Category: Environment

Musa Sapientum: The Fruit of Wise Men

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On 10 April 1633, the window display of the shop in London attracted huge crowds. It displayed a hitherto unknown, and unnamed item. The displayer Thomas Johnson, a herbalist, botanist and merchant described it thus: The fruit which I received was not ripe, but greene. This stalke with the fruit thereon I hanged up in my shop, were it became ripe about the beginning of May, and lasted until June. Each of them (the fruit) was the bignesse of a large beane some five inches long and an inch and a half in breadth. The stalk is short and like one’s little finger. They hang with their heads down, but if you turn them up, they look like a boat. The husk is easily removed. The pulp is white, soft and tender and ate somewhat like a musk melon.

What was this fruit that he so described? Hard to believe, but this was the banana! How, and from where a bunch of this mysterious fruit reached the shop remains a mystery in itself, but it is believed that most people in England had not seen a banana even by the end of the 19th century when regular imports started from the Canary Islands.

And yet, it is believed that bananas were among the oldest cultivated fruit. They probably originated in the jungles of Malaysia, Indonesia or the Philippines and some parts of India where they grew in the wild. Modern edible varieties of the banana have evolved from the two species–Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana and their natural hybrids, originally found in the rain forests of S.E. Asia.

During the seventh century AD their cultivation spread to Egypt and Africa. The fruit may have got its name from the Africans, as the word is derived from ‘banan’ the Arab word for ‘finger’.  A cluster of bananas is called a ‘hand’.

Bananas were first introduced to the Western world when Alexander the Great discovered them during his conquest of India in 327 B.C. The fruit spread through Africa and was eventually carried to the New World by explorers and missionaries. Bananas started to be traded internationally by the end of the fourteenth century.

However it was not until the late mid-1800s that bananas became widespread on the North American continent. The first enterprise to import bananas into the US was the Boston Fruit Company.

Carl Linnaeus, the 18th century Swedish botanist whose work led to the creation of modern-day biological nomenclature for classifying organisms was the first person to successfully grow a fully flowered banana tree in the Netherlands.

The development of railroads and technological advances in refrigerated maritime transport subsequently enable bananas to become the most traded fruit in the world.

Today bananas are grown in more than 150 countries, and it is widely believed there are more than 1,000 types of bananas produced and consumed in the world. The most common and commercialized type is the Cavendish banana which makes up around 47 of global banana production. This is a high-yielding variety which is also less damage-prone and more resilient in case of natural disasters.

Although we generally describe it as a banana ‘tree’, technically this is not a tree. Bananas, botanically, are considered to be big herbs, because they do not have a woody stem or trunk which is one of the characteristics of a tree. Instead they have a succulent stalk or pseudostem which begins as a small shoot from an underground rhizome and grows upwards as a single stalk with a tight spiral of leaves wrapped around it. Banana leaves are extensions of the sheaths.

To add to the confusion, the banana ‘fruit’ as we call it, is botanically a berry! While we associate berries with small, squishy fruit that is picked off plants, the botanical definition refers to any fruit that develops from a flower containing a single ovary, has a soft skin and a fleshy middle, and contains several seeds. Bananas tick off all these boxes and are thus technically berries!

The botanical kin of bananas include tomatoes, grapes, kiwis, avocados, peppers, eggplants and guavas. Botanically all berries!

Bananas have long been high on the list of ‘super foods’, endorsed from all schools of health from Ayurveda to the newest ‘wellness’ trends. Its versatility was noted even by Linnaeus who envisaged its numerous medicinal values. The banana is literally ‘wholesome’ from A to Z! It is the panacea for all ills from acidity and anaemia, through cramps, depression, mood elevation, PMS, stress relief, and more, all the way to bringing in some zing to tired bodies and minds! Even the banana peel with its blend of acids, oils and enzymes has multiple uses from healing wounds to polishing shoes!

And the banana is a wonderful example of Nature’s perfect packaging. The artful positioning of the individual bananas to form a beautiful cluster or ’hand’ arrangement which can be hung; the tamper-proof skin that protects the soft and perishable flesh within; the nifty top opening that allows for an easy peeling back; and after all that, a covering that does not add to the litter but silently biodegrades to merge back into the soil. No wonder its botanical name is Musa sapientum: the fruit of wise men.

In India the mango always lays claim to being the king of fruits; the solid trustworthy banana is taken much for granted, as it does not make a dashing seasonal appearance and compete for awards of the most varieties and the best of them all. And yet this is the comfort food that is usually on hand, and one that almost every person can afford. It certainly was my father’s favourite, and now is the favourite of his great grandson who endorses Daddy’s maxim of Sabse Achchha Kela (banana is  bestest!)

Why this sudden paean to the banana? Well, I discovered that in America, the third Wednesday of April is celebrated as National Banana Day every year (reason for this undiscovered). I decided to join the celebrations this year!

