derived (Sppd). This term implies that they are closely related to a species from which they were derived, and do not fit into the R, I or Z groups.
In addition to the primary groups, additional descriptors are used. The Royal Horticultural Society has created description codes. These include;
Cactus (Ca)
Coloured foliage (C)
Decorative (Dec)
Double (d)
Dwarf (Dw)
Dwarf Ivy-leaved (Dwl)
Frutetorum (Fr)
Miniature (Min)
Miniature Ivy-leaved (MinI)
Stellar (St)
Tulip (T)
Variegated (v)
These may then be combined to form the code, e.g. Pelargonium 'Chelsea Gem' (Z/d/v), indicating Zonal Double with variegated foliage. Crosses between groups are indicated with an ×, e.g. Pelargonium 'Hindoo' (R × U), indicating a Regal × Unique cross.
A. Zonal pelargoniums (Pelargonium × hortorum Bailey)
Pelargonium × hortorum (Zonal)
These are known as zonal geraniums because many have zones or patterns in the center of the leaves,[36] this is the contribution of the Pelargonium zonale parent. Common names include storksbill, fish or horseshoe geraniums.[50] They are also referred to as Pelargonium × hortorum Bailey. Zonal pelargoniums are tetraploid, mostly derived from P. inquinans and P. zonale, together with P. scandens and P. frutetorum.
Zonal pelargoniums are mostly bush-type plants with succulent stems grown for the beauty of their flowers, traditionally red, salmon, violet, white or pink. The scarlet colouring is attributed to the contribution of P. inquinans. Flowers may be double or single. They are the pelargoniums most often confused with genus Geranium, particularly in summer bedding arrangements. This incorrect nomenclature is widely used in horticulture, particularly in North America.
Zonals include a variety of plant types along with genetic hybrids such as hybrid ivy-leaved varieties that display little or no ivy leaf characteristics (the Deacons varieties), or the Stellar varieties. Hybrid zonals are crosses between zonals and either a species or species-derived pelargonium. There are hundreds of zonal cultivars available for sale, and like other cultivars are sold in series such as 'Rocky Mountain', each of which is named after its predominant colour, e.g. 'Rocky Mountain Orange', 'White', 'Dark Red', etc.
'Rocky Mountain Orange' (Zonal)
(i) Basic plants – Mature plants with foliage normally exceeding 180 mm (7 in) in height above the rim of the pot. For exhibition these should be grown in a pot exceeding 120 mm (4+3⁄4 in) in diameter but not normally exceeding 165 mm (6+1⁄2 in).
(ii) Dwarf plants – Smaller than basic. Mature plants with foliage more than 125 mm (5 in) above the rim of the pot, but not normally more than 180 mm (7 in). For exhibition should be grown in a pot exceeding 90 mm (3+1⁄2 in) but not exceeding 120 mm (4+3⁄4 in). They should not exceed 200 mm in height, grown in an 11 cm pot.
(iii) Miniature plants – Slowly growing pelargoniums. Mature plants with foliage normally less than 125 mm (5 in) above the rim of the pot. For exhibition should be grown in a pot not exceeding 90 mm (3+1⁄2 in). They should not exceed 125 mm in height, grown in a 9 cm pot.
(iv) Micro-miniature plants – Smaller and more slowly growing than miniature pelargoniums. Mature plants with foliage normally less than 100 mm (4 in) above the rim of the pot. They should not exceed 75 mm in height, grown in a 6 cm pot. Usually no separate classes for these in exhibition and will therefore normally be shown as Miniature Zonals.
(v) Deacon varieties –Genetic hybrid similar to a large Dwarf. For exhibition (when shown in a separate class), usually grown in a pot not exceeding 125 mm (5 in), otherwise as for Dwarf Zonals.
(vi) Stellar varieties – A relatively modern genetic hybrid originating from the work done by the Australian hybridiser Ted Both in the late 1950s and 1960s from crosses between Australian species and Zonal types. Easily identifiable by their distinctive half-star-shaped leaves and slim-petalled blooms which create an impression of being star shaped (or five fingered). Single varieties tend to have larger elongated triangular petals whereas doubles tend to have thin feathered petals that are tightly packed together. For exhibition purposes there is a separate class for 'Stellar' varieties, but being Zonals could be shown in an open class for Basic, Dwarf or Miniature Zonals (unless otherwise stated). Also known as "The Five-fingered Geraniums", "Staphysagroides", "Both’s Staphs", "Both’s Hybrid Staphs", "Fingered Flowers" and "Bodey’s Formosum Hybrids".
Fancy-leaf zonal pelargoniums – besides having green leaves with or without zoning, this group also have variable coloured foliage[50] that is sometimes used in classifying for exhibition purposes, e.g. ‘Bicolour’, ‘Tricolour’, ‘Bronze’ or ‘Gold’. Other foliage types are: ‘Black’ or ‘Butterfly’. There are an increasing number of these plants with showy blooms;
(a) Bicolour – includes those with white or cream veined leaves or those with two distinct colours with clearly defined edges, other than the basic zone.
(b) Tricolour – (May be Silver Tricolour (usually called a Silver Leaf) or a Gold Tricolour).
(i) Gold Tricolour – Leaves of many colours including red and gold, but usually with clearly defined edges of golden yellow and having a leaf zone, usually red or bronze, that overlays two or more of the other distinct leaf colours, so that the zone itself appears as two or more distinct colours.
(ii) Silver Tricolour or Silver Leaf – These tend to resemble a normal bi-colour leaf plant with two distinct colours usually of green and pale cream or white; the third colour is usually made up of bronze zoning. When this zoning overlays the green part of the leaf it is deemed to represent a silver colour.
(c) Bronze Leaved – Leaves of Green or Golden/Green with a heavy bronze or chestnut coloured centre zone which is known as a medallion. For exhibition purposes, when exhibited in specific ‘Bronze’ Leaf class – Must have over 50% of leaf surface bronze coloured. The dwarf plant ‘Overchurch’ which has a heavy bronze medallion.
(d) Gold Leaved – Leaves coloured golden/yellow or green/yellow but not showing a tendency to green. For exhibition purposes, when exhibited in specific ‘Gold’ Leaf class – Must have over 50% of leaf surface gold coloured.
(e) Black Leaved – Leaves coloured black, purple-black or with distinct large dark zones or centre markings on green.
(f) Butterfly Leaved – Leaves with a butterfly marking of distinct tone or hue in centre of leaf. This can be encompassed in many of the coloured leaf varieties.
Zonal pelargoniums have many flower types, as follows:
(a) Single flowered (S) – each flower pip normally having no more than five petals. This is the standard flower set for all Pelargoniums.
(b) Semi-double flowered (SD) – each flower pip normally having between six and nine petals.
(c) Double flowered (D)– each flower pip composed of more than nine petals (i.e. double the standard flower set) but not ‘hearted’ like the bud of a rose, e.g. the dwarf ‘Dovepoint’ which has full double blooms.
(d) Rosebud (or noisette) flowered – each bloom fully double and ‘hearted’. The middle petals are so numerous that they remain unopened like the bud of a rose.
(e) Tulip flowered – having semi-double blooms that never fully open. The large cup shaped petals open just sufficiently to resemble a miniature tulip.
(f) Bird's-egg group – having blooms with petals that have spots in a darker shade than the base colour, like many birds eggs.
(g) Speckled flowered group – having petals that are marked with splashes and flecks of another colour, e.g. ‘Vectis Embers’.
(h) Quilled (or cactus-flowered group, or poinsettia in USA) – having petals twisted and furled like a quill.
“Zonquil” pelargoniums result from a cross between Zonal pelargonium cultivars and P. quinquelobatum.
B. Ivy-leaved pelargoniums (derived from Pelargonium peltatum)
Pelargonium peltatum (Ivy-leaved)
Also known as "ivy geraniums". Usually of lax growth (trailing), mainly due to the long thin stems, with thick, waxy ivy-shaped stiff fleshy evergreen leaves developed by the species P. peltatum to retain moisture during periods of drought. Much used for hanging pots, tubs and basket cultivation. In the UK the bulbous double-headed types are preferred whilst on the European continent the balcon single types for large-scale hanging floral displays are favoured. Ivy-leaved pelargoniums embrace all such growth size types including small-leaved varieties and genetic hybrid crosses, which display little or no zonal characteristics. May have bicolour leaves and may have flowers that are single, double or rosette. Ivy pelargoniums are often sold as series such as 'Great Balls of Fire', in a variety of colours such as 'Great Balls of Fire Burgundy'.
Additional descriptive terms include;
Hybrid Ivy — the result of ivy × zonal crosses, but still more closely resemble ivy-leaved pelargoniums.
Fancy leaf — leaves with marked color variation, together with or other than green.
Miniature — miniature leaves and flowers, stems with short nodes, and compact growth. e.g. 'Sugar Baby' listed as Dwarf Ivy (DwI) by RHS.
C. Regal pelargoniums (Pelargonium × domesticum Bailey)
'Karl Offenstein' (Regal)
These are large bush-type floriferous evergreen pelargoniums. In addition to "Regals" they are also known as “Show Pelargoniums”. In the United States they are often known as the "Martha Washington" or ‘"Lady Washington" pelargoniums. They are grown primarily for the beauty and richness of their flower heads, which are large. Most of those cultivars grown currently are the result of hybridization over the last 50 years. They are very short-jointed and compact, which results in their requiring very little work in order to create a floriforous and well-rounded plant. Flowers are single, rarely double, in mauve, pink, purple or white. They have rounded, sometimes lobed or partially toothed (serrated) leaves, unlike the Zonal groups, without any type of zoning.
Additional descriptive terms include;
Decorative pelargoniums (Decoratives) – Descendants of older, less compact, smaller-flowered varieties that are more suited to outdoor conditions. These have smaller flowers than Regal, but are otherwise similar. e.g. ‘Royal Ascot’
Miniature – Flowers and leaves similar to Regal, but miniature in form, with compact growth. Other terms include “Pansy Geraniums” or “Pansy Pelargoniums”. e.g. ‘Lara Susan’
Oriental pelargoniums – The result of crosses between Regals and members of the Angel group (see below). Some have bicolour foliage.
D. Angel pelargoniums (derived from Pelargonium crispum)
'Angeleyes Randy' (Angel)
Angel pelargoniums are similar to Regal pelargoniums but more closely resemble P. crispum in leaf shape and growth habit. The majority of Angel cultivars originate from a cross between P. crispum and a Regal variety in the early part of the 20th century. Angels have grown in popularity in the last 30 years or so due mainly to an explosion of new varieties being released by specialist nurseries resulting from the work done by dedicated amateur hybridisers. These hybrisers have managed to obtain many new flower colour breaks and tighter growth habits resulting in plants suitable for all sorts of situations. Angels basically have the appearance of a small Regal with small serrated leaves and much smaller flowers and are more compact and bushy. The group extends to include similar small-leaved and -flowered types but usually with P. crispum in their parentage. They are mostly upright bush-type plants but there are some lax varieties that can be used for basket or hanging pot cultivation. Often called "pansy-faced" in the US. Some varieties have bicolour foliage. Other terms include ‘Langley-Smith Hybrids’.
E. Unique pelargoniums (derived from Pelargonium fulgidum)
Unique in sense of not fitting into any of the above categories. The parentage of Unique pelargoniums is confused and obscure. One theory being a derivation from P. fulgidum, but a derivation from an older cultivar 'Old Unique’, also known as or ‘Rollinson’s Crimson’, in the mid-19th century is also claimed. Unique pelargoniums resemble upright Scented Leaf pelargoniums in being shrubby and woody evergreens. They have distinctly scented leaves, and small flowers with blotched and feathered petals. They may have bicolour foliage. Some types, popularly known in the hobby as hybrid Uniques, have been crossed with Regal pelargoniums and, as a result of this cross, are much more floriferous.
Cultivar
Pelargonium graveolens (Scented leaf)
Shrubby evergreen perennials grown chiefly for their fragrance, may be species or cultivars but all must have a clear and distinct scented foliage. Scent is emitted when the leaves are touched or bruised with some scents aromatic, others pungent and in a few cases, quite unpleasant. Several of the scented leaved pelargoniums are grown for the oil geraniol, which is extracted from the leaves and is an essential oil much used commercially in perfumery. The scent of some species growing in their natural habitat, acts as a deterrent to grazing animals who appear to dislike the emitted scent. Conversely, it also attracts other insect life to visit the bloom and pollinate the plant. The scented leaves can be used for potpourri and they also have a use as flavourings in cooking. Occasionally scented types can be found in some of the other groups mentioned; for example, the Angels, having P. crispum in their genetic makeup, can often have a strong citrus scent. Leaves are lobed, toothed, incised or variegated. Growth habit is very variable, but the flowers are less prominent than other groups, and most closely resemble the species they originated from.
These include:
Pelargonium ionidiflorum (Scented leaf)
Almond - Pelargonium quercifolium
Apple - Pelargonium odoratissimum
Apple - Pelargonium cordifolium
Apple/Mint - Pelargonium album
Apricot/Lemon - Pelargonium scabrum
Balsam - Pelargonium panduriforme
Camphor - Pelargonium betulinum
Celery - Pelargonium ionidiflorum
Cinnamon - Pelargonium 'Ardwyck Cinnamon'
Coconut - Pelargonium grossalarioides (Pelargonium parriflorum)
Eau de Cologne - Pelargonium 'Brilliantine'
Eucalyptus - Pelargonium 'Secret Love'
Grapefruit - Pelargonium 'Poquita'
Ginger - Pelargonium 'Torrento' or 'Cola Bottles' which is a variety of Pelargonium x nervosum
Hazelnut - Pelargonium 'Odorata Hazelnut
Lavender - Pelargonium 'Lavender Lindy'
Lemon - Pelargonium crispum
Lemon - Pelargonium citronellum (Synonym - Pelargonium 'Mabel Grey')
Lemon Balm - Pelargonium x melissinum
Lime - Pelargonium x nervosum
Myrrh - Pelargonium myrrhifolium
Nutmeg - Pelargonium x fragrans
Old Spice - Variety of Pelargonium x fragrans
Orange - Pelargonium x citriodorum (Synonym - Pelargonium 'Prince of Orange')
Peach - Pelargonium 'Peaches and Cream'
Peppermint - Pelargonium tomentosum
Pine - Pelargonium denticulatum
Pineapple - Pelargonium 'Brilliant'
Raspberry - Pelargonium 'Red Raspberry'
Rose - Pelargonium graveolens (Synonym - Pelargonium roseum)
Rose - Pelargonium capitatum
Rose - Pelargonium radens
Southernwood - Pelargonium abrotanifolium
Spicy - Pelargonium exstipulatum
Strawberry - Pelargonium x scarboroviae
Cultivars
'Attar of Roses' - a cultivar of P. capitatum
'Crowfoot Rose' - a cultivar of P. radens
'Dr. Livingston' - a cultivar of P. radens
'Grey Lady Plymouth' - a cultivar of P. graveolens
'Prince Rupert' - a cultivar of P. crispum
G. Species pelargoniums
The species are the forefathers of all the cultivar groups listed above. In general, the definition of a species is that it breeds true, and is to be found doing this in the "wild". Species pelargoniums have a large diversity of characteristics in habit, shape, size and colour, which probably accounts for them having retained their popularity for more than 300 years.
H. Primary hybrids
A primary hybrid is recognised as being the resultant plant from a first-time cross between two different known species. Examples are P. × ardens – from P. lobatum × P. fulgidum (1810). P. × glauciifolium – from P. gibbosum × P. lobatum (1822). Usually, but not always, primary hybrids are sterile.
The following is a selection of pelargoniums which have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:
'Attar of Roses' (rose scented leaves, pink flowers)
'Citriodorum' (lemon scented leaves, rose pink flowers
'Dolly Varden' (variegated leaves, scarlet flowers)
'Frank Headley' (cream vareigated leaves, salmon pink flowers)
'Fringed Aztec' (white & purple fringed flowers)
'Gemstone' (scented leaves, pink flowers)
'Grace Thomas' (lemon scented leaves, pale pink flowers)
'Joy' (pink & white frilled flowers)
'Lady Plymouth' (P. graveolens variegata - small mauve flowers)
'Lara Candy Dancer' (scented leaves, pale mauve flowers)
'Lara Starshine' (aromatic leaves, lilac flowers.
