CHAPTER ii
Om
Wonders of Nature ii
( Sensitivities of living beings )
I have never ceased to wonder
At Nature’s antics and frivolities
But recently I was very surprised,
Astonished, nay flabbergasted
As at one go, all my concepts got Blasted
I was trying to update my biology
When I chanced to come across
‘Plant Neurobiology’!
(A fledgling subject struggling in vain
to gain recognition under stress &strain)
As if the name itself was not sufficient to shock
one, it made me sit up, again & again
When I read
“Darwin thought Root tips had Brain”
And this released from my brain station a long train
Of thoughts & ideas which I had to lift with a crane
Of effort, to move them out of my heart creaking with strain
And my mind began to wander, over past,
here and there
When, I used to roam in the fields & farms
as a youngster
For, as a child I had seen with sheer amazement
Sunflower chasing the sun, as if, with
prior arrangement
And it was indeed a great entertainment,- multifold
To see the leaflets of ‘Touch me not’ suddenly fold
At the slightest touch of fingers young or old
And thought while it all lingered, before leaf did unfold
Oh! How Nature plays such child like tricks, behold!
Later I had heard about Nature’s more
serious engagements
And read about its intimate symbiotic
arrangements
Between plants & animals, plants & fungi,
etc, you know
Brought together by nature to live as friend
or foe ¶
And about communities in which individuals
struggle and grow
Adapt, attack, or defend- to survive, or out
they go .
And plants are as much adept as others in this game be sure
For they know as much, when, where and to whom befriend & lure
Or best avoid or for that matter take on, with all their might
With equipment, nature fits them with, to fight all right
Of course, I had also read about hormones
eons ago
And knew they carry messages swiftly
to and fro
And signal shoots and roots to respond to
stimuli
Regulating growth and development
by and by
But I never thought they were brainy or so bright
That they can mock their, ‘superiors’! , even men, with spite
For they knew many things much before men did, strain
To learn science &arts of which they are so proud, in vain.
True, men will do well to learn from plants
many many
Techniques in which they excel men definitely
To think of some instances of their superior
quality
See how they harness solar energy so
efficiently
And generate electro chemical reactions
significantly
To produce products or energy or signal
responses quickly
And, so it appears, to do their assigned duty
timely
and shall we say, ‘sincerely’ merrily and
cheerfully
unlike men ,with a ‘sense’ of
phyto-responsibility.!
All know now that plants can distinguish with ‘pride’
Between various wave lengths of light and utilize
Blue, red and UV to ‘see’ their way out day or night.
And ensure that their seedlings future is bright .
And from the days of J.C.Bose some have,
some how
Believed, but even some scientist accept it
as a fact now
That the plants can also differentiate
very well and ‘tell’
In their own way, Various frequencies of
Sound as well .
And in the field of Arts who can beat their ingenuity
In creativity, design, colours and matchless beauty
In expression of joy, happiness and good cheer
With freshness of greenery and lovely flowers dear.
But that they have animal like emotions
Is still largely a tale of fanciful notions
Plants have no nerves or neurons is well known
But they can switch their parallel system ‘on’
Banking on chemicals akin to those in nerves & brain
And can conduct electric signals in a similar vain
Their cell membrane functions in much the same way
Controlling ingress / egress in almost similar way
Operating normally through osmotic or ionic action
even electronically some gates in a similar fashion.
Their cell wall acts like intercellular matrix
Well formed for protective or conductive
prefix
Well known for its strength etc;
and multiple role
Better than yours and mine on the whole
Cell to cell ‘talk’ in more than one way
Is a common talk now a days any way
In this also plant & animal cells function similarly
Right from the embryonic stage on wards merrily
But even with all this and more
That they are brainy chaps or
Have emotions, no one will buy
Except in the realm of fantasy
However
Plants live in communities is a fact now well recognised
And instances of plant to plant messages have come to light;
Defense ‘strategies’ of some plants also do surprise
When attacked they send signals to invader’s foes in a trice
Oh! It is difficult to believe, by God! That they are so ‘wise
Some send attracting, repulsing, or warning signals is also know
There is really no end to such wonder of wonders to be precise.
Inspite of it all, they have no ‘grey matter’
you know
But I will concede they have a ‘heart’,
I feel some how|
For if you care for them they care for you
Try loving them and they will love you too
And fill your heart with joy and happiness too
Honestly should’nt we say---------- I owe you
To wonderful Mr Plant –thank you, thank you .
S KB
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note :
Friendship of Legumes and nitrogen fixing bacteria
is well known ,
They send chemical signals to each other—legume literally
invites
and makes room for specific bacteria of choice and the
bacteria accepts it
only from plant species of its choice and enter in a partnership
beneficial to both .
between them is of do or die type .
