Imagine a very short, creeping, broadleaf, shrublet having
such highly perfumed flowers that, with the wind in one’s favor,
can be detected and enjoyed from 25 feet away. This was the
marvelous sensation that overwhelmed me in the boreal forest to
photograph the twinflowers a few days ago.
Just as expected, I found them in full bloom on primarily
moss-covered ground along with a few species of clubmosses,
Canada Mayflowers and Canada dogwood. These roughly
three-inch-tall evergreen plants, growing up from trailing woody
stems, have slender flowering stalks each supporting two pink
nodding bell-shaped flowers having an exquisite fragrant perfume.
Years ago it was often called deer vine due to its habit of
trailing along the ground. The petite blossoms have been
described as dangling like little lanterns on Y-shaped lamp
posts. What makes this greatly admired wildflower so special is
that it is worldwide in its distribution, found in the northern
boreal forests of Russia, Finland and Scandinavia as well as the
extreme northern reaches of the Midwest and into Canada.
Nodding flowers protect the precious contents from rain, and
the fine hairs inside each bell-shaped blossom exclude tiny
pilferers. Small bees that will pollinate the plants are
attracted by the fragrance and color, and are guided to the
nectaries by fine dark lines and a patch of orange color near it.
It wasn’t until I took some extreme close-up pictures of a plant
that I became aware that the thin stalk contains extremely fine
hairs that are tipped with a sticky glob of glue-like material.
These probably also deter other unwelcome pilfering insects from
overextending their "invitation" to indulge in the
nectar of the sweet-smelling flowers.
Carl von Linne was born in Sweden in 1707 just when spring was
at its loveliest and the cuckoo was proclaiming the vernal
season. He eventually came to be hailed as the father of
taxonomy, the prince of botanists, and the Pliny of the North.
The system of naming, ranking and classifying organisms, or
systematic biological classification, that he devised is still in
use today, obviously with plenty of changes. What’s so great
about this scientific practice is that scientists worldwide,
regardless of their language, can communicate accurately about
specific species simply by using their universal Latin name.
Each wildflower, tree, bird, fish, etc. is given a
genus-species name that doesn’t change from country to country.
A number of years ago when I took a group of Russian botanists
through the Ridges Sanctuary we communicated quite well, even
though they could speak very little English and I could speak no
Russian. I was pleasantly surprised over how many of our
northern plants they too had growing at home, and both the
Russians and I knew their scientific names.
Carl Linne, being the great teacher he was and so deeply into
Latin naming, invented the name Linnaeus (pronounced lin-NEE-us)
in allusion to a large and ancient tree of the small-leaved
linden. To the people in the Swedish province of Smaland, his
home, this tree was known as the "linn." These trees
also grew on the Linne property known in the 17th
century as Linnegard.
It was one of his mentors from Netherlands, Dr. Jan Frederik
Gronovius who, very likely with subtle but strong suggestions
from Linnaeus, selected this typical woodland blossom to transmit
the great master’s name to posterity. To Linnaeus the twinflower
possessed some of his own qualities, "lowly, insignificant,
flowering for a brief space." This precious fragrant little
wildflower would serve as the monument of the man of flowers. It
also was a family favorite, was used on their China and as a
part of their family crest.
One of Linnaeus’s most important contributions to the science
of botany was the recognition that plants reproduce sexually.
It’s easy to imagine that this notion was very unpopular when he
first introduced it. One of his former teachers and fellow
botanists, Johann Siegesbeck, snorted in disgust, upon hearing of
Linnaeus’s new system, "Who would have thought that
bluebells, lilies and onions could be up to such
immorality?"
Linnaeus was not one to casually brush aside such a caustic
remark. He retaliated by naming a very common ugly little weed,
"Siegesbeckia orientalis." To present-day botanists
who largely concern themselves with matters of taxonomy, the
great Linnaeus is just plain "L.", the letter in
scientific manuals that immediately follows the scientific
species name and indicates the naming of an outstandingly large
number of important organisms.
Tour Sweden and you will find that Linnaeus is greatly honored
to this day. His picture appears on the 100 kronor bill, a large
statue of him occupies an important place in a Stockholm park,
and a chiseled silhouette of him at his graveside is labeled in
Latin, Princeps botanicorum, "The Prince of
Botanists."
Every time I kneel down to admire the delicate twinflower and
inhale its refreshing perfume I think of that giant of a man,
Linnaeus, who contributed so much to science.
The small fragrant twinflowers
stand as a symbol to the great Swedish botanist, Carl Linnaeus.
This column appeared in the Door County Advocate
on 07/10/2004.
© Copyright 2004 Roy Lukes. All rights reserved.
