Lysos, Cyprus. 15th April 2015.
From some lost and found moments betwixt and between the beats of a bee's wings...
I visited Cyprus in April and photographed just a fraction of the splendid flora I witnessed while travelling across the island. I took an unusual image of a honeybee foraging on what I think is a variety of Oxalis. My identification of the plant could be incorrect however the correct plant identification may not be as relevant as the technicalities which account for the peculiar visual/photographic phenomenon of the wings caught in motion as they are. I took the picture using a Samsung smartphone camera. The settings of that device - model GT-S5830i - were, for the above image:
5 mega pixel / 1200x1600
focal length 3.55
f number 2.6
macro
I'm intrigued by the fluid ripples or pulses of the bee's wings in contrast to the clarity, solidity and suspended (near) stillness of the bee's body, its tongue extended in anticipation of the nectar. I don't know how odd or extraordinary the effect is nor how easily the effect might be explained by those with a better understanding of smartphone camera technology.
The plant was situated under a lemon tree by a low wall in a small courtyard. By mid morning that corner of the yard was lit up by an intense yellow chorus of flowers, opening up in the warmth of the sun, and many honeybees gravitated to the sweet reward of their nectar.
I referred to, 'The Floral Charm of Cyprus' (Valerie Sinclair) as a field guide to some of the flora I encountered while making the 10 day cycle trip across the island from Apostolos Andreas to the Garden of Aphrodite. The guide details 98 different types of plants and flowers as well as 30 different types of shrubs and trees. I don't think 10 days would have been enough had I stopped to record every plant, new to me, in flower, bud or gone to seed. Sinclair states that the 'Cape Sorrel or Bermuda Buttercup'* is one of the 'most abundant plants to grow in Cyprus' and 'is said to have originated on the Cape of Good Hope'. As a rhizomic plant it might be considered to be an invasive weed; a rhizome creeping across continents, oceans, seas and hemispheres to settle and occupy whereever it can. When did Oxalis arrive on the island of Cyprus?
I'm slightly disappointed that Valerie Sinclair did not include Turkish nomenclature in the guide book. There are English, Greek and Latin names for the plants but no Turkish names. The purpose of our trip, cycling from the eastern tip to the western tip of the island, was to challenge some of the divisions of the island. The tour was an opportunity for Cypriots and others to enjoy the island as a whole including the diversity of its landscape and cultures. Our group comprised Greek, Turkish and English speakers navigating a route for which bilingual maps, and other printed guides, seemed to be something of a rarity. During the trip I was hesitant if not unwilling to try to communicate in any other language but English despite (and perhaps because of) there being the friendship and hospitality to negotiate and transcend language barriers. It is a cliche to use flowers as an emblem of peace, love, reconciliation and remembrance however the flower is only one part of a plant. The complexity of a whole plant and it's interactions with others involve the myriad 'problems and paradoxes' (Richard Maybe, 'Weeds') of cultural concepts about place, belonging and coexistence.
So it is with that bitter sweet moment, paradoxically witnessed but not witnessed, I have chosen to blog about an allotment I garden as a way of exploring the boundaries of my understanding of a place.
* - Oxalis pes-caprae (Oxalidaceae) / Cape Sorrel or Bermuda Buttercup / Oxinudhi.
The Floral Charm of Cyprus, Valerie Sinclair. Interworld, 1991.
Weeds - The Story of Outlaw Plants, Richard Maybe. Profile, 2010.
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