Bananas were first brought to the United States in 1876, for the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. The exotic fruits were wrapped in foil and sold for 10¢ apiece (roughly $1.70 in today’s dollars).

While the mango always lays claim to being the king of fruits, the solid trustworthy banana is taken much for granted, as it does not make a dashing seasonal appearance and compete for awards of the most varieties and the best of them all!

The Banana was my father’s favourite fruit. He always used to say “sabse achha kela!” “Banana is the best”. So true…The scientific name for banana is musa sapientum, which means “fruit of the wise men.”

–Mamata

Woolly, Woolly

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The recent weeks have seen a number of news items starting with ‘Woolly…’. That is not very normal—the phrase ‘woolly-thinking’ is too archaic to be used as a pejorative across the lines in Parliaments.

But this bandying about of the word is neither from debates nor about shearing of sheep and records set therein.

The references all come from the world of science.

The first set of references stem from experiments of mixing mutations from the extinct mammoth and extant mice to create a woolly mouse! No, creating mice, woolly or otherwise, is not the purpose of the group of scientists which is working on this. The ultimate objective is to actually re-create the woolly mammoth itself. This is only a small intermediate step.

Now who would want to do such a thing, and why? Well, a company appropriately called Colossal Laboratories and Biosciences is behind this. Colossal refers to itself as a ‘de-extinction’ company. In a throwback to Jurassic Park, this company has retrieved the DNA of the 8-ton giant woolly mammoths which walked the earth over 4000 years ago from permafrost. They have mixed this with the genes of mice through complex gene-editing processes and have, after over three years of trials and experiments, created litters of normal sized mice which however have the ‘long, wavy, woolly hair of the mammoth’. They also have fat metabolism that mimics that of the giants. Colossal sees these mice as the first step in the route to actually re-create mammoths. They plan to work up to editing Asian elephant genes to express the traits of the woolly mammoth, and introduce the stem cells into an elephant embryo. The embryo would then be implanted into the womb of a female elephant, and lo and behold, a mammoth would be born to her!

For those who thought only a few years ago that this was the height of woolly thinking, well, maybe with the birth of the woolly mice, they are re-thinking!

Apart from the mind-boggling technical prowess required however, there are many debates about the ethical and environmental dimensions of ‘de-extinction’. (A TED Talk by Stewart Brand titled ‘The Dawn of De-extinction: Are you Ready?’ offers interesting insights).

The second set of woolly references is nothing so controversial. It is the recent discovery of a flowering plant whose flowers, rather meanly, have been called Woolly Devils. The plant or the flowers don’t seem to do any harm to anyone, but have been so dubbed because the flowers are hairy-looking, have florets which resemble devils’ horns, and the plant has been discovered in the desert in Chihuahua  (an ecoregion that covers areas of northern Mexico and the southwestern U.S., including west Texas, parts of New Mexico, and southern Arizona) along some paths in in an area known as the Devil’s Den. The plant belongs to variety known as “belly plants”—because scientists find it comfortable to study them while lying on their bellies! 

How unfair it is to name this newly-discovered plant (Ovicula biradiata) as Woolly Devils is borne out by the fact that scientists think they may produce chemicals of medicinal value.

Only time will tell where the quest for the woolly mammoth leads, and what benefits the woolly devil brings us.

In the meantime, we can pray for an end to woolly thinking.

–Meena

The Leaves Come Drifting Down

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At the moment, leaves are the bane of my life.

They drift down in their tens through the day. The lawns, porch and verandahs are no sooner swept that they come drifting down to make a mess, yet again.

And Saturday, when Bangalore was hit with unexpected torrential rains, our house almost flooded because fallen leaves had covered the water outlets on our terrace and there was a good six inches accumulated before we realized it and cleared the outlets. A few more minutes and the water would have entered the house.

But in general of course, who doesn’t love leaves: the variety of the shades of green, their shapes and sizes, the shadows they cast, the way they rustle in the breeze or when birds and squirrels play among them.

There are some people who take this love and appreciation to aesthetic heights. They are the leaf-artists.

Some people of course consider the leaf itself as art.’ There is artistry to a leaf that I find hard to put into words. In looking at leaves, the colours and veining, the patterns and textures, I get a good feeling. Leaves are nature’s artistry on display’, says Hank Erdmann, a leaf-photographer.

Others use the leaf as the medium. These leaf-artists express themselves through various creative expressions using leaves. This spans leaf printing, leaf carving, leaf painting and leaf collage. All of these are based on highlighting the leaf’s natural colours, shapes and textures.

It is likely that leaf-art is as old as our cave-dwelling ancestors. One can easily imagine our grandnmother picking up a leaf and carving a design on it with a sharp stone. And from these projects must have emerged the use of leaves as a medium for writing on—palm leaves were used for writing since the 5th century BCE in India. The ephemeral nature of the medium however has not left much proof of art on leaves.

