The other day the bees were going crazy for the pumpkin flowers. Each flower had two or three bees tumbling around in its depths, covering themselves with yellow pollen, and staggering as if they were drunk.
It was an amazing sight. Every single flower was filled with powdered bees. It was hard to photograph, but, I think you’ll agree, persistence paid off.
Strangely, (well, I never really understand how the universe does this), I had just read an interview in “Le Monde” with the Italian philosopher, Emanuele Coccia. He has a new book out, “Métamorphoses”, where he lays out his insights about the unity of Life, and the prime importance of plants. I read his earlier work, “La vie des plantes” some time ago and was hugely inspired by it – he gave me a whole new perspective on the world, teaching me to consider life from the perspective of the plant kingdom. In his interview he said a few things which came flooding back into my mind as I photographed these bees.
I’ll paraphrase what he said because the original is in French…..
Flowers contain the sexual organs of the plants but in order to reproduce they need the intervention of third parties – primarily insects or the atmosphere. So, what we learn from this observation is that flowers involve agents from other kingdoms in their individual sexual acts. This means that plants place their genetic and biological destiny into the hands of other species.
That’s quite a thought by itself, but he then goes on to ask “How do the insects choose which flower to pollinate?” The answer is, not by rational thought and logic, but by TASTE and AESTHETICS. So the evolution of plants is based on the tastes of other species.
Isn’t that a stunning idea? Or, rather, observation?
He has much more to say, but this is the part which I thought was most relevant to my experience of witnessing the crazy desire of the bees and the massive spread of pollen which was the result.
Life based on desire and taste……well, what do you know?
Heroes Not Zombies 
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