Dreaming of spring

Dreaming of spring
Fecha de publicación: 
23 March 2023
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There are many natural benefits in the tropics, but we cannot witness each season as it is. Therefore, I invite you to dream of the spring we have, which is luckily boasting tons of flowers. To do so, I will share with you some curiosities.

Apparently, the first flowerings appeared about 140 million years ago, so the angiosperm flower became the great, great grandmother of all flowering species. It is "a hermaphrodite and radially symmetrical flower," according to a study carried out in France.

On Planet Earth, there are today hundreds of species of flowers. In fact, they are the most abundant group of plants, imagine that we are talking about some 260 thousand different types of flowers, of which around 35 thousand are species of roses. And it is not coincidence that roses are the ones that are given the most worldwide.

Champion flowers

Corpse flowers are recognized worldwide as the largest in the world. It is native to Southeast Asia and may reach around ninety centimeters in diameter and weigh up to eleven kilograms. Its huge petals are 1.9 centimeters thick. It has no leaves, stem, or roots, but grow as a vine in tropical rainforests instead. It is not advisable to get too close, because it literally smells like rotten meat.

The smallest flower in the world is the "Australian duckweed." It is considered an aquatic plant, weighs approximately 0.15 grams and has a deep green or yellowish green color. And it takes it easy to bloosom. It takes between 80 and 150 years to produce its first and only flower, which also makes it the slowest existing flowering plant.

Blessed flowers

Flowers are also present in every altar. In Yoruba culture and religion, each orisha has their own, generally related to the colors that identify each of them. For example: white lilies for Obatalá, the warrior; of course, the "Shangó sword" and sunflowers for Oshun.

The sunflower is the summer flower par excellence and in addition to honoring the Patron Saint of Cuba, containing important nutrients in its seeds, you will be surprised to learn that it has the ability to absorb radioactivity. It is said that after the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant, the Buddhist monk Koyu Abe planted sunflowers, which helped to retain radiation.

Throughout history, the tulip has been the most valuable flower of all. In fact, in seventeenth-century Holland, tulip bulbs were considered luxury items, even more valuable than gold. However, during WWII, tulips were used as food due to scarcity and famine and it made them really valuable.

Flowers and Cuban women

Among the most beautiful and rare in the world, we find this flower that grows in Cuba and Florida and is known as "ghost orchid." It does not have leaves and its flowers are usually green. They produce a soap-like odor during their flowering stage, between the months of April and August.

In Cuba, in fact, we find different varieties of orchids, beautiful of all them, so we go to Soroa, where many of them are cultivated and exhibited, and then to the mountains of the eastern region of Cuba, where the white butterfly grows, representing fighting spirit and rebelliousness of Cuban women who risked their lives for the freedom of Cuba.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff

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