In the height of summer we see flowers of many colours and in many hues.

 What is it that causes a flower to be red or yellow or blue? A question that has crossed my mind many times and to date I didn’t really know. So armed with my computer and a good search engine I decided to find the answer to this puzzle and came across some very interesting results.

Research on this subject has been carried out over the last 15 years in the USA by Robert J Grienbach working at the National Aboratum’s Floral and Nursery Plants research unit at Beltsville, Maryland. He has come up with some very interesting results. In his research he used petunias to show that specific shades of flower colours could be explained by the combined inheritance of plant pigments called flavonoids and the plants cell acidity or PH of the cell.

Three different pigments, chlorophyll, flavonoids and carotenoids, when mixed in different proportions give flowers their colour. Red orchids are created by mixing orange carotenoids with magenta flavonoids.

Chlorophyll, the pigment that gives a plant its green colour is located in small packets called chloroplasts.

The carotenoids, responsible for colours from yellow through to orange are also found in small packets called chromoplasts.

Flavonoids, unlike the previous two are located within the water storage area at the centre of the cell. They represent three quarters of each flower cell and cause the red to blue colours.

Flavonoids are divided into two groups, pigmented anthocyanins and colourless co-pigments. Griesbech goes on to say, ” While very little is known about the biochemistry of chlorophyll and carotenoids relating to flower colours. We have a lot of information about flavonoid chemistry and flower colour. Flavonoid research is 20 years ahead of carotenoid research”.

So once the bio chemistry of flower colour is known for a specific plant it will be possible to create an infinite range of custom coloured flowers using genetic engineering. The drawback is the cost of the research doing chemical analysis to create unique flower colours like blue roses.

  SideWallFusion

Some excellent field guides for residents of and visitors to Britain.

Collins Complete Guide to British Wild Flowers: A Photographic Guide to Every Common Species
Complete British Wild Flowers
Wild Flowers by Colour: The Easy Way to Flower Identification
The Wild Flower Key: British Isles and North West Europe
Wild Flowers (Pocket Nature)
Wild Flowers: An Easy Guide by Habitat and Colour
Wild Flowers of Britain and Europe (Black’s Nature Guides)
The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
Field Flora of the British Isles
Common Families of Flowering Plants

Why Do Plants Display Beautiful Flowers?

Spring time in temperate countries is a time for celebration, the dark cold and wet weather of the dull winter  months are well and truly behind us when spring arrives. For me it’s not just the warmer weather and lengthening days, it’s the promise of  the colour and wafting sweet smells of one of natures greatest gifts to come, the flowers.

Many people take flowers for granted, they don’t really see the true marvel that lies behind a plants necessity to display its wonderful colourful flowers and to emit those irresistible scents. When you do stop and look at the multitude of different flower colours and shapes you see their sheer beauty, all designed to irresistibly attract insects and even small animals to ensure it’s own survival as a species. It prompts you to take a closer look at these marvels of evolution.

A beautiful sky blue flower taken in the fields of Kent, the garden of England.

What exactly is a flower?  Why is it coloured the way it is?  What urges it to produce such a  wonderful aroma? Simply put, the flower is the sexual organ of a plant, it’s from this colourful platform that pollen is generated and exchanged. Flowers attached to plants cannot move around in search of a mate because they are firmly rooted in the earth. This presents the plant with a major obstacle, an obstacle that it deals with in many fascinating ways.

Symbiosis.

A Spanish word meaning two unrelated species evolving together to mutually benefit for survival. The plant generates it’s flowers and odour in order to attract its symbiotic partners. In the majority of plants it is the flying insects they need to attract, and one in particular I’m sure we are all familiar with, is the humble bumble bee.  Bees are tireless in their need to gather nectar from plants, the plants instinctively know this and provide them with an abundance of what they need, for a price, and that price is to take away pollen and deliver it to another flower of a similar plant.

A common red poppy taken in the fields of north Kent England.

Bumble Bees.

If we look up close at a bumble bee we will see that its thorax is covered with fine brush like hairs. These hairs or fur are designed by the plant by natural selection to pick up and deliver pollen. I sometimes think that a bumble bee has much the same sense of sight and smell that we humans have, the bees senses may well be far more developed. They are attracted to the same vivid colours and irresistible aromas that we find so compelling. In short, the bee is driven by its need for nectar and the plant is driven by its need for pollen.

When a bee visits a flower to take away its nectar it has to land on the flower which usually provides a conveniently placed landing pad designed by the bee by natural selection. It then has to go deep into the flower to get it’s prize and in some flowers they may give the bee a clue,  with special markings to follow. When the bee goes about its business the flower picks up from and deposits pollen onto the bees fur ready to be transported to the next flower it visits. The bee is unaware of this but it’s need to survive by taking nectar ensures the plant will always deposit and receive the pollen it so desperately needs to propagate and survive.

The beauty of  flowers will always be a source of great pleasure to many of us and without them our lives would be quite dull. The work of the bees rewards us with great visual and aromatic pleasures. What would we do without these marvels of evolution and nature?

Some excellent field guides for residents of and visitors to Britain.