'L'Élégante' (ivy-leaved, trailing, white and purple flowers)
'Mabel Grey' (lemon-scented leaves, mauve flowers)
'Mrs Quilter' (bronze leaves, salmon pink flowers)
'Radula' (lemon & rose scented leaves, pink & purple flowers)
'Royal Oak' (balsam scented leaves, mauve flowers)
'Spanish Angel' (lilac & magenta flowers)
'Sweet Mimosa' (balsam-scented leaves, pale pink flowers)
'Tip Top Duet' (pink & wine-red flowers)
'Voodoo' (crimson & black flowers)
P. tomentosum (peppermint-scented leaves, small white flowers)
Usage
Ornamental plants
Pelargoniums rank as one of the highest number of potted flowering plants sold and also in terms of wholesale value.
Scented leaf pelargoniums
Other than being grown for their beauty, species such as P. graveolens are important in the perfume industry and are cultivated and distilled for their scents. Although scented pelargoniums exist which have smells of citrus, mint, pine, spices or various fruits, the varieties with rose scents are most commercially important. Pelargonium distillates and absolutes, commonly known as "scented geranium oil" are sometimes used to supplement or adulterate expensive rose oils. The oils of the scented pelargoniums contain citronellol, geraniol, eugenol, alpha-pinene and many other compounds. The edible leaves and flowers are also used as a flavouring in desserts, cakes, jellies and teas. Scented-leafed pelargoniums can be used to flavor jellies, cakes, butters, ice cream, iced tea and other dishes, The rose-, lemon- and peppermint-scents are most commonly used. Also used are those with hints of peach, cinnamon and orange. Commonly used lemon-scented culinary species include P. crispum and P. citronellum. Rose-scenteds include P. graveolens and members of the P. graveolens cultivar group. Other species and cultivars with culinary use include the lime-scented P. ‘Lime’, the lemon balm-scented P. ‘Lemon Balm’, the strawberry-lemon-scented P. ‘Lady Scarborough’ and the peppermint-scented P. tomentosum.[81] Scented leaf pelargoniums have also been historically used as toilet paper by fishermen in remote places, such as the Minquiers.
Herbal medicine
In herbal medicine, Pelargonium has been used for intestinal problems, wounds and respiratory ailments, but Pelargonium species have also been used for fevers, kidney complaints and other conditions. Geranium (Pelargonium) oil is considered a relaxant in aromatherapy, and in recent years, respiratory/cold remedies made from P. sidoides and P. reniforme have been sold in Europe and the United States. P. sidoides along with Echinacea is used for bronchitis. P. odoratissimum is used for its astringent, tonic and antiseptic effects. It is used internally for debility, gastroenteritis, and hemorrhage and externally for skin complaints, injuries, and neuralgia and throat infections. The essential oil is used in aromatherapy.
Pets
According to the ASPCA, these plants are toxic to cats, dogs, and horses.
Chemistry
Pelargonin (pelargonidin 3,5-O-diglucoside) is a petal pigment of the scarlet pelargonium.
Culture
The chemist, John Dalton, realized that he was color blind in 1794 when he heard others describe the color of the flowers of the pink Pelargonium zonale as pink or red, when to him it looked either pink or blue, having no relationship to red at all.
We're tired.
Worn out, rough, sore abused.
Lotion is luxury, a poor attempt to smooth jagged edges.
Pretty colors, layered one over one over one, can't gloss the misuse.
Calluses worn for years provide the only protection most days.
But still, we are loved.
We are appreciated.
Our aches mimic the muscles of the legs, the back, the neck, on days when the steps wear onward.
We are a solid foundation.
We are feet.
And we are far less treacherous than the lungs.
Those rotten jerks quit working at the slightest excuse.
Like right now.
They've been on strike for days.
But we feet still journey to pharmacies and restaurants and cemetaries and bus stops.
Stupid lungs.
Long live the mighty feet!
WH - Short plays or monologues
If you can't guess by the ranting of my tootsies, still dealing with bronchitis. Little to no fever today, which is an improvement. BG on the other hand is just getting started on an antibiotic for her own fever/sinus/throat issues. Lysol is my friend. . . other than it causing more coughing fits when used.
Been meaning to post these guys for quite some time... Luckily for you, I got Bronchitis! So I had a little time fo dis. Voila.
Explorers
Day 2: Barbarian
Day 3: Amazon
Day 5: First Born
Day 6: Prince of Thieves
Day 7: Viking
Day 8: Catfolk
Day 9:
Day 10:
Pirates:
Day 3: Encourager & Lacky
Day 5: Second Son &Princess
Day 6: Hobgoblin
Day 7: Samurai
Day 8: Lizardman
Day 9:
Day 10:
EXPLORE
It looked like all the ducks were following this female duck that had the sun's ray (spotlight)shining on her!..
I've been sick for awhile.. acute bronchitis complicated by my asthma and I'm on my second round of antibiotics... Hope all of you are staying healthy!! i'll catch up on comments later today..
Elliot is still with me...I know it's a matter of time, and I'm so grateful that he's maintaining.
Thank you my friends for emails ...Little faded is me at moment
i will be back soon recovering from Bronchitis x
Well the Drama Queen is back!!!!!!
And I am going to be brief (as only I can be brief LOL).
FABULOUS Day, one of the happiest of my life so far and the rain that had been pouring down stopped before the wedding.
Shane's cousin Alan, took this at home before they left for the Registry Office and its one of my faves as I am very relaxed and it shows!!!
FABULOUS honeymoon in Paris and I have thousands of photos I haven't even processed because....................
The second week of the honeymoon I became ill with Bronchitis like I have never had before.
Arrived home the beginning of March and two days later I was in hospital for five days in absolute agony.
It appears I may have blown a small hole in my lower colon in a coughing fit.
The jury is out at the moment on a definitive answer as they have had to delay surgery until my blood clotting condition is brought under control, so I will probably be back in hospital in a couple of weeks time.
So that is the reason why you haven't seen me!!
But yes, I have some lovely stories to tell about the Honeymoon.
BETTER ON BLACK
Pretty much the only time I have seen the world outside my house in the last week was to see the Doctor. His words were slightly vague, "You either have a minor case of pneumonia or a strong case of bronchitis. Regardless, I can't wait til this crud is gone. I got a little stir crazy and had to get the camera out yesterday. I hope you enjoy it!
Everyday a theme-based photo. 30-1-2023 "What is it?"
It is a Flutter, Pulmonary physiotherapy device ( Respiratory treatment) for people with e.g. Chronic Bronchitis, C.O.P.D./ Emphysema, Bronchiectasis, Asthma, Cystic Fibrosis
Het is een Flutter, Longfysiotherapie-aparaat voor mensen met bijv. Chronische Bronchitis, C.O.P.D./ Emfyseem, Bronchiëctasieën, Astma, Cystic Fibrosis.
from a little photoshoot with some daffodils since i am still under the weather. went to the doctor, bronchitis again. at least i got some drugs.
today's positive thought...my hubby for taking such good care of me. he has tucked me in for countless naps ;)
this is my picture for march 15, 2010
Been meaning to post these guys for quite some time... Luckily for you, I got Bronchitis! So I had a little time fo dis. Voila.
Explorers
Day 2: Barbarian
Day 3: Amazon
Day 5: First Born
Day 6: Prince of Thieves
Day 7: Viking
Day 8: Catfolk
Day 9:
Day 10:
Pirates:
Day 3: Encourager & Lacky
Day 5: Second Son &Princess
Day 6: Hobgoblin
Day 7: Samurai
Day 8: Lizardman
Day 9:
Day 10:
La vétérinaire est venue hier pour Praline. J'avais remarqué en effet que Praline éternuait et qu'on entendait comme un bruit de nez encombré. Etant donné son âge, sa maigreur et la météo actuelle (pluie), je n'ai pas voulu prendre le risque que ça dégénère en bronchite. Praline a eu une injection d'antibiotiques, elle a été très sage assise sur mes genoux (elle est un poids plume d’environ 12-13 kg). Maintenant il faut espérer que les autres n'auront rien.
La véto a aussi détecté un souffle au cœur … ah il ne fait pas bon vieillir !
The vet came yesterday for Praline. I noticed that Praline sneezed and I could hear a noise like for a stuffy nose. Given her age, her skinniness and the current weather (rain), I did not want to take the risk that it degenerates into bronchitis. Praline had an injection of antibiotics, she was very nice, sitting on my lap (she is a featherweight of 12-13 kg / 26-28 lbs more or less). Now let’s hope that the others won’t get it too.
The vet also detected a heart murmur… it's not good to grow old
Carte de visite by John Adams Whipple of Boston, Mass. Accounts of the exploits of blockade runners are among the most celebrated stories in Confederate history. These sleek vessels and their intrepid commanders are remembered today for their derring-do, notably Raphael Semmes of the Sumter and John Newland Maffitt of the Florida. Tales of the successes of the raiders are the stuff of legend, splashed across the pages of publications.
Far less discussed is what happened to these vessels after the historic raids ended in capture. Even less so, the Union sailors who occupied those former raiders that were commissioned into the U.S. Navy.
One of them is pictured here: Abram Park Eastlake. A native of New Jersey, Eastlake accepted an appointment as Acting Assistant Paymaster in January 1864 and received orders to report for duty on the iron-paddle, twin-engine steamer Cornubia. Constructed and launched in Cornwall, England in 1858, Confederate agents purchased the ship during the early months of the war and renamed it the Lady Davis. Two years and 22 successful blockade runs later, the Union warship Niphon gave chase, forcing the Lady Davis to ground near Wilmington, N.C. Captured before completing its 23rd mission, the Union Navy purchased the vessel, recommissioned it by its original name, and sent it to the Texas coast for duty. The blocker runner had become a blockader.
Eastlake became part of the original crew of the new Cornubia and served until 1865, when the Navy discharged him. Eastlake married Rachel Elizabeth Eastlack in Philadelphia in September 1865. In the 1870s, they moved to Washington, D.C., where Eastlake went to work for the Department of the Interior and later the U.S. Post Office. His work in the latter department resulted in an 1878 patent for a security improvement to revenue stamps.
Eastlake died a year later from bronchitis. He was about 37. His wife and a daughter survived him.
I encourage you to use this image for educational purposes only. However, please ask for permission.
▐► Selección Oficial "Muestra Audiovisual; Ventanas 2012" de la Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
▐► Official Selection "Muestra Audiovisual; Ventanas 2012" from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
Tuneles de las Minas de Sal de Soledar, pero aquí un poco de historia sobre ellas...
Soledar es un pequeño pueblo en la región de Donetsk, se encuentra en el lugar de la bahía de poca profundidad del antiguo mar Pérmico, que existió allí 250 millones de años atrás. Después de que el mar se secó, aquí apareció uno de los depósitos de sal más puro del mundo y el más grande de Europa. A pesar de más de 100 años de trabajos subterráneos, se tradujo en más de 125 kilómetros de las minas, los recursos sobre el terreno de sal son suficientes para 2 mil años más.
Mientras que los turistas se sienten atraídos por las minas que no funcionan, es un escape que se agrega a la lista de la UNESCO del patrimonio mundial cultural. Los mineros que trabajaban en las minas convirtieron las minas en magníficos templos vacíos mediante la creación de esculturas, imágenes, capillas y grutas a partir de bloques de sal. Todo aquí está hecho de sal: paredes, techos, pisos, figuras y árboles.
El recorrido por las galerías saladas de esta ciudad subterránea a una profundidad de 300 metros, 700 metros de largo y termina con un gran salón de 40 metros de altura. La acústica de la sala es tan increíble que a veces se convierte en la sala de conciertos para orquestas sinfónicas. Kurt Schmidt, compositor austríaco y director dice que sólo hay 2 o 3 salas de conciertos en el mundo que puedan competir contra la acústica de las minas de sal Soledar: "Estoy impresionado Las notas vuelan hasta el arco de la gruta, y luego, lentamente, como un la nube...caen. ¡Increíble! ".
Cerca de la ruta turística hay un spa-sanatorio "Sinfonía Salada", donde las siguientes enfermedades se curan con éxito: el asma bronquial, bronquitis asthmatoid, bronquitis obstructiva, neumonía crónica, rhinoallergosis, dermatitis atópica, algunas formas de psoriasis, la inmunidad débil, enfermedades de la tiroides. El sentido de los pacientes de bienestar está influenciado por los siguientes factores: la presión atmosférica 772 mm Hg (milímetros de columna de mercurio), la humedad del aire 60%, temperatura 14-16 ° С, así como el propio aire se llena de piezas de sal con un tamaño de 1-5 micras y la concentración de 15 mg en 1 m cúbicos. El tratamiento en el microclima de las minas de sal es uno de los más efectivos, los adultos 70-85% y 85-95% niños, se recuperan según las estadísticas.
Por lo general, el tour continúa durante aproximadamente 4 horas. Durante este tiempo, los turistas pueden visitar el campo de fútbol, la iglesia, laberintos, sala de conciertos, galería, ver las figuras originales hechas de sal, tomar un descanso en el bar subterráneo, ver una película sobre la espeleo-sanatorio, tomar fotografías y video, juegar billar, tenis de mesa, ajedrez o simplemente descansar y respirar el aire único de la mina de sal. A lo largo de la ruta el personal médico y guías hacen algo de entrenamiento en medicina de gimnasia respiratoria y contar historias interesantes acerca de la mina de sal.
Tomado de: topertravel.blogspot.de/2010/04/salt-mines-of-soledar.html
Mas Información y datos Curiosos: englishrussia.com/2012/03/30/salt-mines-of-soledar/
-------------------------------------->
Salt Mines of Soledar Hallways, but here's the complete story about it...
Small town Soledar in Donetsk region is situated on the place of shallow bay of ancient Permian sea which existed there 250 millions years ago. After the sea dried out, here appeared one of the purest salt deposit in the world and the biggest one in Europe. In spite of more than 100 years of underground working, resulted in more than 125 miles of mines, these salt field resources are enough for 2 thousand years more.
While tourists are attracted not by functioning mines, but exhaust one which is added to the UNESCO list of world culture heritage. Miners who worked in it turned the empty mines into magnificent temples by creating sculptures, pictures, chapels and grottos from salt blocks. Everything here is made of salt: walls, ceiling, floor, figures and trees.
The route along the salty galleries of this underground city at a depth of 300 meters is about 700 meters long and ends with a huge hall of 40 meters height. The acoustics in the hall is so amazing that sometimes it becomes the concert hall for symphonic orchestra. Kurt Schmidt, Austrian composer and director says that there are only 2 or 3 theaters in the world that can compete the acoustics of Soledar's salt mines: "I am impressed! The notes flew up to the arch of the grotto, and then slowly as a cloud fell down. Incredible!".
Near the tourist route there is a speleo-sanitarium "Salty Symphony" where the following diseases are successfully cured: bronchial asthma, asthmatoid bronchitis, obstructive bronchitis, chronic pneumonia, rhinoallergosis, atopic dermatitis, some forms of psoriasis, weak immunity, thyroid diseases. Patients' sense of well-being is influenced by the following factors: atmospheric pressure 772 mm Hg (millimeters mercury column), air humidity 60%, temperature 14-16 °С, as well as air itself is filled with salt pieces with size of 1-5 micron and concentration of 15 mg in 1 cu m. The treatment in the microclimate of salt mine is one of the most effective because 70-85% adults and 85-95% children recover there according to statistics.
Usually the tour goes on for about 4 hours. During this time tourists can visit underground football field, church, labyrinths, concert hall, gallery, see the original figures made of salt, take a rest at underground bar, watch a movie about speleo-sanitarium, take pictures and video, play billiards, table tennis, chess, and simply have a rest and breathe the unique air of salt mine. Along the route medical staff and guide will do some training in medical respiratory gymnastics and tell interesting stories about the salt mine.
Source: topertravel.blogspot.de/2010/04/salt-mines-of-soledar.html
More Info & Cool Stuff about it: englishrussia.com/2012/03/30/salt-mines-of-soledar/
-------------------------------------->
Oleg Litvin
Dead Planet Studios
www.facebook.com/olegvalentinovichlitvin
Platycodon grandiflorus (from Ancient Greek πλατύς "wide" and κώδων "bell") is a species of herbaceous flowering perennial plant of the family Campanulaceae, and the only member of the genus Platycodon. It is native to East Asia (China, Korea, Japan, and the Russian Far East). It is commonly known as balloon flower (referring to the balloon-shaped flower buds), Chinese bellflower, or platycodon.