But two contemporary artists have taken leaf-art to a new level.

The first is the Colombo Ecuadorian photographer, Yinna Higuera. Her recent collection ‘Traces’ is a series of portraits of rural Ecuadorian women, made on banana, cocao, coffee and other leaves. The collectoin documents the lives of these women, and portrays their link with nature and its cycles. The exhibition has been shortlisted for a Sony World Photography award, 2025. This is based on the technique of ‘chlorophyll printing’. The images are printed leveraging the leaf’s photosensitivity, merging photography with nature. This is an alternative photographic process where photographic images are developed on natural leaves through the action of photosynthesis, and goes back to the 19th century.

Another artist making waves (or gentle breezes) with his leaf art is Lito, a Japanese artist. He uses a completely different technique. He carefully selects a leaf, makes an intricate drawing on it, and painstaking carves it. The scenes often depict animals, birds and landscapes. Lito makes one leaf-carving every day! For him, this is not just a means of artistic expression, but also a way of managing his ADHD. It helps him focus, be calm–he sees it as a form of meditation. And importantly for him, leaf-carving is a means of earning a livelihood.

So I am going to re-calibrate. And appreciate each leaf as it drifts down to land on my verandah. Before muttering irritably at it!

And to end, here is a poem on leaves by Sarojini Naidu, whom Mamata wrote about a few weeks ago:

Like a joy on the heart of a sorrow,
   The sunset hangs on a cloud;
A golden storm of glittering sheaves,
Of fair and frail and fluttering leaves,
   The wild wind blows in a cloud.

Hark to a voice that is calling
   To my heart in the voice of the wind:
My heart is weary and sad and alone,
For its dreams like the fluttering leaves have gone,
   And why should I stay behind?

–Meena

PS: Today there are even Leaf Engraving Machines, ‘specialized for intricate leaf designs, perfect for crafting unique art pieces!’

The picture is from Lito’s Instagram page, art_dailydose

Ants and their Homes

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For every one of us, there are about 2.5 million of them. Yes, that’s how much ants out-number us. They inhabit every corner of the world other than Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland, and some islands.

We humans swing between appreciation of these insects for their qualities of team work and hard work, and irritation when they invade our homes or kitchens. The ants probably swing between the same two emotions—appreciation of the humans who feed them, and disapproval of clumsy or mean humans who step on them or kill them.

Beyond human approval or disapproval, ants have a huge role in the ecosystem. They serve as seed dispersers for plants, hosts for a wide range of associate organisms, and act as both predator and prey. The role of ants in nutrient decomposition and soil turnover is enormous–they are estimated to excavate up to 13 tons of soil per hectare annually and increase local nutrient availability by a significant order.  Moreover, they create and maintain of microhabitats for a variety of other organisms.

The subject of today’s piece is their homes. They make their homes in a variety of places, and these structures are made with an enormous amount of labour by thousands of the creatures working together.

Most species of ants are soil-nesters. Soil meets their needs for food, moisture and protection. Since these ants move a lot of soil in the process of building their nests, they provide a valuable service to the soil-based ecosystem they occupy by their tunnelling and de-compacting of the soil. Some soil nesting ants construct a simple nest with one vertical tunnel, which has branches on either side for ant food, eggs and larvae. But other ground nesting ants build elaborate below-ground galleries going several metres below ground, with a network of interlocking interconnecting tunnels.

Wood-nesting ants are the next category. Carpenter ants are the best examples of these. They nest in wood that is rotting, dead, dying, or with a high moisture content. The ants bore into the wood and make elaborate nests. They do not eat the wood but deposit the wood they bore outside the nest. While they usually build outdoors in trees, it is not unknown for them to build in wooden structural elements in our houses.

There is category of ants which are called opportunistic nesters. These will nest almost anywhere, including under rocks, concrete slabs, air conditioners, inside holes in walls etc.

Ant nest

A fourth category, which are most visible to us at the moment are arboreal ants which construct nests on trees using leaves. These light red ants Oecophylla smaragdina, popularly known as weaver ants, stitch together individual leaves using larval silk to form nesting cavities.  The nests are round-oval and use leaves of different sizes ranging from 8-32cm. About twenty leaves are used to make each nest. These ants are aggressive in defending their territories, and a colony may take over an entire tree with nests distributed throughout.   Incidentally, these ants, called “Rukkung” in Arunachal Pradesh, are consumed in various forms in some of the North-eastern states.. 

I see these every evening on my walks—the falling leaves in this season leave the trees bare, which make the nests very visible. And marvel at the intricacy of the nests and the hard work that goes into each of them. What wonders there are around us, if only we take a minute to look!

–Meena

Advocate for Invertebrates: EO Wilson

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Call them spineless, or call them creepy crawlies! As Meena wrote this week, they make up a majority of the living things on earth, and yet they are largely unnoticed (unless of course one is stung by one, or has one creeping up your leg!) Invertebrates however have had their own champions. One of whom is EO Wilson that Meena has quoted as saying that “invertebrates don’t need us, we need them!”

