Continuing with my gender studies (final exam in two weeks and I haven't even begun to touch upon eunuchs), I submit to you, dear reader, that there are female papaya trees, male papaya trees, and then hermaphrodite trees (a bit of both). It's the kind of cosmic irony that has the plant kingdom mirror the fiefdom of humans--or is it the other way around? I get so confused.
haha -
ReplyDeletebut there are no judges there, in the plant kingdom, to decide which papaya trees are good and which are bad, such freedom! though this is an illusion too, the natural laws they obey are quite unforgiving and strict, and there can be no revolt among papaya trees, can it?
But there are referees in the plant kingdom; they are called environmental hiccups: viruses, fire, a swarm of locust here, a hurricane there. It's all so punitive. It reminds me of religion somehow.
ReplyDeleteMy friend only grows hermaphrodite trees now. First the male flowers bloom then only the female ones she told me. Now she regretted chopping those trees that bear male flowers in her early days of growing papayas. She thought if she waited there might be female flowers...
ReplyDeleteBtw, happy new year to you, Prospero! Take care and best wishes.
I have many male trees. (I'm filing a complaint. So much unfairness in this field).
ReplyDeleteBest wishes for the new year, Steph. Let's hope 2021 is better than 2020--gotta be.