Description
Growing to 60 cm (24 in) tall by 30 cm (12 in) wide, it is an herbaceous perennial with dark green leaves and blue flowers in late summer. A notable feature of the plant is the flower bud, which swells like a balloon before fully opening. The five petals are fused together into a bell shape at the base, like its relatives, the campanulas.
Platycodon grandiflorus is a perennial plant which is commonly grown in mountains and fields. It is 40 to 100 centimeters (16 to 39 in) high and has thick roots, and white juice comes out when the stem is cut. Leaves are 5 to 12 centimeters (2.0 to 4.7 in) long, with narrow ends and teeth on the edges.
Flowers bloom purple or white in July and August, with one or several running upward at the end of the circle. The flower crown is divided into five branches in the shape of an open bell.
It lives throughout Japan, China, and eastern Siberia, including the Korean Peninsula.
Cultivation
This plant is hardy down to −40 °C (−40 °F), and can be cultivated in USDA zones 3A to 9b. It dies down completely in winter, reappearing in late spring and flowering in summer. However, plants are widely available from nurseries in full flower from April onwards.
Though the species has blue flowers, there are varieties with white, pink, and purple blooms. In Korea, white flowers are more common. This plant, together with its cultivars 'Apoyama group' and 'Mariesii', have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Uses
In Korea, the plant as well as its root are referred to as doraji (도라지). The root, fresh or dried, is one of the most common namul vegetables. It is also one of the most frequent ingredients in bibimbap. Sometimes, rice is cooked with balloon flower root to make doraji-bap. Preparation of the root always involves soaking and washing (usually rubbing it with coarse sea salt and rinsing it multiple times), which gets rid of the bitter taste.
The root is also used to make desserts, such as doraji-jeonggwa. Syrup made from the root, called doraji-cheong (balloon flower root honey), can be used to make doraji-cha (balloon flower root tea). The root can be used to infuse liquor called doraji-sul, typically using distilled soju or other unflavored hard alcohol that has an ABV higher than 30% as a base.
In addition, other ingredients include calcium, fiber, iron, minerals, proteins and vitamins.
Medicinal
The extracts and purified platycoside compounds (saponins) from the roots of Platycodon grandiflorum may exhibit neuroprotective, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-allergy, improved insulin resistance, and cholesterol-lowering properties. Evidence for these potential effects was mainly observed in vitro, with the exception of cholesterol lowering effects documented in vitro and in rats. The lack of efficacy and limited safety data in humans, however, necessitate further research.
China
The Chinese bellflower (called 桔梗 in Chinese) is also used in traditional Chinese medicine.
In China, they are used as a cough suppressant and expectorant for common colds, cough, sore throat, tonsillitis, and chest congestion.
Korea
In Korea, the roots are commonly used for treating bronchitis, asthma, tuberculosis, diabetes, and other inflammatory diseases.
Cultural
Japan
The bellflower is called kikyō (桔梗) in Japanese. Traditionally, it is one of the Seven Autumn Flowers. In addition, the "Bellflower Seal" (桔梗紋, kikyōmon) is the crest (kamon) of some clans.
Korea
Doraji taryeong (Korean: 도라지타령) is one of the most popular folk songs in both North and South Korea, and in China among the ethnic Koreans. It is also a well known song in Japan, by the name Toraji (Japanese: トラジ).
It is a folk song originated from Eunyul in Hwanghae Province. However, the currently sung version is classified as a Gyeonggi minyo (Gyeonggi Province folk song), as the rhythm and the melody have changed to acquire those characteristics.
Das Kraut wird gegen Husten, vor allem auch chronischen Husten, empfohlen. Ebenso gegen eine Bronchitis und Schleimansammlungen in den Lungen.
Spring is beautiful! Day by day is more green around and more flowers are blooming :)
Anemone hepatica or common hepatica (Hepatica nobilis) is a herbaceous perennial growing from a rhizome in the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae), native to woodland in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It is found in the woods, thickets and meadows, especially in the mountains of continental Europe. In many countries Anemone hepatica is grown as an ornamental plant, where it is appreciated because of effective flowers and early blooming. It is used in rock gardens or in forest-based parks. Medieval herbalists believed it could be used to treat liver diseases, and is still used in alternative medicine today. Other modern applications by herbalists include treatments for pimples, bronchitis and gout.
Our Daily Challenge - theme: "Discoveries"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nie ma to jak wiosna! Z każdym dniem jest bardziej zielono i coraz więcej kwiatów rozkwita :)
Przylaszczka pospolita (Hepatica nobilis) – gatunek rośliny wieloletniej z rodziny jaskrowatych. Występuje na terenie niemal całej Europy oraz na Dalekim Wschodzie. W Polsce należy do dość rozpowszechnionych gatunków w żyznych lasach liściastych i tylko lokalnie jest rzadsza lub całkiem jej brak. W wielu krajach jest uprawiana jako roślina ozdobna, przy czym ceniona jest ze względu na efektowne kwiaty, wczesne kwitnienie, dekoracyjne ulistnienie, bardzo dużą cienioznośność i odporność na inne niekorzystne warunki środowiska, a także z powodu długowieczności. Stosowana w ogrodach skalnych lub w założeniach parkowych o charakterze leśnym. W przeszłości przylaszczka znana była i ceniona jako roślina lecznicza. Współcześnie nie jest już stosowana jako taka z powodu odkrycia właściwości toksycznych. Esencje z przylaszczki używane są w homeopatii. Dla ochrony dzikich populacji w Polsce przed zrywaniem kwiatów i wykopywaniem roślin, przylaszczka objęta była do 2014 roku ochroną gatunkową.
Little Molly wants to let everybody know that I’ve finally turned the corner with my bronchitis and mild pneumonia and am beginning to feel myself again. Knowing my body, it will probably take another month before the congestion clears up and I stop coughing, but I’m sleeping better through the night and have gotten my appetite back.
*******************
copyright © Mim Eisenberg/mimbrava studio. All rights reserved.
See my photos on fluidr: www.fluidr.com/photos/mimbrava
I invite you to stroll through my Galleries: www.flickr.com/photos/mimbrava/galleries
Another week has passed. And what a week it was....
This photo was one of the better moments. A walk on our favorite estate. Open for public and it's a nice place. We love to come there. It's a great place for a walk and a bit of off leash practice. Now that she's getting older, I notice that everything I taught her has actually stuck!
Here we were practicing on Sit-Stay and Come. Each time I walked a bit further away. My wife is just outside the frame, enforcing the stay, but Skye's focused on me because "that's Dad walking away!"
The look she gave me this last time was priceless. As if she wanted to shout at me "that's far enough, Dad! Call me and I'll come storming at you!"
But it's not all fun and games unfortunately. Last week the vet took some x-rays of Skye's lungs. There were some signs of a mild pneumonia and she was given antibiotics.
Unfortunately, things didn't really improve that much. She coughs a little bit less but the vet expected a much bigger improvement. So she suggested to send the x-rays to a radiologist for further examination. His diagnosis shocked me: chronic bronchitis or COPD.
This shocked me for multiple reasons. First and foremost: how and why? She's still so young... Too young to have a condition like this. Did we miss something? Did we overlook the symptoms? We're both non-smokers and we don't allow others to smoke in our house so that can't be the reason. So what caused it? So many questions...
But second of all: I'm all too familiar with COPD unfortunately. My father was diagnosed COPD some 18 years ago and has died of COPD in 2021, only 71 years old and just 3 months before Skye was born.
And a couple of years after my father was diagnosed, my mother-in-law got the same diagnosis. Luckily, she's still in quite good health given her illness.
So I know how this can turn out and I don't like that. In fact, it scares me. It is as if COPD is hanging above our family like the Sword of Damocles.
Luckily, Skye's still the happy dog she was before. Always eager to play and walk. Always eager to steal my slippers :D
For now, a lot is still unknown. Skye's currently is prescribed a short course of prednisone, for two reason. Main reason is to get those inflammations under control. But also to see how she reacts to it. Chances are she is bound to use a inhaler for the rest of her life. Now, that will take some training...
The Postcard
A postally unused postcard that was published by Fotofolio of Box 661, Canal Sta., NY, NY. The photography was by Rollie McKenna. The card has a divided back.
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas, who was born in Swansea on the 27th. October 1914, was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems 'Do not go Gentle Into That Good Night' and 'And Death Shall Have No Dominion.'
Dylan's other work included 'Under Milk Wood' as well as stories and radio broadcasts such as 'A Child's Christmas in Wales' and 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog'.
He became widely popular in his lifetime, and remained so after his death at the age of 39 in New York City. By then he had acquired a reputation, which he had encouraged, as a roistering, drunken and doomed poet.
In 1931, when he was 16, Thomas, an undistinguished pupil, left school to become a reporter for the South Wales Daily Post, only to leave under pressure 18 months later.
Many of his works appeared in print while he was still a teenager. In 1934, the publication of 'Light Breaks Where no Sun Shines' caught the attention of the literary world.
While living in London, Thomas met Caitlin Macnamara. They married in 1937, and had three children: Llewelyn, Aeronwy and Colm.
Thomas came to be appreciated as a popular poet during his lifetime, though he found it hard to earn a living as a writer. He began augmenting his income with reading tours and radio broadcasts. His radio recordings for the BBC during the late 1940's brought him to the public's attention, and he was frequently used by the BBC as an accessible voice of the literary scene.
Thomas first travelled to the United States in the 1950's. His readings there brought him a degree of fame, while his erratic behaviour and drinking worsened. His time in the United States cemented his legend, however, and he went on to record to vinyl such works as 'A Child's Christmas in Wales'.
During his fourth trip to New York in 1953, Thomas became gravely ill and fell into a coma. He died on the 9th. November 1953, and his body was returned to Wales. On the 25th. November 1953, he was laid to rest in St Martin's churchyard in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire.
Although Thomas wrote exclusively in the English language, he has been acknowledged as one of the most important Welsh poets of the 20th century. He is noted for his original, rhythmic and ingenious use of words and imagery. He is regarded by many as one of the great modern poets, and he still remains popular with the public.
-- Dylan Thomas - The Early Years
Dylan was born at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, the son of Florence Hannah (née Williams; 1882–1958), a seamstress, and David John Thomas (1876–1952), a teacher. His father had a first-class honours degree in English from University College, Aberystwyth and ambitions to rise above his position teaching English literature at the local grammar school.
Thomas had one sibling, Nancy Marles (1906–1953), who was eight years his senior. The children spoke only English, though their parents were bilingual in English and Welsh, and David Thomas gave Welsh lessons at home.
Thomas's father chose the name Dylan, which means 'Son of the Sea', after Dylan ail Don, a character in The Mabinogion. Dylan's middle name, Marlais, was given in honour of his great-uncle, William Thomas, a Unitarian minister and poet whose bardic name was Gwilym Marles.
Dylan caused his mother to worry that he might be teased as the 'Dull One.' When he broadcast on Welsh BBC, early in his career, he was introduced using this pronunciation. Thomas favoured the Anglicised pronunciation, and gave instructions that it should be spoken as 'Dillan.'
The red-brick semi-detached house at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive (in the respectable area of the Uplands), in which Thomas was born and lived until he was 23, had been bought by his parents a few months before his birth.
Dylan's childhood featured regular summer trips to the Llansteffan Peninsula, a Welsh-speaking part of Carmarthenshire, where his maternal relatives were the sixth generation to farm there.
In the land between Llangain and Llansteffan, his mother's family, the Williamses and their close relatives, worked a dozen farms with over a thousand acres between them. The memory of Fernhill, a dilapidated 15-acre farm rented by his maternal aunt, Ann Jones, and her husband, Jim, is evoked in the 1945 lyrical poem 'Fern Hill', but is portrayed more accurately in his short story, 'The Peaches'.
Thomas had bronchitis and asthma in childhood, and struggled with these throughout his life. He was indulged by his mother and enjoyed being mollycoddled, a trait he carried into adulthood, and he was skilful in gaining attention and sympathy.
Thomas's formal education began at Mrs Hole's Dame School, a private school on Mirador Crescent, a few streets away from his home. He described his experience there in Reminiscences of Childhood:
"Never was there such a dame school as ours,
so firm and kind and smelling of galoshes, with
the sweet and fumbled music of the piano lessons
drifting down from upstairs to the lonely schoolroom,
where only the sometimes tearful wicked sat over
undone sums, or to repent a little crime – the pulling
of a girl's hair during geography, the sly shin kick
under the table during English literature".
In October 1925, Dylan Thomas enrolled at Swansea Grammar School for boys, in Mount Pleasant, where his father taught English. He was an undistinguished pupil who shied away from school, preferring reading.
In his first year, one of his poems was published in the school's magazine, and before he left he became its editor. In June 1928, Thomas won the school's mile race, held at St. Helen's Ground; he carried a newspaper photograph of his victory with him until his death.
During his final school years Dylan began writing poetry in notebooks; the first poem, dated 27th. April 1930, is entitled 'Osiris, Come to Isis'.
In 1931, when he was 16, Thomas left school to become a reporter for the South Wales Daily Post, only to leave under pressure 18 months later. Thomas continued to work as a freelance journalist for several years, during which time he remained at Cwmdonkin Drive and continued to add to his notebooks, amassing 200 poems in four books between 1930 and 1934. Of the 90 poems he published, half were written during these years.
In his free time, Dylan joined the amateur dramatic group at the Little Theatre in Mumbles, visited the cinema in Uplands, took walks along Swansea Bay, and frequented Swansea's pubs, especially the Antelope and the Mermaid Hotels in Mumbles.
In the Kardomah Café, close to the newspaper office in Castle Street, he met his creative contemporaries, including his friend the poet Vernon Watkins.
-- 1933–1939
In 1933, Thomas visited London for probably the first time.
Thomas was a teenager when many of the poems for which he became famous were published:
-- 'And Death Shall Have no Dominion'
-- 'Before I Knocked'
-- 'The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower'.
'And Death Shall Have no Dominion' appeared in the New English Weekly in May 1933:
'And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the
west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and
the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they
shall rise again
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion'.
When 'Light Breaks Where no Sun Shines' appeared in The Listener in 1934, it caught the attention of three senior figures in literary London - T. S. Eliot, Geoffrey Grigson and Stephen Spender. They contacted Thomas, and his first poetry volume, '18 Poems', was published in December 1934.
'18 Poems' was noted for its visionary qualities which led to critic Desmond Hawkins writing that:
"The work is the sort of bomb
that bursts no more than once
in three years".
The volume was critically acclaimed, and won a contest run by the Sunday Referee, netting him new admirers from the London poetry world, including Edith Sitwell and Edwin Muir. The anthology was published by Fortune Press, in part a vanity publisher that did not pay its writers, and expected them to buy a certain number of copies themselves. A similar arrangement was used by other new authors, including Philip Larkin.
In September 1935, Thomas met Vernon Watkins, thus beginning a lifelong friendship. Dylan introduced Watkins, working at Lloyds Bank at the time, to his friends. The group of writers, musicians and artists became known as "The Kardomah Gang".
In those days, Thomas used to frequent the cinema on Mondays with Tom Warner who, like Watkins, had recently suffered a nervous breakdown. After these trips, Warner would bring Thomas back for supper with his aunt.
On one occasion, when she served him a boiled egg, she had to cut its top off for him, as Thomas did not know how to do this. This was because his mother had done it for him all his life, an example of her coddling him. Years later, his wife Caitlin would still have to prepare his eggs for him.
In December 1935, Thomas contributed the poem 'The Hand That Signed the Paper' to Issue 18 of the bi-monthly New Verse.
In 1936, Dylan's next collection 'Twenty-five Poems' received much critical praise. In 1938, Thomas won the Oscar Blumenthal Prize for Poetry; it was also the year in which New Directions offered to be his publisher in the United States. In all, he wrote half his poems while living at Cwmdonkin Drive before moving to London. It was the time that Thomas's reputation for heavy drinking developed.
In early 1936, Thomas met Caitlin Macnamara (1913–94), a 22-year-old blonde-haired, blue-eyed dancer of Irish and French descent. She had run away from home, intent on making a career in dance, and at the age of 18 joined the chorus line at the London Palladium.