This was indeed the case with EO Wilson one of the most distinguished and recognized American scientists in modern history. While he began his scientific career by specializing in the study of ants, Dr Wilson became an advocate for all species, particularly invertebrates, as essential to the health of the planet and people.

While his key discovery was the chemical by which ants communicate, EO Wilson spent the rest of his life also looking at the bigger picture of life on Earth. And so, to his lifelong fascination with ants, E. O. Wilson added a second passion: guiding humanity toward a more sustainable existence. He devoted his life to studying the natural world, and inspiring others to care for it as he did.

Edward Osborne Wilson was not just the world’s foremost authority on the study of ants (a myrmecologist!) but one of the founding fathers of, and leading expert in, biodiversity. His autobiography titled Naturalist traces his evolution as a scientist. Young Wilson knew early that he wanted to be scientist. A childhood accident left him with weak eyesight and hearing, so instead of studying animals and birds in the field, he concentrated on the miniature creatures such as ants and bugs that he could study right under his nose through a microscope. This was the perfect tool to spark a lifelong passion for insects.  I turned to the teeming small creatures that can be held between the thumb and forefinger: the little things that compose the foundation of our ecosystems, the little things, as I like to say, who run the world.

As a schoolboy Wilson was not a great reader. But he claimed that one of the few books that he read from cover to cover was The Boy Scout Handbook. (I wrote about this in my recent piece Be Prepared!) It was the Boy Scouts which nurtured his early love for nature. As he once said: The Boy Scouts of America gave me my education.

His autobiography Naturalist also reveals how these first steps led to a lifelong journey of exploration and discovery which involved a mix of endeavour, random encounter, enthusiasm and opportunism. Underpinning all these was his sheer delight of the pursuit of knowledge. As he wrote about an expedition to Fiji in 1954:

Never before or afterward in my life have I felt such a surge of high expectation—of pure exhilaration—as in those few minutes. I know now that it was an era in biology closing out, when a young scientist could travel to a distant part of the world and explore entirely on his own. No team of specialists accompanied me and none waited at my destination, whatever I decided that was to be. Which was exactly as I wished it. I carried no high technology instruments, only a hand lens, forceps, specimen vials, notebooks, quinine, sulfanilamide, youth, desire and unbounded hope.      

Edward Osborne Wilson is widely considered one of the greatest natural scientists of our time. He is also credited for being the founding father of the branch of biology known as socio-biology and biodiversity. He was a pioneer in the efforts to preserve and protect the biodiversity of our planet and was instrumental in launching the Encyclopaedia of Life, a free online database documenting all 1.9 million species on Earth recognised by science.

In a tribute to his lifelong dedication to science, two species of organisms have been named after him. Myrmoderus ewolsoni, an antbird indigenous to Peru, and Miniopteru wilsoni, a long-fingered bat discovered in Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park. Wilson once told Scouting Magazine that being recognized in this way was an honour akin to being awarded a Nobel Prize because it’s such a rarity to have a true new species discovered.

EO Wilson was driven by the passion of guiding humanity toward a more sustainable existence. To do that, he knew he had to reach beyond the towers of academia and write for the public. He believed that one book would not suffice because learning requires repeated exposure. Thus he wrote several bestselling books that eloquently pleaded his case, while also providing facts and figures backed by solid research. His books On Human Nature and The Ants received the Pulitzer Prize.

While he remained a Harvard professor for 46 years, he was conferred with many accolades and honours by universities and organizations across the world. EO Wilson passed away on 26 December 2021 at the age of 92, leaving behind a legacy of conservation action that continues to inspire the global movement to end the threat of extinction.

In 2023, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) agreed to a Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) with a goal to maintain, enhance, and restore Earth’s natural ecosystems by 2030, halt human-induced extinction of known species, and by 2050, reduce the extinction rate tenfold and increase the abundance of native wild species to healthy and resilient levels. A key component to the GBF is a target to conserve at least 30 percent of land, seas, and freshwater by 2030 (known as “30×30”).

EO Wilson once wrote:

Looking at the totality of life, the Poet asks, who are Gaia’s children?

The Ecologist responds, they are the species. We must know the role each one plays in the whole order to manage Earth wisely.

The Systematist adds, then let’s get started. How many species exist? Where are they in the world? Who are their genetic kin?

EO Wilson was a rare combination of all three.

–Mamata

Spineless!

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Fountain of Bees, Rome

They make up over 90 per cent of life on earth.

There are about 1.3 million species of them.

They are found in every part of the world.

They range from one-fifth the thickness of a strand of your hair, to the 30 ft long giant squid.