Collins Complete Guide to British Wild Flowers: A Photographic Guide to Every Common Species
Complete British Wild Flowers
Wild Flowers by Colour: The Easy Way to Flower Identification
The Wild Flower Key: British Isles and North West Europe
Wild Flowers (Pocket Nature)
Wild Flowers: An Easy Guide by Habitat and Colour
Wild Flowers of Britain and Europe (Black’s Nature Guides)
The Wild Flower Key – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
Field Flora of the British Isles
Common Families of Flowering Plants

Dont keep a library keep a Kindle

Kindle: Amazon’s 6

Could Cannabis Be A Cure For Brain Cancers?

A dOpE HeAd.

I don’t see any logic here at all, is the tail wagging the dog? I use the stumble thing quite a lot when I’m stuck for something more positive to do. I kinda enjoy the surprises that jump on to the screen each time I hit the stumble button. I notice there’s quite a lot of pages on Marry Joanna or Cannabis, Dope, Pot, or whatever they are currently calling it. There are those for it, those against it and those who want it legalised for certain medical conditions. I read it all, taking it all in, I mean if you are like me, then you were brought up with teachers, parents, cops etc. telling you that marijuana is a very dangerous drug. I’m in my 50′s now and still can’t understand it at all.

Why is marrywanna illegal if so many people want to use it? Where does the saying, “government by the people for the people” come into this lively debate. Surely if the majority of people agree that adults are in charge of their own destiny then why is marijuana illegal. It defies all logic, take alcohol for instance, a far more potent and dangerous drug yet it’s guzzled like there’s no tomorrow quite legally. It’s addictive, causes cancers of the mouth, and all the innards it comes into contact with, it also destroys relationships. Tobacco smoking is another example, we all know what that highly dangerous drug does to us, again quite legal. Yet if what I read is true, cannabis has highly beneficial effects for those who are sick and those who just want to unwind listening to music. It makes you happy, lethargic, talkative, and in love with life. It can also make you feel very paranoid and if you take a toke on every joint that’s invariably passed around at parties etc it can send you into a ‘whitey’ a kind of sensual overload Where you don’t know whether you want to crap, be sick or just lie on the ground and feel the earth rotate.

I Keep Stumbling On Marijuana.

I just finished reading a stumbled upon page that went on to state that studies have found that THC, the major active chemical in marijuana actually destroys brain cancer cells while leaving healthy brain cells well alone and unaffected. Apparently THC causes cancer cells to feed on themselves, I guess they disappear into their own backsides. The process is called ‘Autophagy’, no really, that’s what the article I was reading called it. This is backed up by laboratory research at Complutense University in Spain, They use rats bred to carry the human brain cancer cells. They also tested THC on two patients with glioblastoma multiforme a highly aggressive form of brain cancer. Both patients had been enrolled in to a clinical trial to determine whether THC has any affect on cancer cells. After 26 to 30 days on THC they found that THC had eliminated the cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact. Additionally they discovered the specific signalling route by which the autophagy process unfolds and was isolated. If this is true then THC is a very valuable chemical.

Does It Heighten The Sensual Experience?

I was always led to believe that Cannabis was evil and addictive, they make out it will kill you if you overdose. I really don’t understand this at all. I have many many friends who’ve smoked the weed for decades. Most of them hold down good jobs. They are generally responsible and valuable members of society, I have never heard of any of them being rushed to hospital with an overdose screaming for a bowl of  Kellogg’s rice crispies.

Here’s A Picture Of the Offending Plant.

A Plant That Gives Pleasure?

The above picture is from the Wikipedia Encyclopedia, the guy who created it donated it to the public domain stating that it is all his own work  A bud of Silver Haze marijuana displaying its trichomes rich with THC.

TetraHydroCannabinol.

I did some reading regarding the fatal overdose of  Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) required to kill a person and the figures are very interesting. It began by stating there had never been a documented human fatality due to overdosing on THC or cannabis.

Studies in rats showed that to kill a rat by overdose of  THC required 1270 mg/kg in males and 730 mg/kg in females.

An estimate derived from the rat experiments states that 1500lbs/680kg would have to be smoked within 15 minutes for a human to commit suicide by overdose on THC. This estimate is supported by studies which indicate that the effective dose of THC is at least 1000 times lower than the lethal dose. A safety ratio of 1000:1 much higher than alcohol which is 10:1 cocaine 15: 1 and heroine 6:1.

Here’s An Interesting Graph Taken from Wikipedia.

The Toxicity Of Controlled And Highly Taxed Substances.

It’s interesting to see that alcohol and tobacco are much higher than many of the other so called dangerous drugs. In my reading of this very controversial subject I’m beginning to form an opinion based on the facts. And if the facts I quote here are true, then my opinion is that there’s something not quite right about many govts. actions where use of recreational drugs are concerned.

It’s a fact that most governments are scared to death of the people they govern. The same can be said of dictators etc. Could they actually be frightened to legalise these substances. I’m still no closer to understanding this at all, it defies logic, the arguments they put forward for their actions are invalid and downright lies.

A Message From The Light

Time to reconsider the stupidity of cretinous laws passed and enforced by cretins.

The Bottom Line.

I’m not for or against these things, whether legal or illegal they are always going to be available. These herbal medications and sedatives have been used for millennia and will continue to be used despite the unreasonable arguments put forward by successive governments.

The facts and figures I use here are taken from a variety of sources, I ‘m not saying they are true. They are just the results of an ordinary person reading what’s available to all on the Internet. If I see other interesting articles/facts regarding this subject I will update this post.

Why marijuana is illegal USA.