Introduced by Augustus John, Caitlin's lover, they met in The Wheatsheaf pub on Rathbone Place in London's West End. Laying his head on her lap, a drunken Thomas proposed. Thomas liked to comment that he and Caitlin were in bed together ten minutes after they first met.
Although Caitlin initially continued her relationship with Augustus John, she and Thomas began a correspondence, and by the second half of 1936 they were courting. They married at the register office in Penzance, Cornwall, on the 11th. July 1937.
In early 1938, they moved to Wales, renting a cottage in the village of Laugharne, Carmarthenshire. Their first child, Llewelyn Edouard, was born on the 30th. January 1939.
By the late 1930's, Thomas was embraced as the "Poetic Herald" for a group of English poets, the New Apocalyptics. However Thomas refused to align himself with them, and declined to sign their manifesto.
He later stated that:
"They are intellectual muckpots
leaning on a theory".
Despite Dylan's rejection, many of the group, including Henry Treece, modelled their work on Thomas's.
During the politically charged atmosphere of the 1930's, Thomas's sympathies were very much with the radical left, to the point of holding close links with the communists, as well as being decidedly pacifist and anti-fascist. He was a supporter of the left-wing No More War Movement, and boasted about participating in demonstrations against the British Union of Fascists.
-- 1939–1945
In 1939, a collection of 16 poems and seven of the 20 short stories published by Thomas in magazines since 1934, appeared as 'The Map of Love'.
Ten stories in his next book, 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog' (1940), were based less on lavish fantasy than those in 'The Map of Love', and more on real-life romances featuring himself in Wales.
Sales of both books were poor, resulting in Thomas living on meagre fees from writing and reviewing. At this time he borrowed heavily from friends and acquaintances.
Hounded by creditors, Thomas and his family left Laugharne in July 1940 and moved to the home of critic John Davenport in Marshfield, Gloucestershire. There Thomas collaborated with Davenport on the satire 'The Death of the King's Canary', though due to fears of libel, the work was not published until 1976.
At the outset of the Second World War, Thomas was worried about conscription, and referred to his ailment as "An Unreliable Lung".
Coughing sometimes confined him to bed, and he had a history of bringing up blood and mucus. After initially seeking employment in a reserved occupation, he managed to be classified Grade III, which meant that he would be among the last to be called up for service.
Saddened to see his friends going on active service, Dylan continued drinking, and struggled to support his family. He wrote begging letters to random literary figures asking for support, a plan he hoped would provide a long-term regular income. Thomas supplemented his income by writing scripts for the BBC, which not only gave him additional earnings but also provided evidence that he was engaged in essential war work.
In February 1941, Swansea was bombed by the Luftwaffe in a three night blitz. Castle Street was one of many streets that suffered badly; rows of shops, including the Kardomah Café, were destroyed. Thomas walked through the bombed-out shell of the town centre with his friend Bert Trick. Upset at the sight, he concluded:
"Our Swansea is dead".
Soon after the bombing raids, he wrote a radio play, 'Return Journey Home', which described the café as being "razed to the snow". The play was first broadcast on the 15th. June 1947. The Kardomah Café reopened on Portland Street after the war.
In May 1941, Thomas and Caitlin left their son with his grandmother at Blashford and moved to London. Thomas hoped to find employment in the film industry, and wrote to the director of the films division of the Ministry of Information (MOI). After initially being rebuffed, he found work with Strand Films, providing him with his first regular income since the Daily Post. Strand produced films for the MOI; Thomas scripted at least five films in 1942.
In five film projects, between 1942 and 1945, the Ministry of Information (MOI) commissioned Thomas to script a series of documentaries about both urban planning and wartime patriotism, all in partnership with director John Eldridge:
-- 'Wales: Green Mountain, Black Mountain'.
-- 'New Towns for Old' (on post-war reconstruction).
-- 'Fuel for Battle'.
-- 'Our Country' (1945) was a romantic tour of Great
Britain set to Thomas's poetry.
-- 'A City Reborn'.
Other projects included:
-- 'This Is Colour' (a history of the British dyeing industry).
-- 'These Are The Men' (1943), a more ambitious piece in which Thomas's verse accompanied Leni Riefenstahl's
footage of an early Nuremberg Rally.
-- 'Conquest of a Germ' (1944) explored the use of early antibiotics in the fight against pneumonia and tuberculosis.
In early 1943, Thomas began a relationship with Pamela Glendower; one of several affairs he had during his marriage. The affairs either ran out of steam or were halted after Caitlin discovered his infidelity.
In March 1943, Caitlin gave birth to a daughter, Aeronwy, in London. They lived in a run-down studio in Chelsea, made up of a single large room with a curtain to separate the kitchen.
The Thomas family made several escapes back to Wales during the war. Between 1941 and 1943, they lived intermittently in Plas Gelli, Talsarn, in Cardiganshire. Plas Gelli sits close by the River Aeron, after whom Aeronwy is thought to have been named. Some of Thomas’ letters from Gelli can be found in his 'Collected Letters'.
The Thomases shared the mansion with his childhood friends from Swansea, Vera and Evelyn Phillips. Vera's friendship with the Thomases in nearby New Quay is portrayed in the 2008 film, 'The Edge of Love'.
In July 1944, with the threat of German flying bombs landing on London, Thomas moved to the family cottage at Blaencwm near Llangain, Carmarthenshire, where he resumed writing poetry, completing 'Holy Spring' and 'Vision and Prayer'.
In September 1944, the Thomas family moved to New Quay in Cardiganshire (Ceredigion), where they rented Majoda, a wood and asbestos bungalow on the cliffs overlooking Cardigan Bay. It was here that Thomas wrote the radio piece 'Quite Early One Morning', a sketch for his later work, 'Under Milk Wood'.
Of the poetry written at this time, of note is 'Fern Hill', believed to have been started while living in New Quay, but completed at Blaencwm in mid-1945. Dylan's first biographer, Constantine FitzGibbon wrote that:
"His nine months in New Quay were a second
flowering, a period of fertility that recalls the
earliest days, with a great outpouring of poems
and a good deal of other material".
His second biographer, Paul Ferris, concurred:
"On the grounds of output, the bungalow
deserves a plaque of its own."
The Dylan Thomas scholar, Walford Davies, has noted that:
"New Quay was crucial in supplementing
the gallery of characters Thomas had to
hand for writing 'Under Milk Wood'."
-- Dylan Thomas's Broadcasting Years 1945–1949
Although Thomas had previously written for the BBC, it was a minor and intermittent source of income. In 1943, he wrote and recorded a 15-minute talk entitled 'Reminiscences of Childhood' for the Welsh BBC.
In December 1944, he recorded 'Quite Early One Morning' (produced by Aneirin Talfan Davies, again for the Welsh BBC), but when Davies offered it for national broadcast, BBC London initially turned it down.
However on the 31st. August 1945, the BBC Home Service broadcast 'Quite Early One Morning' nationally, and in the three subsequent years, Dylan made over a hundred broadcasts for the BBC, not only for his poetry readings, but for discussions and critiques.
In the second half of 1945, Dylan began reading for the BBC Radio programme, 'Book of Verse', that was broadcast weekly to the Far East. This provided Thomas with a regular income, and brought him into contact with Louis MacNeice, a congenial drinking companion whose advice Thomas cherished.
On the 29th. September 1946, the BBC began transmitting the Third Programme, a high-culture network which provided further opportunities for Thomas.
He appeared in the play 'Comus' for the Third Programme, the day after the network launched, and his rich, sonorous voice led to character parts, including the lead in Aeschylus's 'Agamemnon', and Satan in an adaptation of 'Paradise Lost'.
Thomas remained a popular guest on radio talk shows for the BBC, who stated:
"He is useful should a younger
generation poet be needed".
He had an uneasy relationship with BBC management, and a staff job was never an option, with drinking cited as the problem. Despite this, Thomas became a familiar radio voice and well-known celebrity within Great Britain.
By late September 1945, the Thomases had left Wales, and were living with various friends in London. In December, they moved to Oxford to live in a summerhouse on the banks of the Cherwell. It belonged to the historian, A. J. P. Taylor. His wife, Margaret, became Thomas’s most committed patron.
The publication of 'Deaths and Entrances' in February 1946 was a major turning point for Thomas. Poet and critic Walter J. Turner commented in The Spectator:
"This book alone, in my opinion,
ranks him as a major poet".
From 'In my Craft or Sullen Art,' 'Deaths and Entrances' (1946):
'Not for the proud man apart
From the raging moon, I write
On these spindrift pages
Nor for the towering dead
With their nightingales and psalms
But for the lovers, their arms
Round the griefs of the ages,
Who pay no praise or wages
Nor heed my craft or art'.
The following year, in April 1947, the Thomases travelled to Italy, after Thomas had been awarded a Society of Authors scholarship. They stayed first in villas near Rapallo and then Florence, before moving to a hotel in Rio Marina on the island of Elba.
On their return to England Thomas and his family moved, in September 1947, into the Manor House in South Leigh, just west of Oxford, found for him by Margaret Taylor.
He continued with his work for the BBC, completed a number of film scripts, and worked further on his ideas for 'Under Milk Wood'.
In March 1949 Thomas travelled to Prague. He had been invited by the Czech government to attend the inauguration of the Czechoslovak Writers' Union. Jiřina Hauková, who had previously published translations of some of Thomas' poems, was his guide and interpreter.
In her memoir, Hauková recalls that at a party in Prague, Thomas narrated the first version of his radio play 'Under Milk Wood.' She describes how he outlined the plot about a town that was declared insane, and then portrayed the predicament of an eccentric organist and a baker with two wives.
A month later, in May 1949, Thomas and his family moved to his final home, the Boat House at Laugharne, purchased for him at a cost of £2,500 in April 1949 by Margaret Taylor.
Thomas acquired a garage a hundred yards from the house on a cliff ledge which he turned into his writing shed, and where he wrote several of his most acclaimed poems. To see a photograph of the interior of Dylan's shed, please search for the tag 55DTW96
Just before moving into the Boat House, Thomas rented Pelican House opposite his regular drinking den, Brown's Hotel, for his parents. They both lived there from 1949 until Dylan's father 'D.J.' died on the 16th. December 1952. His mother continued to live there until 1953.
Caitlin gave birth to their third child, a boy named Colm Garan Hart, on the 25th. July 1949.
In October 1949, the New Zealand poet Allen Curnow came to visit Thomas at the Boat House, who took him to his writing shed. Curnow recalls:
"Dylan fished out a draft to show me
of the unfinished 'Under Milk Wood'
that was then called 'The Town That
Was Mad'."
-- Dylan Thomas's American tours, 1950–1953
(a) The First American Tour
The American poet John Brinnin invited Thomas to New York, where in 1950 they embarked on a lucrative three-month tour of arts centres and campuses.
The tour, which began in front of an audience of a thousand at the Kaufmann Auditorium in the Poetry Centre in New York, took in a further 40 venues. During the tour, Thomas was invited to many parties and functions, and on several occasions became drunk - going out of his way to shock people - and was a difficult guest.
Dylan drank before some of his readings, although it is argued that he may have pretended to be more affected by the alcohol than he actually was.
The writer Elizabeth Hardwick recalled how intoxicated a performer he could be, and how the tension would build before a performance:
"Would he arrive only to break
down on the stage?
Would some dismaying scene
take place at the faculty party?
Would he be offensive, violent,
obscene?"
Dylan's wife Caitlin said in her memoir:
"Nobody ever needed encouragement
less, and he was drowned in it."
On returning to Great Britain, Thomas began work on two further poems, 'In the White Giant's Thigh', which he read on the Third Programme in September 1950:
'Who once were a bloom of wayside
brides in the hawed house
And heard the lewd, wooed field
flow to the coming frost,
The scurrying, furred small friars
squeal in the dowse
Of day, in the thistle aisles, till the
white owl crossed.'
He also worked on the incomplete 'In Country Heaven'.
In October 1950, Thomas sent a draft of the first 39 pages of 'The Town That Was Mad' to the BBC. The task of seeing this work through to production was assigned to the BBC's Douglas Cleverdon, who had been responsible for casting Thomas in 'Paradise Lost'.
However, despite Cleverdon's urgings, the script slipped from Thomas's priorities, and in early 1951 he took a trip to Iran to work on a film for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. The film was never made, with Thomas returning to Wales in February, though his time there allowed him to provide a few minutes of material for a BBC documentary, 'Persian Oil'.
Early in 1951 Thomas wrote two poems, which Thomas's principal biographer, Paul Ferris, describes as "unusually blunt." One was the ribald 'Lament', and the other was an ode, in the form of a villanelle, to his dying father 'Do not go Gentle Into That Good Night". (A villanelle is a pastoral or lyrical poem of nineteen lines, with only two rhymes throughout, and some lines repeated).
Despite a range of wealthy patrons, including Margaret Taylor, Princess Marguerite Caetani and Marged Howard-Stepney, Thomas was still in financial difficulty, and he wrote several begging letters to notable literary figures, including the likes of T. S. Eliot.
Margaret Taylor was not keen on Thomas taking another trip to the United States, and thought that if he had a permanent address in London he would be able to gain steady work there. She bought a property, 54 Delancey Street, in Camden Town, and in late 1951 Thomas and Caitlin lived in the basement flat. Thomas described the flat as his "London House of Horror", and did not return there after his 1952 tour of America.
(b) The Second American Tour
Thomas undertook a second tour of the United States in 1952, this time with Caitlin - after she had discovered that he had been unfaithful on his earlier trip. They drank heavily, and Thomas began to suffer with gout and lung problems.
It was during this tour that the above photograph was taken.
The second tour was the most intensive of the four, taking in 46 engagements.
The trip also resulted in Thomas recording his first poetry to vinyl, which Caedmon Records released in America later that year. One of his works recorded during this time, 'A Child's Christmas in Wales', became his most popular prose work in America. The recording was a 2008 selection for the United States National Recording Registry, which stated that:
"It is credited with launching the
audiobook industry in the United
States".
(c) The Third American Tour
In April 1953, Thomas returned alone for a third tour of America. He performed a "work in progress" version of 'Under Milk Wood', solo, for the first time at Harvard University on the 3rd. May 1953. A week later, the work was performed with a full cast at the Poetry Centre in New York.
Dylan met the deadline only after being locked in a room by Brinnin's assistant, Liz Reitell, and was still editing the script on the afternoon of the performance; its last lines were handed to the actors as they put on their makeup.
During this penultimate tour, Thomas met the composer Igor Stravinsky. Igor had become an admirer of Dylan after having been introduced to his poetry by W. H. Auden. They had discussions about collaborating on a "musical theatrical work" for which Dylan would provide the libretto on the theme of:
"The rediscovery of love and
language in what might be left
after the world after the bomb."
The shock of Thomas's death later in the year moved Stravinsky to compose his 'In Memoriam Dylan Thomas' for tenor, string quartet and four trombones. The work's first performance in Los Angeles in 1954 was introduced with a tribute to Thomas from Aldous Huxley.
Thomas spent the last nine or ten days of his third tour in New York mostly in the company of Reitell, with whom he had an affair.
During this time, Thomas fractured his arm falling down a flight of stairs when drunk. Reitell's doctor, Milton Feltenstein, put his arm in plaster, and treated him for gout and gastritis.
After returning home, Thomas worked on 'Under Milk Wood' in Wales before sending the original manuscript to Douglas Cleverdon on the 15th. October 1953. It was copied and returned to Thomas, who lost it in a pub in London and required a duplicate to take to America.
(d) The Fourth American Tour
Thomas flew to the States on the 19th. October 1953 for what would be his final tour. He died in New York before the BBC could record 'Under Milk Wood'. Richard Burton featured in its first broadcast in 1954, and was joined by Elizabeth Taylor in a subsequent film. In 1954, the play won the Prix Italia for literary or dramatic programmes.
Thomas's last collection 'Collected Poems, 1934–1952', published when he was 38, won the Foyle poetry prize. Reviewing the volume, critic Philip Toynbee declared that:
"Thomas is the greatest living
poet in the English language".
There followed a series of distressing events for Dylan. His father died from pneumonia just before Christmas 1952. In the first few months of 1953, his sister died from liver cancer, one of his patrons took an overdose of sleeping pills, three friends died at an early age, and Caitlin had an abortion.