These are the invertebrates—animals without a backbone. Why backbones, in fact, invertebrates don’t any bones at all! Invertebrates include ants, spiders, worms, snails, bees, butterflies, corals, lobsters, crabs…they are the spineless majority!

As the famous biologist EO Wilson put it, ‘Invertebrates don’t need us, we need invertebrates’.  Critically, they pollinate flowers, hence allowing plants to propagate so that there is food for all. They are at the base of all food-chains.  Humans also eat invertebrates—think crabs, lobsters etc. They maintain the ecological balance by eating each other and being eaten! Earthworms and some related creatures help dig up and aerate the soil, and make it fertile. They are important in another way too—most parasites are invertebrates!

All invertebrates are cold-blooded and about 80 per cent of them are terrestrial. Most of them undergo metamorphosis.

They fall into nine phyla, compared to vertebrates which all belong to one phylum.

In spite of their ubiquitous presence and the role they play in our lives, we don’t pay enough attention to these co-inhabitants of our world. For instance, while most countries have national animals or birds, few have national invertebrates. Exceptions include Denmark, which lists the Small Tortoiseshell as its national butterfly; Estonia which lists the Swallowtail; Finland which lists the Seven-spot Ladybird as its national insect and Latvia which has the Two-spot Ladybird for its. Several US states have State Insects, as does Karnataka (the honeybee). Many Indian states also have State Butterflies.

India is unique in that it has named a National Microbe—the Lactobacillus bulgaricus. This was done in 2012, based on a nation-wide completion. It was selected based on its importance in making yogurt or curd. Some US states also have State Microbes. The first state to declare an Official State Microbe was Oregon which chose brewer’s or baker’s yeast as the Official Microbe because of its importance to the craft beer industry there.

Designating such national and state symbols is important, given that we don’t focus enough on these creatures which make up about 95 per cent of all species on earth. Creating a buzz brings attention to them, hopefully leading to more studies and research, ensuring their well-being which is so critical to ours.

In order to increase awareness about invertebrates, last year the well-known British newspaper The Guardian started an ‘Invertebrate of the Year’ contest. This was confined to the UK. This year’s competition, the second of the series, has gone international. So any of us can send in a nomination for an invertebrate, along with reasons why we favour this particular one.

To give you an idea, last year’s winner was the earthworm, which was voted in with 38 per cent of the total votes. The least number of votes was garnered by the invasive Asian or yellow-legged hornet.

Surely you have an invertebrate you love or hate. This is your chance to put it on the world map. Submit your entries at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/12/nominate-your-invertebrate-species-of-the-year by midnight (GMT) on Tuesday 4 March.

–Meena

Pulses Rule!

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They are at the heart of every meal; they come in many colours, shapes and sizes; they can be used in a large range of permutations and combinations. They are the pulses that are an integral part of all cuisines in India. In a country with such immense diversity in culinary traditions, food habits, and meals, pulses are the one common as well as essential element. Our daily meal is incomplete with a dish made from a pulse, and many of our favourite snacks would not be what they are without pulses. Yet there is much that we have never stopped to really think about.

Technically pulses are the edible seeds obtained from the cultivation of leguminous plants for both food and feed. India has an immense diversity of pulses at the genetic and species level, as well as their uses at the culinary level. What makes pulses the original ‘wonder food’?

These seeds are a rich source of nutrients, mainly proteins, that are crucial for a healthy and balanced diet. It is estimated that 100 grams of dry lentils contain about 25 grams of protein. Thus pulses can become a backbone of a vegan diet.

They are naturally low in fat and contain no cholesterol, reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. They are also low in sodium chloride or salt which is a contributor to hypertension. They are high in potassium which plays an important role for digestive and muscular functions.

Pulses are a good source of iron and a great answer to address iron deficiency. The iron in pulses is best absorbed in the body by combining them with foods containing vitamin C. They are an excellent source of folate, a B-vitamin essential for nervous system function. They have a low glycaemic index, which makes them suitable for people with diabetes. They are naturally gluten-free, making them an ideal option for those who are gluten intolerant.

They can be stored for a long time and can be used even when fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables are not available. Their long shelf-life prevents food loss and wastage.

Pulses are incredibly versatile and can be used in an endless variety of cuisines and dishes in numerous forms. 

That is so far as human health goes, and most people are, at some level, aware of these attributes of pulses (a lot of which is passed down through generations by family recipes and ‘granny’s words of wisdom’). But there is not as much awareness about the fact that pulses are as important for environmental health as they are for human health.

Pulses play a vital role in soil health by providing essential nutrients, maintaining soil biodiversity, and enhancing soil structure. They improve soil health by hosting helpful bacteria, called rhizobia, in their roots. These bacteria convert nitrogen from the air into fertilizers in the soil. Additionally, other bacteria and fungi help release phosphorus in the soil, providing essential nutrients for plants and promoting soil diversity. The fertilizers produced by pulses benefit not only the pulses, but also other crops grown alongside them, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers. This makes pulses ideal for sustainable farming practices like intercropping or crop rotation. Additionally, pulses and their by-products are utilized as animal feed.

