Neil Hill ponders plants, water, toxicity, and the digestive quirks of birds.
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Almost every plant in this ecology has withdrawn to underground roots or has passed its life force into the seed. The long dry is simply too much to bear, so they quietly await the coming of the rains.
There are exceptions though and this Daphne is one of them.
It’s bright green stems and delicate scented flowers can be seen everywhere on the parched hillsides, standing out as they do from the desiccated straw coloured background.
The leaves, however, remain untouched by all, this is no salading for the grazers hereabouts, for the Daphne is one of the most poisonous plants to be found on the mountain.
Its ungrazed verdant state is testimony to its toxicity and a warning to all who can read the land.
However, yet again there is an exception, the berries of this plant, fatal to us in just six hours, are an irresistible delicacy to the partridge and the quail.
What digestive quirks of these birds allow for the ingestion of such a lethal repast is unknown to me.
This then is yet another example of each having their own place within the greater wheel of life.
Photo: Daphne gnidium on the mountain. Courtesy of the author.