Thomas left Laugharne on the 9th. October 1953 on the first leg of his trip to America. He called on his mother, Florence, to say goodbye:
"He always felt that he had to get
out from this country because of
his chest being so bad."
Thomas had suffered from chest problems for most of his life, though they began in earnest soon after he moved in May 1949 to the Boat House at Laugharne - the "Bronchial Heronry", as he called it. Within weeks of moving in, he visited a local doctor, who prescribed medicine for both his chest and throat.
Whilst waiting in London before his flight in October 1953, Thomas stayed with the comedian Harry Locke and worked on 'Under Milk Wood'. Locke noted that Thomas was having trouble with his chest, with terrible coughing fits that made him go purple in the face. He was also using an inhaler to help his breathing.
There were reports, too, that Thomas was also having blackouts. His visit to the BBC producer Philip Burton a few days before he left for New York, was interrupted by a blackout. On his last night in London, he had another in the company of his fellow poet Louis MacNeice.
Thomas arrived in New York on the 20th. October 1953 to undertake further performances of 'Under Milk Wood', organised by John Brinnin, his American agent and Director of the Poetry Centre. Brinnin did not travel to New York, but remained in Boston in order to write.
He handed responsibility to his assistant, Liz Reitell, who was keen to see Thomas for the first time since their three-week romance early in the year. She met Thomas at Idlewild Airport and was shocked at his appearance. He looked pale, delicate and shaky, not his usual robust self:
"He was very ill when he got here."
After being taken by Reitell to check in at the Chelsea Hotel, Thomas took the first rehearsal of 'Under Milk Wood'. They then went to the White Horse Tavern in Greenwich Village, before returning to the Chelsea Hotel.
(Bob Dylan, formerly Robert Zimmerman, used to perform at the White Horse; Dylan Thomas was his favourite poet, and it is highly likely that Bob adopted Dylan's first name as his surname).
The next day, Reitell invited Thomas to her apartment, but he declined. They went sightseeing, but Thomas felt unwell, and retired to his bed for the rest of the afternoon. Reitell gave him half a grain (32.4 milligrams) of phenobarbitone to help him sleep, and spent the night at the hotel with him.
Two days later, on the 23rd. October 1953, at the third rehearsal, Thomas said he was too ill to take part, but he struggled on, shivering and burning with fever, before collapsing on the stage.
The next day, 24th. October, Reitell took Thomas to see her doctor, Milton Feltenstein, who administered cortisone injections. Thomas made it through the first performance that evening, but collapsed immediately afterwards.
Dylan told a friend who had come back-stage:
"This circus out there has taken
the life out of me for now."
Reitell later said:
"Feltenstein was rather a wild doctor
who thought injections would cure
anything".
At the next performance on the 25th. October, his fellow actors realised that Thomas was very ill:
"He was desperately ill…we didn’t think
that he would be able to do the last
performance because he was so ill…
Dylan literally couldn’t speak he was so
ill…still my greatest memory of it is that
he had no voice."
On the evening of the 27th. October, Thomas attended his 39th. birthday party, but felt unwell, and returned to his hotel after an hour. The next day, he took part in 'Poetry and the Film', a recorded symposium at Cinema 16.
A turning point came on the 2nd. November. Air pollution in New York had risen significantly, and exacerbated chest illnesses such as Thomas's. By the end of the month, over 200 New Yorkers had died from the smog.
On the 3rd. November, Thomas spent most of the day in his room, entertaining various friends. He went out in the evening to keep two drink appointments. After returning to the hotel, he went out again for a drink at 2 am. After drinking at the White Horse, Thomas returned to the Hotel Chelsea, declaring:
"I've had eighteen straight
whiskies. I think that's the
record!"
However the barman and the owner of the pub who served him later commented that Thomas could not have drunk more than half that amount, although the barman could have been trying to exonerate himself from any blame.
Thomas had an appointment at a clam house in New Jersey with Todd on the 4th. November. When Todd telephoned the Chelsea that morning, Thomas said he was feeling ill, and postponed the engagement. Todd thought that Dylan sounded "terrible".
The poet, Harvey Breit, was another to phone that morning. He thought that Thomas sounded "bad". Thomas' voice, recalled Breit, was "low and hoarse". Harvey had wanted to say:
"You sound as though from the tomb".
However instead Harvey told Thomas that he sounded like Louis Armstrong.
Later, Thomas went drinking with Reitell at the White Horse and, feeling sick again, returned to the hotel. Dr. Feltenstein came to see him three times that day, administering the cortisone secretant ACTH by injection and, on his third visit, half a grain (32.4 milligrams) of morphine sulphate, which affected Thomas' breathing.
Reitell became increasingly concerned, and telephoned Feltenstein for advice. He suggested that she get male assistance, so she called upon the artist Jack Heliker, who arrived before 11 pm. At midnight on the 5th. November, Thomas's breathing became more difficult, and his face turned blue.
Reitell phoned Feltenstein who arrived at the hotel at about 1 am, and called for an ambulance. It then took another hour for the ambulance to arrive at St. Vincent's, even though it was only a few blocks from the Chelsea.
Thomas was admitted to the emergency ward at St Vincent's Hospital at 1:58 am. He was comatose, and his medical notes stated that:
"The impression upon admission was acute
alcoholic encephalopathy damage to the brain
by alcohol, for which the patient was treated
without response".
Feltenstein then took control of Thomas's care, even though he did not have admitting rights at St. Vincent's. The hospital's senior brain specialist, Dr. C. G. Gutierrez-Mahoney, was not called to examine Thomas until the afternoon of the 6th. November, thirty-six hours after Thomas' admission.
Dylan's wife Caitlin flew to America the following day, and was taken to the hospital, by which time a tracheotomy had been performed. Her reported first words were:
"Is the bloody man dead yet?"
Caitlin was allowed to see Thomas only for 40 minutes in the morning, but returned in the afternoon and, in a drunken rage, threatened to kill John Brinnin. When she became uncontrollable, she was put in a straitjacket and committed, by Feltenstein, to the River Crest private psychiatric detox clinic on Long Island.
It is now believed that Thomas had been suffering from bronchitis, pneumonia and emphysema before his admission to St Vincent's. In their 2004 paper, 'Death by Neglect', D. N. Thomas and Dr Simon Barton disclose that Thomas was found to have pneumonia when he was admitted to hospital in a coma.
Doctors took three hours to restore his breathing, using artificial respiration and oxygen. Summarising their findings, they conclude:
"The medical notes indicate that, on admission,
Dylan's bronchial disease was found to be very
extensive, affecting upper, mid and lower lung
fields, both left and right."
The forensic pathologist, Professor Bernard Knight, concurs:
"Death was clearly due to a severe lung infection
with extensive advanced bronchopneumonia.
The severity of the chest infection, with greyish
consolidated areas of well-established pneumonia,
suggests that it had started before admission to
hospital."
Thomas died at noon on the 9th. November 1953, having never recovered from his coma. He was 39 years of age when he died.
-- Aftermath of Dylan Thomas's Death
Rumours circulated of a brain haemorrhage, followed by competing reports of a mugging, or even that Thomas had drunk himself to death. Later, speculation arose about drugs and diabetes.
At the post-mortem, the pathologist found three causes of death - pneumonia, brain swelling and a fatty liver. Despite Dylan's heavy drinking, his liver showed no sign of cirrhosis.
The publication of John Brinnin's 1955 biography 'Dylan Thomas in America' cemented Thomas's legacy as the "doomed poet". Brinnin focuses on Thomas's last few years, and paints a picture of him as a drunk and a philanderer.
Later biographies have criticised Brinnin's view, especially his coverage of Thomas's death. David Thomas in 'Fatal Neglect: Who Killed Dylan Thomas?' claims that Brinnin, along with Reitell and Feltenstein, were culpable.
FitzGibbon's 1965 biography ignores Thomas's heavy drinking and skims over his death, giving just two pages in his detailed book to Thomas's demise.
Ferris in his 1989 biography includes Thomas's heavy drinking, but is more critical of those around him in his final days, and does not draw the conclusion that he drank himself to death.
Many sources have criticised Feltenstein's role and actions, especially his incorrect diagnosis of delirium tremens and the high dose of morphine he administered. Dr C. G. de Gutierrez-Mahoney, the doctor who treated Thomas while at St. Vincent's, concluded that Feltenstein's failure to see that Thomas was gravely ill and have him admitted to hospital sooner was even more culpable than his use of morphine.
Caitlin Thomas's autobiographies, 'Caitlin Thomas - Leftover Life to Kill' (1957) and 'My Life with Dylan Thomas: Double Drink Story' (1997), describe the effects of alcohol on the poet and on their relationship:
"Ours was not only a love story, it was
a drink story, because without alcohol
it would never had got on its rocking
feet. The bar was our altar."
Biographer Andrew Lycett ascribed the decline in Thomas's health to an alcoholic co-dependent relationship with his wife, who deeply resented his extramarital affairs.
In contrast, Dylan biographers Andrew Sinclair and George Tremlett express the view that Thomas was not an alcoholic. Tremlett argues that many of Thomas's health issues stemmed from undiagnosed diabetes.
Thomas died intestate, with assets worth £100. His body was brought back to Wales for burial in the village churchyard at Laugharne. Dylan's funeral, which Brinnin did not attend, took place at St Martin's Church in Laugharne on the 24th. November 1953.
Six friends from the village carried Thomas's coffin. Caitlin, without her customary hat, walked behind the coffin, with his childhood friend Daniel Jones at her arm and her mother by her side. The procession to the church was filmed, and the wake took place at Brown's Hotel. Thomas's fellow poet and long-time friend Vernon Watkins wrote The Times obituary.
Thomas's widow, Caitlin, died in 1994, and was laid to rest alongside him. Dylan's mother Florence died in August 1958. Thomas's elder son, Llewelyn, died in 2000, his daughter, Aeronwy in 2009, and his youngest son Colm in 2012.
-- Dylan Thomas's Poetry
Thomas's refusal to align with any literary group or movement has made him and his work difficult to categorise. Although influenced by the modern symbolism and surrealism movements, he refused to follow such creeds. Instead, critics view Thomas as part of the modernism and romanticism movements, though attempts to pigeon-hole him within a particular neo-romantic school have been unsuccessful.
Elder Olson, in his 1954 critical study of Thomas's poetry, wrote:
"There is a further characteristic which
distinguished Thomas's work from that
of other poets. It was unclassifiable."
Olson went on to say that in a postmodern age that continually attempted to demand that poetry have social reference, none could be found in Thomas's work, and that his work was so obscure that critics could not analyse it.
Thomas's verbal style played against strict verse forms, such as in the villanelle 'Do not go Gentle Into That Good Night'.
His images appear carefully ordered in a patterned sequence, and his major theme was the unity of all life, the continuing process of life and death, and new life that linked the generations.
Thomas saw biology as a magical transformation producing unity out of diversity, and in his poetry sought a poetic ritual to celebrate this unity. He saw men and women locked in cycles of growth, love, procreation, new growth, death, and new life. Therefore, each image engenders its opposite.
Thomas derived his closely woven, sometimes self-contradictory images from the Bible, Welsh folklore, preaching, and Sigmund Freud. Explaining the source of his imagery, Thomas wrote in a letter to Glyn Jones:
"My own obscurity is quite an unfashionable one,
based, as it is, on a preconceived symbolism
derived (I'm afraid all this sounds woolly and
pretentious) from the cosmic significance of the
human anatomy".
Thomas's early poetry was noted for its verbal density, alliteration, sprung rhythm and internal rhyme, and some critics detected the influence of the English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. Hopkins, had taught himself Welsh, and used sprung verse, bringing some features of Welsh poetic metre into his work.
However when Henry Treece wrote to Thomas comparing his style to that of Hopkins, Thomas wrote back denying any such influence. Thomas greatly admired Thomas Hardy, who is regarded as an influence. When Thomas travelled in America, he recited some of Hardy's work in his readings.
Other poets from whom critics believe Thomas drew influence include James Joyce, Arthur Rimbaud and D. H. Lawrence.
William York Tindall, in his 1962 study, 'A Reader's Guide to Dylan Thomas', finds comparison between Thomas's and Joyce's wordplay, while he notes the themes of rebirth and nature are common to the works of Lawrence and Thomas.
Although Thomas described himself as the "Rimbaud of Cwmdonkin Drive", he stated that the phrase "Swansea's Rimbaud" was coined by the poet Roy Campbell.
Critics have explored the origins of Thomas's mythological pasts in his works such as 'The Orchards', which Ann Elizabeth Mayer believes reflects the Welsh myths of the Mabinogion.
Thomas's poetry is notable for its musicality, most clear in 'Fern Hill', 'In Country Sleep', 'Ballad of the Long-legged Bait' and 'In the White Giant's Thigh' from Under Milk Wood.
Thomas once confided that the poems which had most influenced him were Mother Goose rhymes which his parents taught him when he was a child:
"I should say I wanted to write poetry in the
beginning because I had fallen in love with
words.
The first poems I knew were nursery rhymes,
and before I could read them for myself I had
come to love the words of them. The words
alone.
What the words stood for was of a very
secondary importance ... I fell in love, that is
the only expression I can think of, at once,
and am still at the mercy of words, though
sometimes now, knowing a little of their
behaviour very well, I think I can influence
them slightly and have even learned to beat
them now and then, which they appear to
enjoy.
I tumbled for words at once. And, when I began
to read the nursery rhymes for myself, and, later,
to read other verses and ballads, I knew that I
had discovered the most important things, to
me, that could be ever."
Thomas became an accomplished writer of prose poetry, with collections such as 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog' (1940) and 'Quite Early One Morning' (1954) showing he was capable of writing moving short stories. His first published prose work, 'After the Fair', appeared in The New English Weekly on the 15th. March 1934.
Jacob Korg believes that one can classify Thomas's fiction work into two main bodies:
-- Vigorous fantasies in a poetic style
-- After 1939, more straightforward
narratives.
Korg surmises that Thomas approached his prose writing as an alternate poetic form, which allowed him to produce complex, involuted narratives that do not allow the reader to rest.
-- Dylan Thomas as a Welsh Poet
Thomas disliked being regarded as a provincial poet, and decried any notion of 'Welshness' in his poetry. When he wrote to Stephen Spender in 1952, thanking him for a review of his Collected Poems, he added:
"Oh, & I forgot. I'm not influenced by
Welsh bardic poetry. I can't read Welsh."
Despite this, his work was rooted in the geography of Wales. Thomas acknowledged that he returned to Wales when he had difficulty writing, and John Ackerman argues that:
"Dylan's inspiration and imagination
were rooted in his Welsh background".
Caitlin Thomas wrote that:
"He worked in a fanatically narrow groove,
although there was nothing narrow about
the depth and understanding of his feelings.
The groove of direct hereditary descent in
the land of his birth, which he never in
thought, and hardly in body, moved out of."
Head of Programmes Wales at the BBC, Aneirin Talfan Davies, who commissioned several of Thomas's early radio talks, believed that the poet's whole attitude is that of the medieval bards.
Kenneth O. Morgan counter-argues that it is a difficult enterprise to find traces of cynghanedd (consonant harmony) or cerdd dafod (tongue-craft) in Thomas's poetry. Instead he believes that Dylan's work, especially his earlier, more autobiographical poems, are rooted in a changing country which echoes the Welshness of the past and the Anglicisation of the new industrial nation:
"Rural and urban, chapel-going and profane,
Welsh and English, unforgiving and deeply
compassionate."
Fellow poet and critic Glyn Jones believed that any traces of cynghanedd in Thomas's work were accidental, although he felt that Dylan consciously employed one element of Welsh metrics: that of counting syllables per line instead of feet. Constantine Fitzgibbon, who was his first in-depth biographer, wrote:
"No major English poet has
ever been as Welsh as Dylan".
Although Dylan had a deep connection with Wales, he disliked Welsh nationalism. He once wrote:
"Land of my fathers, and
my fathers can keep it".
While often attributed to Thomas himself, this line actually comes from the character Owen Morgan-Vaughan, in the screenplay Thomas wrote for the 1948 British melodrama 'The Three Weird Sisters'.
Robert Pocock, a friend from the BBC, recalled:
"I only once heard Dylan express an
opinion on Welsh Nationalism.
