Monday, September 24, 2012

A law on cruelty to plants?

My craze for Epiphyllum oxipetalum, the Queen of the Night, triggered a latent succulent inclination. I will not put its photo here as I've done so many times in the past. So I went out and took some photos if not in our garden, at least from our neighbor's yard. I agree they are so beautiful in the desert, here i don't see much flowers from them, maybe the reason they are maligned and abused. And nothing seems to get most of that battering than this Opuntia below. I saw this in a resort's ground near the beach in Siquijor. There is only one plant there, and many young visitors trying to leave a mark that they were here write something on the leaves.  If only that plant can speak, i am sure it is terribly crying. Nobody seems to care because a plant can't run. Maybe I am wrong with my first premise, so I will reverse it, the plant doesn't flower because it was much abused. What about that?


We have a law about cruelty to animals, but cruelty to plants is not yet in our collective unconscious!

Euphorbia trigona (thanks to LT Expanded for the ID lead), is often used here as marginal borders to limit intrusion. It grows dense and profuse that nothing but small rodents and insects will be able to pass through the small spaces between them. Sometimes free ranged chickens can. The above photo is the top portion of the photo below, before they are pruned. The bottom is sometimes used to lay down things to dry. If constant pruning like this is done to other plants, they might die, but succulents are plants difficult to kill. 

                                   
It wont take months before the above photo will again be fully growing and fully green. 

Above photo is also very thorny just like the previous plant, however its trunks are more rounded and the thorns are really hard and scary. This is the thorn of crowns, or the Euphorbia millii.  In the past few years it was introduced here and everybody seems to be planting them, many varieties are available and all households joined planting. Afterwards, the craze stopped and now they have problems in disposing the scary trunks. They just don't die on their own, wherever you put them. Trying to dry them under the sun is futile, they will come to life when the rains come. I cannot discourage my mother to join the craze, now the problem of disposing is with me!

 But just looking at the flowers will really captivate anyone. I cannot blame my mother for being very attracted. You have to be an owner before acknowledging its hazards later on. She planted four colors. Even if two of them were planted in pots, they managed to grow roots via the pot hole and completely strengthened its growth from the soil. Now 2 of them are 2 meters high and can be used as a deadly weapon! Grrrr!


Above is also a lovely plant, the mother of thousands or Kalanchoe daigremontiana. It attracted me too! The many plantlets along every leaf, one each from every notch is really amazing. My mother again succumbed to its bewitching beauty. Today after two years of having it in the property, disposal and eradication is again our problem. I bet those plantlets carried by the eroding soil and effluents during the rainy season will be deposited in some areas and properties in the vicinity. We are in the uplands, and I am sure this is happening at a rapid rate. They will just die when put into burning embers. Another GRRRR! 

Now, I don't know if cruelty to plants should be done into law! I am also one of the abusers. But at least for me i do it following the law of the Survival of the Fittest. Charles Darwin thank you.

Our World Tuesday Graphic   Outdoor-Wednesday-logo_thumb1_thumb1[1]


27 comments:

  1. Interesting how one thing can grow so wild and on another not...the E. millii scarcely grows here. The other hedge plant is also Euphorbia sp.

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    1. I guess humans are really not a contented species, we long to desire for what is uncommon even if they become more problems in the future. And in effect, what is someone's waste is another's wealth!

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  2. At least their flowers are beautiful. I publishef im my blog joysnotepad.blogspots.com " the beauty of autum' what kind of flora we have here in autum. Hope you take a look:)

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  3. I like how you think. And agree. I try to save as many of our plants as we can and there have been times that I've had an emotional reaction when one died because of something someone did. Some of these plants took years to establish through care, neglect, etc. And a couple on here can give you a zinger if you hack them away....the poison from some of the succulents can give you a rash:) Not to mention the stickers.

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    1. Maybe we humans should start being contented of what is indigenous or endemic to us, then there will be no problem! But I am also guilty of premeditated murder of plants, and sometimes i really committed them too!

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  4. I agree with you!! That poor plants crying. Beautiful memories must be kept in their hearts never on leaves.
    I watched the photos of Epiphyllum oxypetalum. They are stunning and beautiful, really Queen of the Night. In Japan, they are called Beauty under the Moon.
    Have a great week!
    keiko

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    1. Thanks Keiko for visiting and appreciating my Queen of the Night post. Oh how lovely term in Japan, i will remember that, 'Beauty under the Moon'.

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  5. i see euphorbia milii everywhere i go.:p
    my aunt joined the craze of collecting this plant in different colors a years ago.

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    1. The milky sap of Euphorbia is also poisonous when it gets into a wound or a cut. I really wanted to dispose all of them, i just pity them!

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  6. Interesting and great photos and interesting to read!

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    1. Thanks Birgitta for your kind words, i hope you will visit again.

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  7. The Thorn of crowns is abundant here in South Florida. I have them in my side yard!

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    1. I guess it is actually 'crown of thorns', sorry for the interchange of words! Yes of course it si common there because you are also tropical.

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  8. Interesting. Don't know much about plants as I live in the concrete jungle and don't have space. Those thorn of crowns do seem like a problem, but I have to agree with you... the flowers are beautiful.

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    1. I also live in the concrete jungle, i guess it is not an excuse not to know them. I even have plants on my aircon ledge at the 5th floor window, LOL. Sorry for the interchange of words, but it should be 'crown of thorns'.

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  9. I have never seen plants used for graffiti in that way! You're right to call it abuse - you should start a campaign.

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    1. I wonder why this plant is normally used for graffiti, maybe because they already lack walls to write on, and it is soft and yielding too!

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  10. Hi Andrea, I have seen many people do that to the succulents, and I think its because they are so soft and easy to "write" on them. What a shame.

    P.S. I am not back in full swing at blogging, just too much for me to handle. Sorry about this late visit, your comment was in my spam folder.

    Take care.

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    1. You can't handle the blogging well because you have many blogsites. You should at least keep one rolling as we will miss your wonderful photos! Take care as well.

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  11. What a neat plant, nice photos. Although I'm not sure about a cruelty-to-plants law!

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    1. Cruelty to plants law is just my exageration for emphasis, because we have a 'cruelty to animals law', hahaha!

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  12. Thanks Gary for the visit, you have an exquisite area in your part of the world, wonderful views!

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  13. It is quite common here to see graffiti on the cactus similar to your first picture. Maybe the perpetrators think that they are being artistic, writing love messages or making tattoos on the plant just like tattoo on human skin. People often do that to trees and bamboo. Now my confession: I have been cruel to plants too - I euthanized/throw away diseased/weak plants, I have to murder seedlings when I do the thinning process and I also EAT plants!

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    1. Hahaha, we both did that. I remember what you did with the variegated bougainvillea! But there are also deeds based on purpose, I guess eating them to nourish our body is not bad, maybe it is inflicting pain on them just for the sake of inflicting pain. I now recall being mad everytime i see the sidewalks here with old trees being restricted at the base by concrete cement. It is just like suffocating them and not giving them room to grow and space where water can seep in. Isn't it blatant brutality, and also stupidity of humans! Other rich countries are very mindful of their treatment with their trees on their streets.

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  14. Law for plants!
    Great idea! It will do good to our world.

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  15. I've seen plants like in your first pic (in San Diego) -and I was aghast as well. It's the same as graffiti to me -and not inventive or beautiful at all, like some graffiti is!

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