Broken Tulips

[Unota]

Did you know, that what is thought to be the first ever-recorded-in-history economic bubble to occur, revolved around the tulip?

 

In the 17th century, tulips became a revered luxury. Europe was completely enamored with their modest, neatly-folded petals that betrayed nothing within. It caused a major economic bubble, with some varieties, most famously the now-extinct Semper Augustus, sold for as high as what's estimated to be the equivalent of $178,200.

 

The Semper Augustus was an example of a 'broken' tulip cultivar, a tulip that bloomed with dual clashing colors in intricate patterns across the petals.

 

The culprit was a type of mosaic virus. The primary visible pigment of a tulip is within the epidermis, but those infected with the tulip breaking virus, the epidermis becomes separated from the mesophyll layer which causes the secondary color to become visible. This disease brought out a hidden beauty that could not be seen normally within healthy flowers.

 

The thing with tulips is that when reproducing, their seeds sprout with only a slight resemblance to the parent. The only way to reproduce a specific cultivar is to clone it through division. (This, of course, is just like the fruit trees we love to eat, which we clone through grafting.) In the case with broken tulips, the plants are already diseased and in a weakened state. They are doomed to extinction. The plants would stop producing bulbs and can no longer be circulated. As a result, the Semper Augustus no longer exists.

 

Broken tulips are not the only tulip cultivars that are incredibly fleeting, though. Due to cultivars only circulating based on public interest, and the fact they can only be replicated by cloning, any varieties that have fallen out of favor will naturally cease to exist.

Broken tulips were treasured for their beauty, but they were beautiful because they were diseased. They were doomed to die. Maybe to some they were magical, an unexplainable mystery, but it was generally suspected that a tulip 'breaking' was due to a disease. In fact, knowing that they were fleeting was a contributing factor to their beauty, and made them even more highly valued.

 

Secondly, even healthy cultivars seem to be eventually doomed and unsustainable. Randomized genetics is a product of evolution, and many plants reproduce like this for a reason. The world is constantly changing. The reason for producing offspring with a completely spontaneous outcome, is for survival.

 

Diseases are constantly changing and evolving to survive, and their survival involves taking advantage of and even killing host plants. In order to combat disease, plants must constantly change and evolve alongside it. When producing random genes in offspring, you have higher chances of producing a single offspring that can withstand disease and a changing climate. By cloning these plants, humans deprive them of their method for survival.

 

Humans like to see themselves as completely separate from nature. Nature is something to be controlled and conquered. Cloned varieties of plants are a symbol of this control, and the Semper Augustus seems to me an even more-so grotesque example, through the preservation of a plant known to be diseased.

 

I am running out of time here, but I thought this might be a good conversation topic. It is a good example of clinging, stagnation, and attempted control over nature. Whether it's the monocultures of factory farms, grafted century old clones of fruit trees that are all doomed to the fate of the Gros Michel banana, the reveration of cloned tulips riddled with disease, and overconsumption of resources to grow specific crops in areas that will no longer support them...they all share the same thing, which is the false assumption that we are separated from nature, and that nature is something that can be controlled, instead of something to embrace and live alongside.

 

This is something I care a lot about, and I think about it often. I would like to hear what you all think about it. I'm not sure of this necessarily counts as 'spiritual discussion,' so I put it in rabbit hole instead.

 

Sorry if this is kind of random, I just want to try to be a bit more social... I hope you at least find the Semper Augustus interesting.

[Apech]

@Unota

 

Thanks.  I had heard of the tulip bubble before but not that explanation of rare varieties.  Very interesting indeed.

Edited September 26, 2023 by Apech

[Cobie]

@Unota  I knew about it. I’m against all forms of interference in the sex life of plants (and animals too). 
 

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by Cobie

[Cobie]

@Unota Huh … why the  like? I am being serious, that’s my opinion. 
 

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by Cobie

[liminal_luke]

I just ate a delicious but ethically suspect smoked porkchop.  I'm typing on a laptop that was likely made in China by people working for slave wages.  I probably won't vote in the next presidential election, not even to save the US from Trump.  So yeah, given the magnitude of my sinning, I can't get too excited about cloned tulips.

Edited September 26, 2023 by liminal_luke

[Apech]

24 minutes ago, liminal_luke said:

I just ate a delicious but ethically suspect smoked porkchop.  I'm typing on a laptop that was likely made in China by people working for slave wages.  I probably won't vote in the next presidential election, not even to save the US from Trump.  So yeah, given the magnitude of my sinning, I can't get too excited about cloned tulips.

Brother Luke,

 

What sin did the pork chop commit?

 

 

[liminal_luke]

Just now, Apech said:

Brother Luke,

 

What sin did the pork chop commit?

 

 

 

None at all -- that's the point.  The porkchop came from an innocent hog likely raised in unhog-worthy conditions.  I'm generally opposed to the vegan argument that all meat-eating is cruelty but agree with them about industrial farming.  Given my druthers, I'd rather eat happy hogs who roamed muddy pastures at will; unfortunately, such meat is hard to come by in these parts.

[Apech]

1 minute ago, liminal_luke said:

 

None at all -- that's the point.  The porkchop came from an innocent hog likely raised in unhog-worthy conditions.  I'm generally opposed to the vegan argument that all meat-eating is cruelty but agree with them about industrial farming.  Given my druthers, I'd rather eat happy hogs who roamed muddy pastures at will; unfortunately, such meat is hard to come by in these parts.

we have some wild boars near here - although I’ve never seen one despite walking regularly through the matos- the meat is horrible tho the locals like to grill it on sundays .

