"Nicodemus said unto him, 'How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?'" John 3:4
We nod our heads in assent with poor baffled Nicodemus. It's sufficiently miraculous that one can travel down the birth canal and emerge, fists clenched and feet kicking, into this terrible, beautiful world. It's impossible to imagine that one can reverse the process. However, had Nicodemus ever observed a bottle gentian, he might have remained stuck in his literal frame of mind.
The first time that we encounter Gentiana clausa, cerulean blue as a sun-drenched October sky, we anticipate its unfolding. We wait... and wait... and wait, at last wondering if it fell victim to some strange blight of bud. No shy stretching of petal, no splendid unfolding to reveal heaps of golden pollen.
"A bud and yet a blossom!" marveled naturalist John Burroughs. Indeed, the common name of bottle gentian, or blind gentian, seems an apt description of its perpetually closed state. Who could pollinate such a flower? What minute insect could creep through that eye of a needle to reach nectar?
Here are two movie clips, one high resolution for broadband connections (Quicktime format - 2.4 MB) and one low for dial up (Quicktime format - 470 kb). Watch and see.
Questions, comments, or other feedback to Judy Sullivan.