THE OBSERVATION BOOTH
OP-ED BY ANDREA DIALECT
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The dandelion pappus acts like a parachute, helping seeds and fruit disperse via the wind and they sure can fly – sometimes traveling upwards of 100 km before touching down; as so our hopes & wishes…
When running that quick errand that early Friday morn I spotted it alongside a gate on my right just before making the turn. As I waited anxiously for my passenger at the time to retrieve it, I stared in amazement at its size. I hadn’t ever seen a dandelion with tufts of that size in real-time.
I was also quite surprised that it had survived the influx of foot traffic as basking in its own glory in plain sight. Truthfully most aren’t fascinated by weeds like I am I suppose. Dandelions have always been one of my most favored plant species. Mainly, because of their ability to grow almost anywhere mainly in unexpected places, how vastly they multiply, and the intriguing promptings those seeds extend auditioning to be utilized as shepherds for carrying my wishes. What plant can compete with that?
Contributors: Community Access
Photos Credit: Andrea Dialect
My first thought was to selfishly tote it home and force a photo shoot in which I’d couple it with everything imaginable until I or it could stand no more. But once again I was subjected to those inner promptings. I was to share it with others by asking them to also share by granting their potential wish to the world. The question was “If you could have one wished granted for our world what would it be?” Their answers were both heart-wrenching and beautiful at the same time because everyone wished for the same thing in a roundabout way, “World peace!”
Be on the lookout for the video of these awesome contributors posted here via my msdialect Instagram page or my Andrea Dialect Facebook page. I didn’t want to include their wishes here because I want it to be about yours. Ask yourself the same question. Although honestly, we also must step out on faith by being that change, if change is also what you’re in hopes of.
When concluding my research on that day. I was amazed that my dandelion had survived the ride home and the hand-to-hand exchange. But once again I couldn’t have it. It was to be shared with the world. The moment I started positioning myself to leave for home while in awe gazing at it I watched one of the seeds just float away. Attempting to protect it by cupping it in hand at the time had come to mind, but I never got the chance.
With everything that I am and with everything that I have I promise that I hadn’t made any abrupt movements or slights. No winds were blowing at the time when every single last one of those seeds was disbursed. At that moment I am certain that I had witnessed nothing short of a miracle. There was not a few here or a few to go there; it was all at once.
What I saw was an explosion of hopes and wishes being carried off by something much greater than chance. There was nothing left for me to carry home but a stem. Which I laid on a grass heap so that it may return to where it came. There is a God I tell ya.
We are spiritual beings having spiritual experiences. But knowingly you only get to have a real experience or get to enjoy one; If ya can see what you see. For me, that experience signifies once again that when hope has flown the coop, yet faith lingers still in the winds!
DID YA KNOW THAT…
Dandelion fruit is a dry seed, olive green, dull brown or grayish, with a tuft of white to grayish brown hairs to carry it off in the wind!
Scientific name: Taraxacum erythrospermum, known by the common name red-seeded dandelion, is a species of dandelion introduced to much of North America, but most commonly in the north. It is often considered as a variety of Taraxacum laevigatum. In many characteristics, it is similar to the common dandelion, Taraxacum officinale. – Wikipedia
The white tufts that are exposed once a dandelion matures are called pappi. They’re attached to a white membrane called cypsela, the fruit, anchored by a seed. Each plant produces an average of 15,000 of them (seeds)
The pappus acts like a parachute, helping seeds and fruit disperses via the wind and they sure can fly – sometimes travelling upwards of 100 km before touching down! – Cheryl Santa Marie
MEDICINAL PURPOSES
13 Emerging Health Benefits of Dandelion
- Highly nutritious. …
- Contains potent antioxidants. …
- May help fight inflammation. …
- May aid in blood sugar management. …
- May reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels. …
- May lower blood pressure. …
- May promote liver health. …
- May aid weight loss.
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