[S:C]

The original Semper Augustus story reads as a beautifully/heartfelt one for me. Never would I have guessed it’s specialty has its origin in an “illness“. Thanks for sharing. I very much enjoyed reading this. 🌷
About the other aspects, I cannot comment with value right now, sorry. (What I meant is, I am probably guilty of that.)

2 hours ago, Unota said:

might be a good conversation topic. It is a good example of clinging, stagnation, and attempted control over nature. 

Edited September 26, 2023 by stellarwindbubble

[silent thunder]

Always intriguing to contemplate what is the nature of value and how we humans define worth.

[Unota]

2 hours ago, Cobie said:

@Unota Huh … why the  like? I am being serious, that’s my opinion. 
 

 

 

Ah, I thought the comment on the sex life of plants was funny. Regretfully, you are probably an active participant in their sex lives at all times, from airborne pollen and your choice of vegetables, to the burrs that cling to clothes. How scandalous!

 

1 hour ago, liminal_luke said:

 

None at all -- that's the point.  The porkchop came from an innocent hog likely raised in unhog-worthy conditions.  I'm generally opposed to the vegan argument that all meat-eating is cruelty but agree with them about industrial farming.  Given my druthers, I'd rather eat happy hogs who roamed muddy pastures at will; unfortunately, such meat is hard to come by in these parts.

 

I am definitely pro-meat as well. B12 can only be absorbed properly through ingestion of meat, and it is a necessary nutrient for the health of the heart, nervous system, and vision. Due to meat being so expensive, I have had a  pretty severe B12 deficiency in the past and went to a doctor for it, because it gave me heart palpitations and tremors. I ended up having to take injections because B12 can't be properly absorbed in the form of vitamin tablets. Rejecting meat in it's entirety doesn't seem very reasonable to me, if the alternative is expensive weekly doctor's appointments and shots.

 

I also raise chickens for their eggs, have two cattle, and raise rabbits intended for food. I'm sorry if anything I said came across as condescending, I am just very overly enthusiastic about permaculture. Whether you, as an individual, want to eat a hog ethically or otherwise, I don't particularly care about it.

 

 

1 hour ago, stellarwindbubble said:

The original Semper Augustus story reads as a beautifully/heartfelt one for me. Never would I have guessed it’s specialty has its origin in an “illness“. Thanks for sharing. I very much enjoyed reading this. 🌷
About the other aspects, I cannot comment with value right now, sorry. (What I meant is, I am probably guilty of that.)

 

While it does have an origin in an illness, I too still have a side of admiration for it's beauty. Being confronted with it's own doom brought out it's true colors. Something beautiful always comes from the bad, even if the beauty isn't as obvious as in a broken tulip.

 

1 hour ago, silent thunder said:

Always intriguing to contemplate what is the nature of value and how we humans define worth.

 

Exactly!! Humanity makes the world go round! Whether people believe their life and choices matter or not, they are always part of a system working in tandem with everything else. Their own ideals effect more than they know. Even something as small as a scentless, unassuming flower can suddenly become worth more than its weight in gold. Whether something perseveres, it will be because collectively, just enough people will have decided, "This is important."

[Cobie]

25 minutes ago, Unota said:

… from airborne pollen and your choice of vegetables, to the burrs that cling to clothes. …

 

I do not consider that the same thing at all, as it’s not done with the intent to interfere.

 

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by Cobie

[liminal_luke]

1 hour ago, Unota said:

 

 

I am definitely pro-meat as well. B12 can only be absorbed properly through ingestion of meat, and it is a necessary nutrient for the health of the heart, nervous system, and vision. Due to meat being so expensive, I have had a  pretty severe B12 deficiency in the past and went to a doctor for it, because it gave me heart palpitations and tremors. I ended up having to take injections because B12 can't be properly absorbed in the form of vitamin tablets. Rejecting meat in it's entirety doesn't seem very reasonable to me, if the alternative is expensive weekly doctor's appointments and shots.

 

I also raise chickens for their eggs, have two cattle, and raise rabbits intended for food. I'm sorry if anything I said came across as condescending, I am just very overly enthusiastic about permaculture. Whether you, as an individual, want to eat a hog ethically or otherwise, I don't particularly care about it.

 

 

You didn't come across as condescending at all.  I admire your animal husbandry.  

[S:C]

9 hours ago, Unota said:

Something beautiful always comes from the bad, even if the beauty isn't as obvious as in a broken tulip.

How do you come to this conclusion? Is that necessarily so in your opinion? Why?  

[Unota]

15 hours ago, stellarwindbubble said:

How do you come to this conclusion? Is that necessarily so in your opinion? Why?  

Oh, I'm sorry! I was speaking a bit abstractly. By something beautiful always coming from the bad, I mean that every terrible situation also comes with a learning opportunity, hahaha. Like...hidden potential revealed through hardship. Just like a disease exposing a hidden layer in the petals of a flower.

Sometimes bad situations that seem impossible can be resolved or at least remedied in unexpected ways. Sometimes you can learn how to appreciate smaller things. Sometimes, you just need to find the energy to get up and do what you know will improve your situation. Even if there's nothing else, learning acceptance or patience is still learning something that can permanently alter your mindset in a positive way. This one is probably the hardest, but the most significant.

No matter the situation, there's always opportunity. For example: if you have a cold, instead of lying in bed all day and being miserable, get up and drink some herbal tea that provides nutrients, hydration, and energy. Or, learning how to look inwards in case of something irreversible like disability or death of family. Or, learning awareness of your body to maintain your health and energy as best as possible, to reduce symptoms of chronic illness and make your life more comfortable. You can either lie there powerless, or you can seize whatever opportunity is provided by a terrible situation to improve yourself and your situation, whether it's physically, mentally, or maybe in a more abstract way. That opportunity is the beauty that always comes from the bad.

[Cobie]

Every cloud has a silver lining.