Esterhuysenia drepanophylla old fruit parts

The decreasing dry remains that old fruits have left on this Esterhuysenia drepanophylla plant no longer all include their original five capsule sections. They probably don’t even belong to the same year’s floral crop. The disappearing sections were once the capsule locules within which seeds were nurtured and released into life or lost into disappearance. Next season, if permitted by conditions, the plant will without fail try to yield new flowers that repeat the same sequence as always, shaping one more generation.

Observing the plant thus in its throes of unavoidable labours, kindles thoughts of kinship: Another fellow earthling representing its species in this moment in time, meets an observer from a very different species, yet also a local. Both are characterised by inescapable rules of life and death, caught in time in analogous, transient life situations as they share a moment. They are living links in the generation chains of procreation and death in their respective species, from the deep past to the unknown future. The same as untold generations of all the short-lived organisms, representing all the living species in their unique relay existence modes.

Apart from producing offspring the species may share fleeting, chance meetings with other species in ecological niches, big and small. Trade-offs, alliances, mutually beneficial agreements abound and increase among species as within them. Ephemeral sharing adds continually more weird touches to unlike lives, the magic of living overall being open-ended.

And who knows whether the wonders of the future may exceed those of the past? It may even cause reflection and thought in those where potential is on the increase. Underlying meaning, where there might be a need for it, can in untold ways be contrived by some, fathomed by others. For who can plot the scope of awareness and consciousness in the living of the future?