He used three words. Two of them
were Welsh Nationalism."
Although not expressed as strongly, Glyn Jones believed that he and Thomas's friendship cooled in the later years because he had not rejected enough of the elements that Thomas disliked, i.e. "Welsh nationalism and a sort of hill farm morality".
Apologetically, in a letter to Keidrych Rhys, editor of the literary magazine 'Wales', Thomas's father wrote:
"I'm afraid Dylan isn't much
of a Welshman".
FitzGibbon asserts that Thomas's negativity towards Welsh nationalism was fostered by his father's hostility towards the Welsh language.
Critical Appraisal of Dylan Thomas's Work
Thomas's work and stature as a poet have been much debated by critics and biographers since his death. Critical studies have been clouded by Thomas's personality and mythology, especially his drunken persona and death in New York.
When Seamus Heaney gave an Oxford lecture on the poet, he opened by addressing the assembly:
"Dylan Thomas is now as much
a case history as a chapter in the
history of poetry".
He queried how 'Thomas the Poet' is one of his forgotten attributes. David Holbrook, who has written three books about Thomas, stated in his 1962 publication 'Llareggub Revisited':
"The strangest feature of Dylan Thomas's
notoriety - not that he is bogus, but that
attitudes to poetry attached themselves
to him which not only threaten the prestige,
effectiveness and accessibility to English
poetry, but also destroyed his true voice
and, at last, him."
The Poetry Archive notes that:
"Dylan Thomas's detractors accuse him
of being drunk on language as well as
whiskey, but whilst there's no doubt that
the sound of language is central to his
style, he was also a disciplined writer
who re-drafted obsessively".
Many critics have argued that Thomas's work is too narrow, and that he suffers from verbal extravagance. However those who have championed his work have found the criticism baffling. Robert Lowell wrote in 1947:
"Nothing could be more wrongheaded
than the English disputes about Dylan
Thomas's greatness ... He is a dazzling
obscure writer who can be enjoyed
without understanding."
Kenneth Rexroth said, on reading 'Eighteen Poems':
"The reeling excitement of a poetry-intoxicated
schoolboy smote the Philistine as hard a blow
with one small book as Swinburne had with
Poems and Ballads."
Philip Larkin, in a letter to Kingsley Amis in 1948, wrote that:
"No one can stick words into us
like pins... like Thomas can".
However he followed that by stating that:
"Dylan doesn't use his words
to any advantage".
Amis was far harsher, finding little of merit in Dylan's work, and claiming that:
"He is frothing at the mouth
with piss."
In 1956, the publication of the anthology 'New Lines' featuring works by the British collective The Movement, which included Amis and Larkin amongst its number, set out a vision of modern poetry that was damning towards the poets of the 1940's. Thomas's work in particular was criticised. David Lodge, writing about The Movement in 1981 stated:
"Dylan Thomas was made to stand for
everything they detest, verbal obscurity,
metaphysical pretentiousness, and
romantic rhapsodizing".
Despite criticism by sections of academia, Thomas's work has been embraced by readers more so than many of his contemporaries, and is one of the few modern poets whose name is recognised by the general public.
In 2009, over 18,000 votes were cast in a BBC poll to find the UK's favourite poet; Thomas was placed 10th.
Several of Dylan's poems have passed into the cultural mainstream, and his work has been used by authors, musicians and film and television writers.
The long-running BBC Radio programme, 'Desert Island Discs', in which guests usually choose their favourite songs, has heard 50 participants select a Dylan Thomas recording.
John Goodby states that this popularity with the reading public allows Thomas's work to be classed as vulgar and common. He also cites that despite a brief period during the 1960's when Thomas was considered a cultural icon, the poet has been marginalized in critical circles due to his exuberance, in both life and work, and his refusal to know his place.
Goodby believes that Thomas has been mainly snubbed since the 1970's and has become: "... an embarrassment to twentieth-century poetry criticism", his work failing to fit standard narratives, and thus being ignored rather than studied.
-- Memorials to Dylan Thomas
In Swansea's maritime quarter is the Dylan Thomas Theatre, the home of the Swansea Little Theatre of which Thomas was once a member. The former Guildhall built in 1825 is now occupied by the Dylan Thomas Centre, a literature centre, where exhibitions and lectures are held and which is a setting for the annual Dylan Thomas Festival. Outside the centre stands a bronze statue of Thomas by John Doubleday.
Another monument to Thomas stands in Cwmdonkin Park, one of Dylan's favourite childhood haunts, close to his birthplace. The memorial is a small rock in an enclosed garden within the park, cut by and inscribed by the late sculptor Ronald Cour with the closing lines from Fern Hill:
'Oh as I was young and easy
in the mercy of his means
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like
the sea'.
Thomas's home in Laugharne, the Boathouse, is now a museum run by Carmarthenshire County Council. Thomas's writing shed is also preserved.
In 2004, the Dylan Thomas Prize was created in his honour, awarded to the best published writer in English under the age of 30. In 2005, the Dylan Thomas Screenplay Award was established. The prize, administered by the Dylan Thomas Centre, is awarded at the annual Swansea Bay Film Festival.
In 1982 a plaque was unveiled in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey. The plaque is also inscribed with the last two lines of 'Fern Hill'.
In 2014, the Royal Patron of The Dylan Thomas 100 Festival was Charles, Prince of Wales, who made a recording of 'Fern Hill' for the event.
In 2014, to celebrate the centenary of Thomas's birth, the British Council Wales undertook a year-long programme of cultural and educational works. Highlights included a touring replica of Thomas's work shed, Sir Peter Blake's exhibition of illustrations based on 'Under Milk Wood', and a 36-hour marathon of readings, which included Michael Sheen and Sir Ian McKellen performing Thomas's work.
Towamensing Trails, Pennsylvania named one of its streets, Thomas Lane, in Dylan's honour.
-- List of Works by Dylan Thomas
-- 'The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas: The New Centenary Edition', edited and with Introduction by John Goodby. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2014.
-- 'The Notebook Poems 1930–34', edited by Ralph Maud. London: Dent, 1989.
-- 'Dylan Thomas: The Film Scripts', edited by John Ackerman. London: Dent 1995.
-- 'Dylan Thomas: Early Prose Writings', edited by Walford Davies. London: Dent 1971.
-- 'Collected Stories', edited by Walford Davies. London: Dent, 1983.
-- 'Under Milk Wood: A Play for Voices', edited by Walford Davies and Ralph Maud. London: Dent, 1995.
-- 'On The Air With Dylan Thomas: The Broadcasts', edited by Ralph Maud. New York: New Directions, 1991.
-- Correspondence
-- 'Dylan Thomas: The Collected Letters', edited by Paul Ferris (2017), 2 vols. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Vol I: 1931–1939
Vol II: 1939–1953.
-- 'Letters to Vernon Watkins', edited by Vernon Watkins (1957). London: Dent.
-- Posthumous Film Adaptations
-- 2016: Dominion, written and directed by Steven Bernstein, examines the final hours of Dylan Thomas.
-- 2014: Set Fire to the Stars, with Thomas portrayed by Celyn Jones, and John Brinnin by Elijah Wood.
-- 2014: Under Milk Wood BBC, starring Charlotte Church, Tom Jones, Griff Rhys-Jones and Michael Sheen.
-- 2014: Interstellar. The poem is featured throughout the film as a recurring theme regarding the perseverance of humanity.
-- 2009: A Child's Christmas in Wales, BAFTA Best Short Film. Animation, with soundtrack in Welsh and English. Director: Dave Unwin. Extras include filmed comments from Aeronwy Thomas.
-- 2007: Dylan Thomas: A War Films Anthology (DDHE/IWM).
-- 1996: Independence Day. Before the attack, the President paraphrases Thomas's "Do not go Gentle Into That Good Night".
-- 1992: Rebecca's Daughters, starring Peter O'Toole and Joely Richardson.
-- 1987: A Child's Christmas in Wales, directed by Don McBrearty.
-- 1972: Under Milk Wood, starring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, and Peter O'Toole.
-- Opera Adaptation
-- 1973: Unter dem Milchwald, by German composer Walter Steffens on his own libretto using Erich Fried's translation of 'Under Milk Wood' into German, Hamburg State Opera. Also at the Staatstheater Kassel in 1977.
-- Final Thoughts From Dylan Thomas
"Somebody's boring me.
I think it's me."
"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
"When one burns one's bridges,
what a very nice fire it makes."
"I think, that if I touched the earth,
It would crumble; It is so sad and
beautiful, so tremulously like a dream."
"An alcoholic is someone you don't
like, who drinks as much as you do."
"I hold a beast, an angel, and a madman in me,
and my enquiry is as to their working, and my
problem is their subjugation and victory, down
throw and upheaval, and my effort is their self-
expression."
"The only sea I saw was the seesaw sea
with you riding on it. Lie down, lie easy.
Let me shipwreck in your thighs."
"Why do men think you can pick love up
and re-light it like a candle? Women know
when love is over."
"Poetry is not the most important thing in life.
I'd much rather lie in a hot bath reading
Agatha Christie and sucking sweets."
"And now, gentlemen, like your manners,
I must leave you."
"My education was the liberty I had to read
indiscriminately and all the time, with my eyes
hanging out."
"I'm a freak user of words, not a poet."
"Our discreditable secret is that we don't
know anything at all, and our horrid inner
secret is that we don't care that we don't."
"It snowed last year too: I made a snowman
and my brother knocked it down and I knocked
my brother down and then we had tea."
"Though lovers be lost love shall not."
"Man’s wants remain unsatisfied till death.
Then, when his soul is naked, is he one
with the man in the wind, and the west moon,
with the harmonious thunder of the sun."
"And books which told me everything
about the wasp, except why."
"We are not wholly bad or good, who
live our lives under Milk Wood."
"Love is the last light spoken."
"... an ugly, lovely town ... crawling, sprawling ...
by the side of a long and splendid curving
shore. This sea-town was my world."
"I do not need any friends. I prefer enemies.
They are better company, and their feelings
towards you are always genuine."
"This poem has been called obscure. I refuse
to believe that it is obscurer than pity, violence,
or suffering. But being a poem, not a lifetime,
it is more compressed."
"One: I am a Welshman; two: I am a drunkard;
three: I am a lover of the human race, especially
of women."
"I believe in New Yorkers. Whether they've ever
questioned the dream in which they live, I wouldn't
know, because I won't ever dare ask that question."
"These poems, with all their crudities, doubts and
confusions, are written for the love of man and in
praise of God, and I'd be a damn fool if they weren't."
"Before you let the sun in, mind he wipes his shoes."
"Nothing grows in our garden, only washing.
And babies."
"Make gentle the life of this world."
"A worm tells summer better than the clock,
the slug's a living calendar of days; what shall
it tell me if a timeless insect says the world
wears away?"
"Time passes. Listen. Time passes. Come
closer now. Only you can hear the houses
sleeping in the streets in the slow deep salt
and silent black, bandaged night."
"Rhianon, he said, hold my hand, Rhianon.
She did not hear him, but stood over his bed
and fixed him with an unbroken sorrow. Hold
my hand, he said, and then: Why are you
putting the sheet over my face?"
"Come on up, boys - I'm dead."
"Life is a terrible thing, thank God."
This is one of Mr. Carver's tree men. He came out to the house with the first Demi adventure. When I came outside with my camera this time, he was relaxed and smiling. I actually stood in the garage because it was raining. You can see the streaks of rain to the right.
He did tell me his name, but I swear I cannot remember it.
I asked him about his beard, which, in this photo, is flecked with wood chips.
This beard? Haven't shaved it since I had the bronchitis. Was so sick I had to sleep in a chair. Beard kept me warm...and I don't plan on cutting it.
I'm including him as my #12 in the 100 Strangers project, even though I cannot remember his name.
Borago officinalis L.
Common name: Borage, Starflower
Family: Boraginaceae
Traditionally borage was cultivated for culinary and medicinal uses, although today commercial cultivation is mainly as an oilseed. The seed oil is desired as a source of gamma-linolenic acid, for which borage is the highest known plant-based source.
Borage tastes like cucumber and is often used in salads or as a garnish. The flower which has a sweet honey-like taste and is one of the few truly blue-coloured edible things, is often used to decorate desserts and drinks.
Naturopathic practitioners use borage for the regulation of metabolism and the hormonal system, and consider it to be a good remedy for PMS and menopause symptoms such as the hot flash. Borage is sometimes indicated to alleviate and heal colds, bronchitis, and respiratory infections in general for its anti-inflammatory and balsamic properties. The flowers can be prepared in infusion to take advantage of its medicinal properties. The oleic and palmitic acid of borage may also confer a hypocholesterolemic effect.
Tea made from the dried flowers is a traditional calming drink. It has a rich purple colour that turns bright pink after adding a few drops of lemon juice.
On Explore October 18, 2008 at #290
Highest position: 49 on Tuesday, October 21, 2008
This may look like a cosy little nest somewhere, but this is actually a form of duckweed floating on the surface of the water that is cradling his little body while he takes a nap in the pond.
Duckweed has been used for centuries for health conditions. People eat it, or try and cure swelling (inflammation) of the air ways in the lungs (bronchitis), liver disease, rheumatoid arthritis and gout, and is even eaten as a protein source. We used to call it pond scum, and I've known lots of people that have paid big money to buy this stuff from a place in Oregon. Go figure. But they would choke on a hamburger. Pretty funny stuff.
However, ducks eat it and seem to love it and thrive on the stuff... :^P
I am fighting bronchitis/flu with major congestion right now & my sweet sister brought me this one little lavender rose with the sweetest fragrance ever.. it brightened my day so much I wanted to share it just wish l could share the fragrance!! Blessings from Texas!
Insomnia put to good use...
I really do feel like sleeping beauty. I think my bronchitis has returned...
This photo looks like I feel right now. It's almost as if I knew life could be something to be a little skeptical about at times, and that it would be difficult. At least if I didn't yet sense that, I remember becoming aware of it pretty young. Life was full of things like bronchitis, and my parent's marital problems, and the burden of depression which hit me very young. That waned through the years, and I don't deal with full blown bouts of it much anymore, though the events of the last month are making it harder to keep my chin up.
Today my eye is much blurrier than before. I have been pulled off my eye drops, and the surgeon wants to see me again on Friday. I have to drive 35 miles before 8:30 AM, and I'll be late for work, which is not going over well with the poor guy who has been filling in for me lately for half the month as I've dealt with surgical woes. I'll be working tomorrow, and trying to navigate driving home at night, though the headlights look like giant, diagonal beams right now. My eye feels awful, and I'm hoping this is just inflammation from whatever the allergy was and not some reaction to the lens, or worse, needing to do this again. I think my eye is protesting. I am so grateful the other one is doing really well right now!
Please continue to pray for me. I can see, but not well. After spending over $10,000 out of pocket, which is over half what I've made this year so far, I expected to see pretty much perfect! Life had other plans, at least for the time being. Things like this do have a way of making us grateful for when things go well. I'm still hopeful, but this is a very hard time.
I've been trying to do a few comments, but can't really be on too much. I know you understand. Hugs to all.
"Chavalos".....the term for children who live & sleep on the streets of Granada......some as young as 5 yrs old. Homelessness and hunger often leads to substance abuse, here & elsewhere in the world....but it's a disturbing sight, to see young children wandering the streets with tubes of glue in brown paper bags..........sniffing glue staves off hunger, I've been told..............while it fries the brain. I learned of one struggling non-profit organization "Chavalos de Granada" helping street kids with hot meals once a week, limited medical attention, flip-flops to clad bare feet, bus fare to shelters for the night. While sitting one night at a sidewalk-cafe table on calle La Calzada, the young boy in the photo approached. He was kind of grubby and charmingly assertive. He asked for money but had something to offer in exchange. He'd made a flower out of a green palm frond (imagine origami from a leaf rather than paper). Is he still out there a year later?
chavalo.......nicaraguan jargon for 'a kid' usually under age 12
_________________
Dangers and Consequences of Glue-Sniffing
from the blog of "chavalos de granada" chavalosdegranada.blogspot.com/
After chronic glue sniffing, the body and mind can become seriously damaged, as use increases and tolerance builds. The brain and the rest of the nervous system begin to experience damage, as nerve tissues are repeatedly attacked by toxic chemicals present in glue fumes. Glue sniffers can also experience cognitive problems from brain damage, developing learning disabilities, memory problems and mood disorders.