The benefits are not limited to soil alone. Pulses also perform other ecosystem services. Many pulse species are drought tolerant and resilient to adverse climate, such as drought and heat. Their cultivation optimizes fertilizer use, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Pulse crops have a lower carbon footprint than most foods because they require a small amount of fertilizer to grow. They also have a low water footprint as they are adapted to semi-arid conditions and can tolerate drought stress.

Despite their immense value for human and environmental health, pulses are not generally ‘stars’; they are often undervalued and under-recognized. In an effort to highlight the importance, as well as potential, of pulses as a global food the United Nations declared 2016 to be the International Year of Pulses. As the then UN Secretary General Mr Ban-ki-Moon said: “The International Year can help overcome this lack of knowledge. Much work needs to be done to end hunger and provide food security and nutrition for all. One concrete, promising opportunity lies with pulses. Let us join forces to raise awareness of the benefits of pulses”.

As the world was embarking on efforts to achieve the newly-adopted Sustainable Development Goals it was hoped that this International Year would help raise awareness of the benefits of pulses globally. The year-long celebration was implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations. The year was a success, and recognizing the potential of pulses in further achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, since 2019 the United Nations General Assembly has designated 10 February as World Pulses Day to be celebrated every year.  

This celebration is a recognition of the decisive role that pulses can play in achieving the comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative goals and targets of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The World Pulses Day celebrations are an opportunity to raise public awareness about pulses and the fundamental role they play in the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.

This is a good day to look more closely at our own meal! What is the original colour of the pulse on your plate? Green, yellow, red, brown, orange, black, white…

In what form are you eating your pulses? As a Dal (sweet Gujarati or Punjabi tadka?) Rajma-chaval or chana puri? As a part of your idli-sambar? As the partner to rice in khichadi? As the coating on your pakodas? As the sweet moong dal halva or payasam? Each platter will have a different version of pulses!

Whatever the form and whatever the taste, pulses rule our plates and palates!

–Mamata

Avian Ambassadors: National Birds

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A news item that President Joe Biden had signed a bill on Christmas Eve 2024 that designated the bald eagle as the national bird of the USA was confusing, to say the least. One had always assumed that this had always been so, given that it was seen on all official US documents, and indeed even the US passport. It turns out that while the bald eagle has been the national symbol since it appeared on a copper cent in 1776, and has been appearing on the Great Seal of the US since 1782, the bird had never been legally recognized as the national bird till 24 December 2024.

Behind this lies an old story. On 4 July 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed whereby the 13 American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain. Following this it was decided that the new nation should have an official seal. It took three committees and six years before the seal was finalized on20 June 1782. The seal denoted a bald eagle grasping an olive branch and arrows in its talons. The significance of this is explained thus: ”The olive branch and the arrows held in the eagle’s talons denote the power of peace and war. The eagle always casts its gaze toward the olive branch signifying that our nation desires to pursue peace, but stands ready to defend itself”.

The bald eagle lives only in North America and to the people of the newly-born republic this bird was a symbol of courage, strength and freedom. It soon became a cultural and political symbol appearing on official documents, US currency, military insignia, and popular merchandise. Thus the bird remained a national emblem in the US for nearly 250 years, but it had not been officially designated to be the national bird until Congress passed the bill.

Many countries have a national bird. These are usually representative, in one way or another, of the country that they are the designated symbol of. The designation is done in different ways. The approaches range from the official, semi-official or unofficial, ranging from government decrees to popular vote. The choice is usually from among birds that have a high recognition factor.

Some countries in Central and South America have selected flamboyant birds as their national symbols, while some have selected bird species that are unique to their country. Among these are Gautemala’s Resplendent Quetzal and Papua New Guinea’s Raggiana Bird-of-paradise, which are spectacularly colourful. A beautifully matched choice is that of the Cuban Trogon or Tocororo whose colours exactly match the colours of Cuba’s flag. These birds cannot survive in captivity, and thus symbolizes the people’s love of freedom.

Some countries have selected threatened species in the hope to promote their conservation measures, like Bermuda’s Cahow or Bermuda Petrel (endangered) and Cambodia’s Giant Ibis (critically endangered). While Dodo is the unofficial mascot of Mauritius, seen as a symbol everywhere, it is sadly extinct. Thus the country has officially adopted the Mauritius Kestrel as its national bird. This is a rare bird of prey, endemic to the island and its recovery from near extinction (only four known individuals in the wild in 1974) to over 350 kestrels today, is a successful conservation story.  