Santosh ‘Ratan’
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Om
Wonders of Nature ii
( Sensitivities of living beings )
I have never ceased to wonder
At Nature’s antics and frivolities
But recently I was very surprised,
Astonished, nay flabbergasted
As at one go, all my concepts got Blasted
I was trying to update my biology
When I chanced to come across
‘Plant Neurobiology’!
(A fledgling subject struggling in vain
to gain recognition under stress &strain)
As if the name itself was not sufficient to shock
one, it made me sit up, again & again
When I read
“Darwin thought Root tips had Brain”
And this released from my brain station a long train
Of thoughts & ideas which I had to lift with a crane
Of effort, to move them out of my heart creaking with strain
And my mind began to wander, over past,
here and there
When, I used to roam in the fields & farms
as a youngster
For, as a child I had seen with sheer amazement
Sunflower chasing the sun, as if, with
prior arrangement
And it was indeed a great entertainment,- multifold
To see the leaflets of ‘Touch me not’ suddenly fold
At the slightest touch of fingers young or old
And thought while it all lingered, before leaf did unfold
Oh! How Nature plays such child like tricks, behold!
Later I had heard about Nature’s more
serious engagements
And read about its intimate symbiotic
arrangements
Between plants & animals, plants & fungi,
etc, you know
Brought together by nature to live as friend
or foe ¶
And about communities in which individuals
struggle and grow
Adapt, attack, or defend- to survive, or out
they go .
And plants are as much adept as others in this game be sure
For they know as much, when, where and to whom befriend & lure
Or best avoid or for that matter take on, with all their might
With equipment, nature fits them with, to fight all right
Of course, I had also read about hormones
eons ago
And knew they carry messages swiftly
to and fro
And signal shoots and roots to respond to
stimuli
Regulating growth and development
by and by
But I never thought they were brainy or so bright
That they can mock their, ‘superiors’! , even men, with spite
For they knew many things much before men did, strain
To learn science &arts of which they are so proud, in vain.
True, men will do well to learn from plants
many many
Techniques in which they excel men definitely
To think of some instances of their superior
quality
See how they harness solar energy so
efficiently
And generate electro chemical reactions
significantly
To produce products or energy or signal
responses quickly
And, so it appears, to do their assigned duty
timely
and shall we say, ‘sincerely’ merrily and
cheerfully
unlike men ,with a ‘sense’ of
phyto-responsibility.!
All know now that plants can distinguish with ‘pride’
Between various wave lengths of light and utilize
Blue, red and UV to ‘see’ their way out day or night.
And ensure that their seedlings future is bright .
And from the days of J.C.Bose some have,
some how
Believed, but even some scientist accept it
as a fact now
That the plants can also differentiate
very well and ‘tell’
In their own way, Various frequencies of
Sound as well .
And in the field of Arts who can beat their ingenuity
In creativity, design, colours and matchless beauty
In expression of joy, happiness and good cheer
With freshness of greenery and lovely flowers dear.
But that they have animal like emotions
Is still largely a tale of fanciful notions
Plants have no nerves or neurons is well known
But they can switch their parallel system ‘on’
Banking on chemicals akin to those in nerves & brain
And can conduct electric signals in a similar vain
Their cell membrane functions in much the same way
Controlling ingress / egress in almost similar way
Operating normally through osmotic or ionic action
even electronically some gates in a similar fashion.
Their cell wall acts like intercellular matrix
Well formed for protective or conductive
prefix
Well known for its strength etc;
and multiple role
Better than yours and mine on the whole
Cell to cell ‘talk’ in more than one way
Is a common talk now a days any way
In this also plant & animal cells function similarly
Right from the embryonic stage on wards merrily
But even with all this and more
That they are brainy chaps or
Have emotions, no one will buy
Except in the realm of fantasy
However
Plants live in communities is a fact now well recognised
And instances of plant to plant messages have come to light;
Defense ‘strategies’ of some plants also do surprise
When attacked they send signals to invader’s foes in a trice
Oh! It is difficult to believe, by God! That they are so ‘wise
Some send attracting, repulsing, or warning signals is also know
There is really no end to such wonder of wonders to be precise.
Inspite of it all, they have no ‘grey matter’
you know
But I will concede they have a ‘heart’,
I feel some how|
For if you care for them they care for you
Try loving them and they will love you too
And fill your heart with joy and happiness too
Honestly should’nt we say---------- I owe you
To wonderful Mr Plant –thank you, thank you .
S KB
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note :
Friendship of Legumes and nitrogen fixing bacteria
is well known ,
They send chemical signals to each other—legume literally
invites
and makes room for specific bacteria of choice and the
bacteria accepts it
only from plant species of its choice and enter in a partnership
beneficial to both .
- Of bacterial or viral enemies there is no count—but here also
between them is of do or die type .
Santosh ‘Ratan’
--------------------------------------------------------------------------