Chronic glue sniffing can also attack other organs within the body, such as the kidneys and liver. With repeated glue sniffing, the lungs become damaged as well, making them prone to chronic or chemical bronchitis. Over time, the nasal cavity becomes eroded by glue sniffing, and skin throughout the body and on the lining of the nose becomes irritated and compromised.
____________________
Jefferson Davis, a president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865, perished in this home, which belonged to Charles Erasmus Fenner, an associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. Davis died on Dec 6, 1889 as a result of acute bronchitis complicated by malaria.
Rolleiflex MX EVS
75mm Schneider Xenar lens
Kodak Tri X 400
Just noticed, it's a smiley pear. For those concerned about my health, I don't have bronchitis or pneumonia, which is good. Got some magic pills from the doctor.
Honigklee wird vor allem als Kräuterkissen, Salbe,und Pflastern gegen Schwellungen, Entzündungen und Wunden eingesetzt.
Innerlich als Tee nimmt man ihn gegen Bronchitis, Durchblutungsstörungen, Migräne und zur Verbesserung der Lymphzirkulation.
Myspace | Facebook | Twitter | Blog|PS3 I.D- BloodInTheBokah
this is levi he's one of my good buddies and he does vocals for a band called Miss May I. i went to the monument tour show to do some work for Miss May I, Crimson Armada, and Bury Tomorrow. our original plan was to meet up and shoot MMI at 5 then armada then bury tomorrow. well when i got there we were all famished so we got some gyros then hit up urban out fitters to search for some deals. after searching thru the usual crap you see on sale at urban levi found these epic shoes hence them being one of the photos. and after the MMI shoot me and levi were chilling out waiting for Armada to show and we decided to take some pictures of those shoes. also we picked out the camera and lens set up he was gonna buy that night, tech talked, and i showed him some ways of getting settings for when he gets his gear.
also id like to thank Levi and Nikki for assisting me with my other shoot that night and helping me lug gear for without them i wouldev been stranded *great friends i tell ya*
(shoots i did that night were only The Crimson Armada and Miss May I, Bury Tomorrow had some member complications go on, abandon all ships vocalist had to go to the hospital with bronchitis i believe (dude was so sick), and sleeping with sirens had some set time complications. so those shoots will be rescheduled for later times.)
5d mrk ii
35mm f1.4 usm L
_________________________________________________________________
ALL IMAGES ©OPYWRITTEN BY Evan Dell Photography NONE ARE TO BE USED WITHOUT OUR PERMISSION
Forsythias are in full bloom now. There are many of them around the building where I live and lovely decorate the area :)
Forsythia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae (olive family). There are about 11 species, mostly native to eastern Asia, but one native to southeastern Europe. They are deciduous shrubs typically growing to a height of 1–3 m (3–9 ft.) The flowers are produced in the early spring before the leaves. Forsythias are popular early spring flowering shrubs in gardens and parks. The flowers are edible and can be used as medicine to treat headaches, colds, fevers and bronchitis. It acts as an antibiotic, antiviral agent and blood detoxifier.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Forsycje są teraz w pełnym rozkwicie. Wokół bloku mam ich całkiem sporo, więc pięknie ozdabiają osiedle :)
Forsycja (Forsythia) – rodzaj krzewów należący do rodziny oliwkowatych. Obejmuje 8 gatunków. Pochodzą w większości z Azji, jeden tylko gatunek pochodzi z Europy. Forsycja jest krzewem do 3 m wysokości, o pędach wyprostowanych i częściowo zwisających. Jest powszechnie uprawiana w parkach i przydomowych ogrodach, zarówno pojedynczo, jak i w grupach. Jej walorami ozdobnymi jest bardzo obfite kwitnienie wczesnowiosenne; jest to jeden z najwcześniej zakwitających krzewów i kwitnie w okresie, gdy drzewa i krzewy nie posiadają jeszcze liści. Nadaje się również na żywopłoty. Kwiaty forsycji mają właściwości zdrowotne, działają przeciwzapalnie, przeciwalergicznie, rozkurczowo oraz obniżają poziom glukozy we krwi.
zum x-Mal, aber diesmal von meinem ehem. Kollegen Roberto geklaut, der prächtige Kaiserdom Bamberg, der zusammen mit dem Ulmer Münster, dem Erfurter Dom und dem Münsteraner St. Ludgeri zu meinen Lieblingskirchen gehört.
Liebe Grüße von Eurer wieder kranken AnnA (zwei Tage zu Haus, Bronchitis), der das Herz aber wieder schön hoch fliegt... :))
il Duomo di Bamberga
per l'ennesima volta una foto, stavolta "rubata" al mio ex-collega Roberto, del Duomo Imperiale di Bamberga, che fa parte assieme alla cattedrale di Ulm, il Duomo di Erfurt e St. Ludger di Münster delle mie chiese preferite in assoluto.
Cari saluti da AnnA di nuovo malata (due giorni a casa, bronchite), a cui però il cuore invece vola di nuovo tanto alto...:))
"Dr. A. W. Chase's Syrup of Linseed and Turpentine, a certain cure for asthma, bronchitis, sore throat, croup, coughs, colds and consumption in its early stages."
... Dr. Alvin Wood Chase was originally American. His products were sold in Canada as early as 1885.
-- Canadian Pharmacists Journal, July 2012
--------
According to webmd, Turpentine oil, when inhaled, may help reduce congestion. When used on the skin, turpentine oil may cause warmth and redness that can help relieve pain in the tissue underneath." Sniffing it seems to be OK, but ingestion???
-- Eileen (below)
---------
Thanks to John Mack.
One of Newcastles greatest sons & two of the worlds greatest engineers photographed together in October 1857 at the launch of the SS Great Eastern. Robert Stephenson seated at left & second along from Stephenson is Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Robert Stephenson later fell from the slipway into riverside mud, but continued without an overcoat until the end of his visit. The following day he was confined to his bed for two weeks with bronchitis. Stephenson & Brunel both died in 1859. Robert Stephenson left 400,000 in his will.
Dr. Thomas’ Eclectric Oil was formulated by Dr. S. N. Thomas in the late 1840s. It contained: spirits of turpentine, camphor, oil of tar, red thyme, and fish oil.
Dr. Thomas' Eclectric Oil claimed to cure toothache, earache, backache, lameness, coughs, hoarseness, sore throat, deafness, burns, scalds. catarrh, neuralgia, asthma, bad cold, rheumatism, bronchitis, croup, and piles.
-- Joe Nickell. Com
This moon/sun sculpture hangs on the wall in our favourite local Mexican restaurant, Bella Jack's. Ok, it's actually the ONLY Mexican restaurant in town. lol We took the family out to eat tonite, something we do when everyone is together for more than a few days.Tomorrow, life gets back to some semblance of normalcy. With any luck, I'll be over this annoying, lingering sickness that started with bronchitis three weeks ago.
In the U.S., about 50,000 people die each year from secondhand smoke-related diseases.
Of current smokers, 2,633,000 have chronic bronchitis from smoking.
358,000 have a cancer other than lung cancer from smoking.
384,000 have had a stroke from smoking.
In the U.S., tobacco kills more Americans than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, murders, suicides, drugs, and fires combined.
I'm not saying you shouldn't be allowed to smoke, I'm just saying you should be careful of who else you're harming.
Small Bitter gourds are very rare species and powerful Ayurveda medicine for many diseases.
Bitter melon, also known as bitter gourd in karela (in India), is a unique vegetable-fruit that can be used as food or medicine. It is the edible part of the plant Momordica Charantia, which is a vine of the Cucurbitaceae family and is considered the most bitter among all fruits and vegetables.
Bitter gourds are very low in calories but dense with precious nutrients. It is an excellent source of vitamins B1, B2, and B3, C, magnesium, folate, zinc, phosphorus, manganese, and has high dietary fiber. It is rich in iron, contains twice the beta-carotene of broccoli, twice the calcium of spinach, and twice the potassium of a banana
Health Benefits
Blood disorders: Bitter gourd juice is highly beneficial for treating blood disorders like blood boils and itching due to
toxemia. Mix 2 ounces of fresh bitter gourd juice with some lime juice. Sip it slowly on an empty stomach daily for between four and six months and see improvement in your condition.
Cancer: The juice of bitter gourd contains an enzyme that inhibits the transportation of glucose (sugar) that lowers blood sugar levels, also cuts off cancer cells’ food supply, retarding their growth.
Cholera: In early stages of cholera, take two teaspoonfuls juice of bitter gourd leaves, mix with two teaspoonfuls white onion juice and one teaspoonful lime juice. Sip this concoction daily till you get well.
Diabetes mellitus: Bitter melon contains a hypoglycemic compound (a plant insulin) that is highly beneficial in lowering sugar levels in blood and urine. Bitter melon juice has been shown to significantly improve glucose tolerance without increasing blood insulin levels.
Energy: Regular consumption of bitter gourd juice has been proven to improve energy and stamina level. Even sleeping patterns have been shown to be improved/stabilized.
Eye problems: The high beta-carotene and other properties in bitter gourd makes it one of the finest vegetable-fruit that help alleviate eye problems and improving eyesight.
Gout: Bitter gourd juice is liver cleansing. It helps clean up a toxic blood, improves blood circulation and relieves gout pain.
Hangover: Bitter melon juice may be beneficial in the treatment of a hangover for its alcohol intoxication properties. It also help cleanse and repair and nourish liver problems due to alcohol consumption.
Immune booster: This bitter juice can also help to build your immune system and increase your body’s resistance against infection.
Piles: Mix three teaspoonfuls of juice from bitter melon leaves with a glassful of buttermilk. Take this every morning on empty stomach for about a month and see an improvement to your condition. To hasten the healing, use the paste of the roots of bitter melon plant and apply over the piles.
Psoriasis: Regular consumption of this bitter juice has also been known to improve psoriasis condition and other fungal infections like ring-worm and athletes feet.
Respiratory disorders: Take two ounces of fresh bitter melon juice and mix with a cup of honey diluted in water. Drink daily to improve asthma, bronchitis and pharyngitis.
Toxemia: Bitter gourd contains beneficial properties that cleanses the blood from toxins. Sip two teaspoonfuls of the juice daily to help cleanse the liver. Also helpful in ridding jaundice for the same reasons.
Info_ juicing-for-health.com/health-benefits-of-bitter-gourd
Can't get enough of this view: from the most in-demand suite at Citadines Tour Eiffel. Great view to wake up to, I think!
---
Camera: Sony a99 | Lens: Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 2.8/16-35
__
I had the pleasure of staying at Citadines - Tour Eiffel for 3 nights during my visit to Paris. Located in the former village of Grenelle, Citadines - Tour Eiffel is in a prime location situated across from a major metro hub with tons of cafes, restaurants, and marketplaces all within walking distance. It is also quite close to the Eiffel Tower, the Seine, Invalides, and Champs des Mars. In fact, while staying there, I was able to easily take the metro across the street to Versailles (with a transfer) for the day which made things quite convenient.
The really cool thing about the hotel is that some of the rooms on the upper floors of the hotel feature really beautiful views of the Eiffel Tower. If you follow my Instagram, I posted a video of the Eiffel Tower's light show that I filmed with my phone from the window of my room at Citadines - Tour Eiffel. It's a pretty impressive view!
However, what makes this hotel standout from many others is that it is known as an aparthotel or apartment hotel because it also functions as a place to stay for extended periods of time if you wish. People can stay for a few nights, a few weeks, a month, a few months, even a year if that is what they wish. This makes this a great place for families or individuals looking to relocate who may need a habitable living space centrally located in the city they are trying to relocate to. It also makes it a great place for people who are looking to try to live in a city to get a feel for the city while having the comforts of home.
An intriguing facet of staying at an aparthotel is that not only do you have the comforts that you would associate with an apartment such as a fully functional kitchen and living area but you get the amenities and benefits of hotel living as well. For example, Citadines aparthotels offer various cleaning arrangements for all guests as well as other perks that you would typically associate with staying in a hotel. Only you can enjoy these perks during your extended stay in any of the Citadines locations all over Europe and the Asia Pacific.
I had a great stay during my time in Paris. I had the misfortune of getting quite sick with bronchitis while in Paris and the staff at Citadines Tour Eiffel were really wonderful when it came to getting me the medical help I needed and making my stay pleasant while I recovered. I really enjoyed the fact that there was a Monoprix right across the street. The Monoprix there had a huge grocery section which allowed me to buy reasonably priced groceries that I was able to store in the refrigerator. This was a great relief to my wallet since it let me save on certain meals since I could use the kitchen in my room.
And of course, I loved the views. But that goes without saying, right? :)
--- Read a dedicated post about the hotel with explanations of each photo here:
Citadines - Tour Eiffel - Rooms with a View
--
Interested in viewing all of my Paris posts so far? Here they are:
Looking for these (and more) Paris photos to view larger? Here you go (click or tap on each photo to view larger):
---
View my New York City photography at my website NY Through The Lens.
Interested in my work and have questions about PR and media? Check out my:
About Page | PR Page | Media Page
To use any of my photos commercially, feel free to contact me via email at photos@nythroughthelens.com
Umckaloabo, South African Geranium, Silverleaf geranium, Kalwerbossie or Rabassamin
All the same. It's this flower. I just finished this watercolour on Fabriano 5. If submitted, you can see it in the next SBA show in London (in April).
Pelargonium sidoides has been successfully used for the treatment of:
* Respiratory infections like bronchitis, sinusitis, and pneumonia, tonsillitis and rhinopharyngitis
* It is often used as an alternative to antibiotics
* Acute and chronic ear, nose and throat infections
* Rapid improvement in the symptoms associated with colds and flu
* Analgesic (absence of pain) effects
A Mother's Day card for my late aunt Hilda (who raised Peggy and I) and my big sister Peggy, who often mothered me. Happy Mother's Day also to my two daughters - Tricia and Arisa and my daughter-in-law Edi, who are terrific mothers. Thanks also to my close friends, Ottavia (8 years), Edna (9 years), and Joy (who is only 2 years older than me) yet helped to steer my path over the decades.
Due to my Bronchitis, we have postponed my family celebrations until next week. Thanks for visiting.
...because tomorrow the forecast is for wet snow!
No kidding, is true for Southeastern Pennsylvania (as in Bucks County)---what a crazy season!
and in the meantime I am recovering from a nasty bout of bacterial sinusitis and bronchitis-part of the walking wounded epidemic.
But the good news is that it is 62 degrees, full of sunshine and forsythia today!!!
Well this is it , the engine house for the pumping engine at Towanroath shaft Wheal Coates on the North Cornish Coast that has the claim alongside The Crowns at Botallack of being the most photographed mining remains in Cornwall . So why is that having taken this shot in 2008 , I have only just got round to posting It ???
Wheal Coates tin mine opened in 1802 and worked until 1889. The image of the Towanroath Shaft engine house, famous on postcards, calendars, and on the telly represents for many the serene beauty of the north Cornish coast. In reality this industrial landscape holds a harsh and austere history.
The life of a Cornish miner was tough.
Working deep underground in cramped and stifling conditions meant that miners were thought of as worn out and old by the time they were 40. The air in the mine was thick with powder smoke, dust and fumes from rock blasting that miners often coughed up black phlegm. Many suffered with bronchitis, silicosis, TB and rheumatism. Accidents caused by explosions, falling, rock falls, drowning and entanglement in machinery were a real danger and took many lives.
Woman were employed as Bal maidens, wielding hammers and crushing copper ore into smaller fragments. By the early nineteenth century over 7000 children were working in Cornish mines, initially above ground doing menial tasks, but when they were twelve they joined their fathers underground.
At its peak Cornish mining employed upwards of 30,000 people. In the mid nineteenth century the industry began to decline, and in 1875 over 10,000 miners left Cornwall to find work overseas. The skills and experience of Cornish mining spread across the world. They also took the pasty with them.
There are over 160 places, across six continents, where Cornish mine workers took their skills, technology and traditions; a truly global heritage. Cornwall and west Devon’s mining landscape, shaped during a period of intense industrial activity, is testimony to one of the greatest periods of economic, technological and social development Britain has ever known.