Some Arab states have also designated other species of falcons as national birds. These birds represent grace, elegance, ability and alertness, and are considered a symbol of bravery. A variety of eagles have been a favoured choice of several countries for these very attributes. These include golden eagle (national bird of Albania, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Scotland, Serbia, and Germany), African fish eagle (Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe), harpy eagle (Panama), Javan hawk-eagle (Indonesia), Philippine eagle (Philippines), and the white-tailed eagle (Poland).

The raptor with the largest wing span in the world, the Andean condor of South America has been designated the national bird by several countries in that continent for its different qualities–Bolivia (for boundary-less pursuit), Chile (for strength), Colombia (for liberty and order), and Ecuador (for power, grandeur, and valour).

Whereas Japan could have adopted the Red-crowned crane as its national bird because of its scientific name Grus japonensis, it has chosen the kiji or Green pheasant. This bird is said to be particularly sensitive to earthquakes, to which Japan is prone. It is also features in many literary works.

Curiously, Grus japonensis was selected to be the national bird of China through an internet survey which was launched by the Chinese Wildlife Animals Protection Association and about 20 news organizations in 2004. The Red-crowned crane was the choice of about 1.3 million Chinese netizens to be the national bird.

Britain was pretty late in the naming of its national bird. In 2015 there was an online poll of over 200,000 people in Britain to vote for a national bird in response to a campaign started by ornithologist David Lindo. From an original list of 60 birds, online voters arrived at a shortlist of 10 birds. The Robin won first place with 34% of the vote, followed by the barn owl and blackbird.  

Another popular vote led to the change in Denmark’s national bird. Till 1984, the Skylark was the national bird, but a poll held by a TV show indicated that the more popular choice was the mute swan. The mute swan’s Danish name (Knopsvanen, literally meaning ‘the knob swan’) refers to the black knob it has over its orange beak. This selection was not based on natural history criteria but rather the association of the bird with Hans Christian Anderson’s famous fairy tale about the ugly duckling that grew into a swan.

Thus there are many reasons and many avenues that make a national bird. Closer to home, there is an interesting tale. In the 1960s the Government of India was encouraged by international bird conservation organisations to select a national bird. It was suggested that this could be a bird species that was in immediate need of protection, and thus attention. The most obvious choice at the time was the Great Indian Bustard that was already endangered then, with less than 1300 individuals in the wild. The famous ornithologist Salim Ali emphasised that this spectacular bird required “an urgent, nation-wide effort” to save it from its impending doom. As the story goes, in this respect, the Bustard was a logical choice. But there was a concern that its name could easily be misspelt or mispronounced, leading to much embarrassment! Whether this is just jest or a fact, it was the peacock which made the title in 1963, not because of its conservation status, but because of its cultural significance, religious and legendary associations, beauty, and widespread distribution in the country. 

–Mamata

Contested Hedges

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Contested borders are in the news every day. You can’t miss the claims and counter-claims between neighbouring countires—in our case, mainly China.

But it seems that disputes between neighbours on humble garden hedges are as serious. In the UK, disputes between neighbours on this issue have even resulted in deaths, with one Mr. Wilson of Lincolnshire, dying from gunshot wounds sustained during an argument over hedges, and a Mr. Reid dying of a heart attack after a heated dispute with his neighbour on the same subject. While not so drastic, many people have been levied stiff fines on the charge of trespass for cutting their neighbours’ encroaching hedges. In all, there were 1,00,000 hedge disputes in the UK prior in 2003.

Why do these disputes arise? A major reason is that the hedge blocks too much light to a neighbour’s house or garden; or that the hedge blocks a view. Or a neighbor’s overgrown hedge may encroach on your property. Also, branches or roots may cross into your property from a neighbor’s property or a public road.

This serious situation led to the passing of laws to manage the situation. In 2003, UK passed laws to manage disputes related to hedges. The UK Law essentially is about ‘high hedges’ defined as those over 2 meters in height. Transgressions of hedge-related law come under the definition of Anti-Social Behavior, since 2003!

The situation is understandable, given the extent of hedges in the UK. Laser scanning has shown that the UK has 390,000 km of hedges and hedgerows (1-6 metres tall) on field boundaries– enough to go round the world almost 10 times.

A step back. What is a hedge? A hedge is a line of shrubs (and occasionally trees), planted closely (3 feet or closer) which form a barrier or mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedgerows on the other hand are hedges used to separate a road from adjoining fields, or one field from another, and which may incorporate larger trees. Apart from demarcating boundaries, hedges and hedgerows may serve as windbreaks to improve conditions for crops, as. A hedge is also called a “live fence”.

Under the UK Law, these disputes don’t go to court. Neighbours are encouraged to reach negotiated settlements. If this does not work, a written complaint may be given to the local Council, which will look into both sides of the argument and give a decision. Either the Council will reject the complaint, or they will give an order to cut the hedge to the mandated height. The cutting has to be done keeping in mind The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which makes it an offence to destroy any bird’s nest that is either in use or being built!

