Coexist

Plant of the Day

Thursday 4 April 2019

Through the Botanic Garden at Wakehurst, Sussex, for just over a kilometre, runs a series of outcrops forming small cliffs made of Ardingly Sandstone and growing over these can be seen the amazing root systems of Taxus baccata (yew).

Indian pipes (monotropa uniflora)

“Portion of the rockery at the Royal Horticultural Society’s garden, Chiswick.” Cassell’s popular gardening. 1884. Frontispiece.

Blog post from the main blog of The Rawness describing the Manic Pixie Dream Girl archetype and the psychological dynamics behind why certain types of male viewers (and screenwriters) are so fixated and enthralled by her.

From the article:

A good example of the codependent entitlement or covert narcissism I described in the last post comes in the Manic Pixie Dream Girl fantasy that many introverted, artistically inclined men have. These codependent men are withdrawn, shy, introverted, and afraid to call attention to themselves. But along comes this fantasy girl who acts insane, outgoing, exhibitionistic, kooky, and draws him out of his shell. The whole appeal of the girl is that the codependent protagonist believes she fits his fantasy image of what an ideal girlfriend looks like, even if he’s projected many of these qualities onto her with his own fevered imagination. Her main appeal to him is how she reflects and brings out his greatness. She also is inexplicably drawn to him despite little effort and zero game on his part. She’s both a mirror for his false, idealized self as well as an extension of him. She exists to draw out and reflect his greatness, without any deep, abiding needs of her own other than to take him on an emotional rollercoaster ride and reveal his own desired greatness back at him. In this way she acts as a mirror to him, reflecting his idealized self-image. She acts flamboyant, eccentric, and outgoing for him in a way he feels he can’t directly, and in this way acts as an extension of him. She has no other purpose but to “rescue” the protagonist and bolster his spirits, and he (sometimes) gets to rescue her in return.

Teloschistes chrysophthalmus, golden-eye lichen, is very common pretty much everywhere, but especially on trees in the Midwest, like this honey locust in Boone County, Iowa. Midwestern specimens often lack the telltale cilia around the apothecia.