From 1700 to 1914, the metal mining industry played a vital role in transforming our way of life. It provided essential raw materials to feed the Industrial Revolution in Britain, and pioneered technological developments that helped shape the society we live in today. For example, Richard Trevithick’s advances in steam engine technology – originally motivated by the need to pump water out of mines – ultimately enabled the development of steam trains, changing the world forever through the mass movement of people and goods.
World Heritage
On 13 July 2006 select mining landscapes across Cornwall and West Devon were inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, placing Cornish mining heritage on a par with international treasures like Machu Picchu, the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China.
Are you a weak woman whose blood could be redder? Talk to your doctor about Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery. Side effects include nausea, indigestion, hysteria, social banishment, witchcraft accusations, being burned at the stake, death,....
In all seriousness, you can google this archaic medicine and find links to bottles with the following info:
Bottle embossed on sides ("R.V. Pierce, M.D." and "Buffalo, N.Y.") and back ("Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery"). Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery (or GMD) was one of Pierce's earliest products. This product was called a "vegetable alternative" tonic and was also one of the longest-lasting lines of Pierce's Proprietaries (the company that was formed sometime after the death of the senior Dr. Pierce and continued selling these items well into the 1970s). This product was to be used to help cleanse the body and blood and to "tone the system." A later booklet about the product stated the ingredients of GMD were bloodroot (sanguinaria canadensis), Oregon grape root (berberis aquifolium), stone root (collinsonia canadensis), Queen's root (stillingia sylvatica), sacred bark (rhamnus purshiana), and cherrybark (prunus virginiana).
OR...
For the cure of all severe, chronic or lingering coughs, bronchitis, laryngitis, weak lungs, bleeding from lungs, public speaker's sore throat, hoarseness and suppression or loss of voice. A remedy for torpor of liver (generally termed "liver complaint" or "biliousness") and for habitual constipation of the bowels. For loss of appetite, indigestion and dyspepsia, and for general nervous disability or prostration, in either sex. An alterative, or blood purifier; valuable in all forms of scrofulous and other blood diseases. For skin diseases, eruptions, pimples, rashes and blotches, boils, ulcers, sores, and swellings, arising from impure blood.
This barn advertisement can be seen from the Jackson Highway (formerly U.S. Route 99) a bit south of the town of Toledo, Washington.
Went to the doctor this morning and I have a sinus infection, bronchitis and a double ear infection . Milo has not left my side all afternoon. I think if he had the ability to make me chicken noodle soup, he would.
That's what I'm asking myself, and I think maybe Mercury is too. I thought we had all the health issues behind us...
Merc spent the afternoon at the vet today. His cough has returned. More radiographs were taken and we're awaiting the consult of the radiologist. I'll update if/when I have that news. Until then, it looks like bronchitis and we're treating him with an expectorant.
I don't think he's feeling unwell. He's eating well and playing. Perhaps he has a bit less energy, but nothing remarkable. He's home with me now, and we're planning a quiet and restful weekend.
Small Bitter gourds are very rare species and powerful Ayurveda medicine for many diseases.
Bitter melon, also known as bitter gourd in karela (in India), is a unique vegetable-fruit that can be used as food or medicine. It is the edible part of the plant Momordica Charantia, which is a vine of the Cucurbitaceae family and is considered the most bitter among all fruits and vegetables.
Bitter gourds are very low in calories but dense with precious nutrients. It is an excellent source of vitamins B1, B2, and B3, C, magnesium, folate, zinc, phosphorus, manganese, and has high dietary fiber. It is rich in iron, contains twice the beta-carotene of broccoli, twice the calcium of spinach, and twice the potassium of a banana
Health Benefits
Blood disorders: Bitter gourd juice is highly beneficial for treating blood disorders like blood boils and itching due to
toxemia. Mix 2 ounces of fresh bitter gourd juice with some lime juice. Sip it slowly on an empty stomach daily for between four and six months and see improvement in your condition.
Cancer: The juice of bitter gourd contains an enzyme that inhibits the transportation of glucose (sugar) that lowers blood sugar levels, also cuts off cancer cells’ food supply, retarding their growth.
Cholera: In early stages of cholera, take two teaspoonfuls juice of bitter gourd leaves, mix with two teaspoonfuls white onion juice and one teaspoonful lime juice. Sip this concoction daily till you get well.
Diabetes mellitus: Bitter melon contains a hypoglycemic compound (a plant insulin) that is highly beneficial in lowering sugar levels in blood and urine. Bitter melon juice has been shown to significantly improve glucose tolerance without increasing blood insulin levels.
Energy: Regular consumption of bitter gourd juice has been proven to improve energy and stamina level. Even sleeping patterns have been shown to be improved/stabilized.
Eye problems: The high beta-carotene and other properties in bitter gourd makes it one of the finest vegetable-fruit that help alleviate eye problems and improving eyesight.
Gout: Bitter gourd juice is liver cleansing. It helps clean up a toxic blood, improves blood circulation and relieves gout pain.
Hangover: Bitter melon juice may be beneficial in the treatment of a hangover for its alcohol intoxication properties. It also help cleanse and repair and nourish liver problems due to alcohol consumption.
Immune booster: This bitter juice can also help to build your immune system and increase your body’s resistance against infection.
Piles: Mix three teaspoonfuls of juice from bitter melon leaves with a glassful of buttermilk. Take this every morning on empty stomach for about a month and see an improvement to your condition. To hasten the healing, use the paste of the roots of bitter melon plant and apply over the piles.
Psoriasis: Regular consumption of this bitter juice has also been known to improve psoriasis condition and other fungal infections like ring-worm and athletes feet.
Respiratory disorders: Take two ounces of fresh bitter melon juice and mix with a cup of honey diluted in water. Drink daily to improve asthma, bronchitis and pharyngitis.
Toxemia: Bitter gourd contains beneficial properties that cleanses the blood from toxins. Sip two teaspoonfuls of the juice daily to help cleanse the liver. Also helpful in ridding jaundice for the same reasons.
Info_ juicing-for-health.com/health-benefits-of-bitter-gourd
also known as common mullein, great mullein, flannel mullein, velvet dock, flannel leaf, witch's taper, candlestick and other names. Its scientific name is verbascum thapsus.
Mullein is a biennial plant, taking two years to complete its growing cycle and produce seeds.
Mullein tea is used to treat respiratory problems and lung diseases. The dried eaves can be smoked to relieve lung issues.
Salve and ointment made from mullein leaves is used to soothe and heal burns, rashes and more.
Mullein tea is excellent for coughs and colds, bronchitis and other respiratory issues. The leaves contain an immunosuppressant that can soothe mucous membranes.
Mullein leaf tea also soothes irritated skin and sore throats. To use on rashes and irritated skin, use the cooled tea as a wash
To make mullein tea, add a teaspoon of dried mullein leaves to a mug and add one cup of hot water. Let the tea steep for about 30 minutes, then strain out the plant material
Add honey to mullein tea to make cough syrup
The tiny yellow flowers on the flower spikes provide a soothing and cleansing effect for skin problems.
An easy treatment for minor wounds and scrapes is to make mullein tea with the little yellow flowers instead of dried leaves, and use it as a wash on the affected area
Mullein flowers can also be infused in oil and used as a very effective treatment for ear infections.
The oil is made the same way whether you plan to use it in soap making, make a salve or ointment, or use it to treat an ear infection.
In ancient times, the dried plant spike was often used as a torch, giving the plant the nicknames hags taper and torch plant.
In medieval Europe, mullein was thought to protect against the plague, perhaps because it's so useful in supporting and treating the lungs
Mullein plant was also used in Native American folklore as a natural remedy for a variety of ailments including abscesses, bruises, sprains, rashes, and burns
© Israr ZAYAN
All contents are copyrighted...!!
Don't use this image anywhere without my permission.Using any of my pictures without permission is illegal. If you want to use some of them, please contact me by Flickr email.
Visit my: Getty Images | Facebook | 500px
Smoking is a practice in which a substance, most commonly tobacco or cannabis, is burned and the smoke is tasted or inhaled. This is primarily practised as a route of administration for recreational drug use, as combustion releases the active substances in drugs such as nicotine and makes them available for absorption through the lungs. It can also be done as a part of rituals, to induce trances and spiritual enlightenment.
The most common method of smoking today is through cigarettes, primarily industrially manufactured but also hand-rolled from loose tobacco and rolling paper. Other smoking implements include pipes, cigars, bidis, hookahs, vaporizers and bongs. It has been suggested that smoking-related disease kills one half of all long term smokers but these diseases may also be contracted by non-smokers. A 2007 report states that about 4.9 million people worldwide each year die as a result of smoking.
Tobacco smoking is the practice where tobacco is burned and the vapors either tasted or inhaled. The practice began as early as 5000–3000 BC. Many civilizations burnt incense during religious rituals, which was later adopted for pleasure or as a social tool and religious ceremonies.Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 16th century where it followed common trade routes. The substance was met with frequent criticism, but became popular nonetheless.
Tobacco is the single greatest cause of preventable death in the United States and worldwide. Tobacco use leads most commonly to diseases affecting the heart and lungs, with smoking being a major risk factor for heart attacks, strokes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (including emphysema and chronic bronchitis), and cancer (particularly lung cancer, cancers of the larynx and mouth, and pancreatic cancer). It also causes peripheral vascular disease and hypertension. The effects depend on the number of years that a person smokes and on how much the person smokes. Starting smoking earlier in life and smoking cigarettes higher in tar increases the risk of these diseases. Cigarettes sold in underdeveloped countries tend to have higher tar content, and are less likely to be filtered, potentially increasing vulnerability to tobacco-related disease in these regions.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that tobacco caused 5.4 million deaths in 2004 and 100 million deaths over the course of the 20th century.Similarly, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes tobacco use as "the single most important preventable risk to human health in developed countries and an important cause of premature death worldwide.
So, Stop Smoking.
Tagetes erecta, the Aztec marigold, Mexican marigold, big marigold, cempaxochitl or cempasúchil, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Tagetes native to Mexico and Guatemala. Despite being native to the Americas, it is often called the African marigold. In Mexico, this plant is found in the wild in the states of México, Michoacán, Puebla, Veracruz and Guerrero.
This plant reaches heights of between 20 and 90 cm (7.9 and 35.4 in). The Aztecs gathered the wild plant as well as cultivating it for medicinal, ceremonial and decorative purposes. It is widely cultivated commercially with many cultivars in use as ornamental plants, and for the cut-flower trade.
Some authorities regard Tagetes patula (the French marigold) as a synonym of Tagetes erecta.
Description
It is a herbaceous annual or perennial plant whose height ranges from 30–110 cm. The root is cylindrical, pivoting, with a fibrous and shallow branching system. The stem is striated, sometimes ridged, smooth or slightly with villi, cylindrical, oval and herbaceous to slightly woody, with resin channels in the bark, which are aromatic when squeezed. Opposite leaves at the bottom alternate at the top, up to 20 cm long, pinnate, composed of 11 to 17 leaflets, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, up to 5 cm long and 1.5 cm wide, acute to acuminate, serrated to sub-holders, the lower ones of each leaf frequently setiform (in the form of threads), the superiors are sometimes completely setiform; with abundant round glands.
The main characteristic of the flowers is that they are grouped in small heads or in solitary inflorescences, on peduncles up to 15 cm long, they are liguladas of yellow colors to red. In the flowers of the disc: 150 to 250 in the simple heads, in the doubles it shows different degrees of transformation in ligules, yellow to orange corollas, of 8 to 10 mm in length. The fruits and seeds are: linear achenes 7 to 10 mm long, smooth or slightly covered with stiff hairs at the corners. It has a long flowering period extending throughout the summer and fall. It reproduces easily by seeds.
Distribution and habitat
Although native to Mexico, they are also found in the countries of Central America and the Caribbean: Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela.
In their wild form they are found in the Balsas basin and western Mexico and live in diverse types of ecosystems, such as tropical deciduous forests, thorny forests, cloud forests and pine-oak forests. In the wild, it is found as a getaway in heavily disturbed places at altitudes of 800–2300 m.
As an introduced species (cultivated) it can be found in China, India, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Australia.
History
The archaeological record of the use of Tagetes erecta among pre-Hispanic civilizations is not as abundant as in the case of other species of the same family. For example, it has been possible to establish the ceremonial use among the Mexica of T. lucida as an aromatic plant, which they called yauhtli, through the chemical analysis of the incense burners found in the remains of the Templo Mayor in Mexico City. The Nahuatl term cempoalxóchitl, was used to refer to several species of flowers, which includes T. erecta, T. lucida, T. patula, T. lunulata, T. tenuifolia, T. peduncularis and T. elongata. This complicates the differentiation of one species and another when such a term is used, however, it appears that T. erecta was primarily named by this term.
The identification of T. erecta as some flowers represented in Aztec art, such as those seen in the Coyolxauhqui monolith, as part of the goddess's headdress, has been proposed as a symbol of her sovereignty or her death. They are part of the necklace that a plant deity wears in a vase found in the Templo Mayor, although it could also be T. patula. With the arrival of the Spaniards in Mexico, the documentary record of the ceremonial and medicinal use of T. erecta increased in which the flower is described by Bernardino de Sahagún as:
These flowers are called Cempoalxóchitl; they are yellow and of good smell, and wide and beautiful, that they are born, and others that sow them in the orchards; They are in two ways, some they call females Cempoalxóchitl and they are big and beautiful, and others that are called Cempoalxóchitl males are not so beautiful or so big.
Sahagún also describes, in the same work, that the plant had a role in the rituals of the religious festival Mexica of the month Teculhuitontli, where the goddess of salt Huixtocíhuatl, whose color was yellow, was celebrated and who offered herself as sacrifice a woman. In the work of the physician Francisco Hernández, it is described that the name cempoalxóchitl received at least seven types of flowers, noting that the term properly described the largest of them and that the Spaniards called it carnation of Indian, also lists its medical properties.
Cultivation
It is widely cultivated and there are many cultivars used in gardening as an ornamental plant. The cultivar 'Inca Orange' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
In Mexico, it is used in the festivities of the Day of the Dead, to decorate altars and tombs; hence the name "flower of the dead". However, since antiquity it is also used for food and medicinal purposes.
Uses
Rituals
Its flower, the cempasúchil is also called the flor de muertos ("flower of the dead") in Mexico and is used in the Día de Muertos celebration every 2 November. The word cempazúchitl (also spelled cempasúchil) comes from the Nahuatl term for the flower cempohualxochitl, literally translated as "twenty flower". In Thai it is called ดาวเรือง [DaoRuang] or "dow ruang", literally translated as "star glittering". Water infused with the fragrant essential oil of the flower was used to wash corpses in Honduras, and the flower is still commonly planted in cemeteries.
Medicine
Since prehispanic times, this plant has been used for medicinal purposes. The Cherokee used it as a skin wash and for yellow dye. The pigments of the erect tagetes are due to the presence of carotenoids, of which the main one is lutein, which is associated with the prevention of the development of age-related eye diseases such as cataracts and macular degeneration. The most intense orange tones of the flowers are related to a higher content of carotenoids, especially xanthophyll. Some studies indicate the effectiveness of the latter in the prevention of coronary artery disease, heart attacks, immune response, old age and cancer. In some regions of Mexico it is used in digestive ailments, such as stomach pain, as well as diarrhea, colic, liver problems, bile, vomiting, and indigestion. The plant also has a history of use against intestinal parasites and worms with one study indicating that it has a different mechanism than the anthelmintic drug levamisole. Other uses include respiratory diseases such as colds, flu, bronchitis and nasal congestion as well as gynecological problems.
Antioxidant activity has been discovered in the essential oil of this plant although less than that of α-Tocopherol, possibly attributable to the presence of camphor and methyl eugenol. It is most effective against the nematode species Pratylenchus penetrans.
Culinary
The ray florets have been used in lettuce salads and other foods to add colour and flavour. The flowers are rich in carotenoids, and are thus used to make food and feed pigments. The dried flower petals, ground to a powder, are used in poultry feed to ensure a good colouration of egg yolks and broiler skin, especially in the absence of well-pigmented yellow maize in the feed. This is still in use today, but now usually in the form of an extract which may have advantages of lower transport and storage cost, better stability and better utilization. It is also used to enhance colouring in crustaceans, such as the Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei).
Essential oils
The essential oil of the flower contains antioxidants. It may be added to perfumes to infuse an apple scent into them.
Dye
It is used as a natural dye on textiles