Few other countries have such elaborate laws on the subject. However, some local authorities in the US do regulate the height or placement of hedges. For example, a resident of Palo Alto was arrested for allowing her xylosma hedge to grow too tall.

So go ahead. Do grow your Photinia, Duranta, Golden Cypress, Nerium, Hibiscus, Copper Leaf, Ixora, Tecoma, Vilayati Mehendi or whatever else takes your fancy. But make sure they don’t inconvenience your neighbours and get your behaviour labelled as anti-social—at least under the UK laws!

If everyone could plant hedges and learn to maintain them with discipline, maybe we will also learn to manage other boundary disputes without resorting to violence.  It could make for a world where boundary disputes become a thing of the past!

–Meena

The Ultimate Flower-Clock

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Wouldn’t it be beyond-beautiful if we had a clock which did not tell time by mundane numbers and needles, but by a particular flower blooming? Imagine if you peeped out of the window and you could look at this clock, and tell if it was 12 noon, or 1 pm or 2 pm by the flower that was blooming!

This was the kind of clock that Carl Linnaeus dreamed of.  Linnaeus’s flower clock or Horologica Floræ is a garden-plan thought up by Linnaeus that would take advantage of plants that open or close their flowers at particular times of the day, to accurately indicate the time.

As most of us would remember from school-biology, Linnaeus was the Swedish naturalist who laid down the principles for defining genera and species of organisms, and created a uniform system for naming them (the binomial nomenclature). His book, Systema Naturae (The System of Nature) consisted of only 11 pages but laid the foundations of taxonomy. It presented a hierarchical classification or taxonomy, of the three kingdoms of nature: stones, plants, and animals. Each kingdom was subdivided into classes, orders, genera, species, and varieties. All modern classification systems in biology have their roots in the Linnaean classification system which is based on similarities—for instance, Linnaeus grouped together organisms that shared obvious physical traits, such as number of legs or shape of leaves.

The Linnaean system of classification consists of a hierarchy of groupings, called taxa (singular, taxon). Taxa range from the kingdom to the species. The kingdom is the largest and most inclusive grouping. It consists of organisms that share just a few basic similarities. Examples are the plant and animal kingdoms. Then come the phylum, then the class, order, family, genus, and finally the species–the smallest and most exclusive grouping. It consists of organisms that are similar enough to produce fertile offspring together.

Linnaeus greatest contribution to science was his method of naming species. This method, called binomial nomenclature, gives each species a unique, two-word Latin name consisting of the genus name and the species name. An example is Homo sapiens, the two-word Latin name for humans, literally meaning “wise human.”

But if Linnaeus saw order in the natural world around him, he saw beauty too. In around 1748 he started thinking about the flower-clock. It builds on the fact that there are species of plants that open or close their flowers at set times of day. In his publication Philosophia Botanica, he gives 46 examples of flowering plants that are open during particular parts of the day. He brought together 43 of these under the heading Horologium Florae, or Floral Clock, arranging them in a time sequence from 3 am to 8 pm. The time at which each flower opens and closes is given in whole and half hours.

To give you a glimpse, here are a few rows from Linnaeus’ table:

Botanical nameCommon nameOpening timeClosing time
    
Tragopogon pratensisGoat’s-Beard3 a.m.–
Cichorium intybus L.Chicory4–5 a.m.–
Reichardia tingitana (L.) RothFalse Sow thistleby 6 a.m.10 a.m.
Taraxacum officinale WeberDandelion5 a.m.8–9 a.m.
Crepis alpina L.Hawk’s beard5 a.m.11 a.m.
Hieracium umbellatum L.Hawkweed6 a.m.5 p.m.

Though Linnaeus worked for years on this, the observations and hence selection and organization of flowers were not complete.  Linnaueus’ son Carl the Younger was given the task for completing the table so that the clock could be built. Unfortunately, Linnaeus the Younger’s floral clock was never completed, and his observations on the opening and closing of flower have not been found among his surviving papers.

Alas, no one has actually built such a clock, and it is not even clear that it is possible.  There are many practical issues to overcome. For instance, it would only function for part of the year since plants don’t flower through the year; the time shown would be indicative at best since blooming times are in a range and would vary with specifics like weather and other atmospheric conditions; many of the plants that Linnaeus observed and selected were wildflowers from Sweden and may not be found in other places, or would behave differently in other places. And then, the clock may not work at all in some seasons, if there are not enough flowers which bloom then.

Well, in this digital age, there are some ingenious people who have created an app based on the idea. They have selected 24 flowers, one for each hour that would normally flower at that time of the day or night. Floræ – Linnaeus’ flower clock app is free on appstore for Apple and iPhone.

So maybe we have make do with that, till some genious actually builds the Horologica Floræ to blow our minds!

–Meena

https://www.countrylife.co.uk/nature/curious-questions-what-is-linnaeuss-flower-clock-259032

Wikipedia

Wikimeida Commons (Picutre)