Queer botany

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

I know this was touched on a few months ago in relation to an exhibition at Kew, and I didn't understand it then either. Recently we went to the National Trust Tudor property Sutton House in Homerton (well worth a visit, btw). The adjacent tiny parcel of land was donated to the NT on condition that this former scrapyard was turned into a garden, which was done a couple of years ago. Very nice it looks too. However, it is apparently an example of queer botany. Why? Can anyone explain this to me in extremely simple terms? Does it simply mean that some of the people involved in designing and planting it identify as queer and a few of the plants have assocation with gay icons? It surely isn't implying anything about sexual reproduction, is it?

https://www.queerbotany.com/projects/platinum-garden

Speaking of colonies and funghi and mould ....

Behold the lichen!

https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/learning/what-is-a-lichen

'A lichen is not a single organism; it is a stable symbiotic association between a fungus and algae and/or cyanobacteria.
Like all fungi, lichen fungi require carbon as a food source; this is provided by their symbiotic algae and/or cyanobacteria, that are photosynthetic.
The lichen symbiosis is thought to be a mutualism, since both the fungi and the photosynthetic partners, called photobionts, benefit.'

Shall I lichen thee to a single organism? Thou art more lovely and more a stable symbiotic association between a fungus and algae and/or cyanobacteria...

Chapeau
👏👏👏

ArabellaScott · Today 09:22

Speaking of colonies and funghi and mould ....
Behold the lichen!

Wow! Thanks. Yes, behold indeed...

Today I have been reading about slime moulds, and I thought you all might be interested.

'They are not animals, nor plants, nor fungi. They move and display some sort of intelligence;...Their life starts with a spore which germinates into an amoeba. The amoebae swim around and eventually get together to form what is called a plasmodium which is an enormous single cell that moves around and feeds by hoovering up micro-organisms such as bacteria. The plasmodium is a slimy blob (hence the name) that can move (at a few millimetres an hour) hunting for food; it remembers where it has been. Plasmodia can be brightly coloured and get quite large – reputedly up to a few metres across; science fiction films such as The Blob were inspired by them. At some point – and no-one seems to know why – the plasmodium decides that it has had enough and produces its fruiting bodies. These can take various forms but are mainly what are known as sporangia, a bit like mushrooms'

https://thefieldclub.org.uk/2023/03/24/getting-to-know-slime-moulds/

They can find the quickest way through a maze.

A gallery of lovely slime moulds:

https://www.barrywebbimages.co.uk/Images/Macro/Slime-Moulds-Myxomycetes

I love slime moulds, really cool to look at under a microscope too.

Those pictures are amazing like the covers of 60s pulp science fiction novels.

I think slime moulds are fascinating.

Who knew that slime moulds were…. Well er cool?

They are terrifyingly cool and the basis of the zombie horror game/HBO show, The Last of Us.

Thank you for the slime moulds link, @ArabellaScott . They are exquisite!

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 16/11/2024 14:36

I Hope they are growing carrots

That's Life! rides again, is that you, Esther?

ArabellaScott · 18/11/2024 16:13

And I have my eye on one about fungi - the Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake.

I think that's the one I got for my dad, a couple of years ago. He's a botanist and agronomist (retired) and hooked on anything to do with any wildlife. He's got a little conservation group in his village.

I read that as conversation group and imagined a genteel and select soirée where people discuss pleasant and varied topics and thought 'what a good idea'.

Pollen is tiny plants?! ...how do male gametes become an embryo?

Except they have called it Botany whe perhaps it should have be Botanists.

There's nothing wrong with there being a gardening club/group whatever aimed at gay/queer etc. but it seems weird to try and equate the plants themselves with a sexuality? 'The people who planned this garden identify as queer' would surely suffice. Or just a blurb about the group and that it's diverse and many in it are in the LGBTQ community.
I'd say if they wanted to diversify it, why not focus on black women for example, who are under represented in botany/gardening/ arborism careers?
I guess they could do that as well.

What a fun and informative thread! Thankyou.

After all, you can hear the Subaltern plants screaming for a more inclusive, non-binary approach to their photosynthetic practices. Next, redefining the re(pro)ductive habits of fungi as a critique of colonialism: a radical reimagining.

There's a great image of a slime mould in this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year show at the Natural History Museum.

There's also a little section on the history of the competition; I liked the black and white shot of a female administrator stoically opening massive piles of postal entries in the 80s.

Fab!

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/wpy/gallery/2024-life-under-dead-wood

Not only is the photo fab, but this sentence is fab too:

Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas (Germany) carefully rolls over a log in his local forest to see fruiting bodies of slime mould and a tiny springtail.

'Mum! Mum! Guess what I saw when I rolled a log over in the local forest??'
'What, dear?'
'Only fruiting bodies of slime mould and a tiny springtail, Mum!!!'
'That's lovely Alexis - now try not to get slime mould all over the carpet, dear '

(It could of course be 'Dad! Dad!' but then it wouldn't have that Ladybird book family vibe..)

Imagine being a springtail.

Imagine being a slimemould.

When I was a sprog I brought a brick in from the back garden so I could light the gas ring. When I put it down it was alive with springtails, and too damp to strike a match on. I never thought to look for a slime mould.

I'm so glad this thread is back!

Those wildlife photos are stunning and fascinating in equal measure @ArabellaScott

Oh my... 🤣