Cycads on display

Date
1988
Object-type: Display Case
Subject: Palm Trees

It is well known that Bob Tagge was employed for some time at the Amsterdam Hortus Botanicus. A large showcase in the Palm House still reminds us of his groundbreaking work on the cycads, for which he was granted the medal of honour of the Boerhaave Museum in 1988, given to him by then director Maria Roosenboom.

Cycads are an ancient group of plants. The first arose about 240 million years ago, before the heydays of the dinosaurs. For a long time Cycads determined the image of the earth. Around 65 million years ago, in the Cretaceous period, the number of species declined. Today there are about 280 species, the rest is extinct. Cycads grow in tropical and subtropical regions, especially in Central America, Southern Africa, Southeast Asia and Australia. The natural populations usually occur at unfavorable sites, making them particularly sensitive to disturbance. The slow growth and low reproductive make cycads vulnerable. Many species are therefore rare.

Precisely that wonderful preference the Cycadee shows to shoot only root on unfavorable habitats, kept fascinating Bob Tagge whole his life. Were 240 million years ago, all locations unfavorable as well? Or did they adopt other strategies. Is the Cycadee since then been supplanted by plant species that have managed to maintain at convenient places? Is there a link between "benevolence" and the inflorescence and leaf shape of a specific location?

It took a long time to finish.
All summer long, in defiance of the heat, we tidied up the classification tables
took new cuttings and guided them towards the cool morning
where we fell into each other’s arms, exhausted but satisfied.

Freed from the tables briefly, not quite knowing how to interpret the limbs
we’d used to support the desks and display cases.

I went to see if it showed:
the sun’s position, swallows under the gutter.

Difficult to say.
All those empty barns. Land everywhere

this landscape started to be
and lots in it
that was beyond repair.

Had not only come here
but also overtaken
I was

an acre carried to this head
to have been for this acre.
This led to sand and stones
and I lay there
until the rain came.

Nobody who can remember
what may still be gathered
and dried with care.

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, , 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, , 73, 79, 83, 89, 97, 101, 103, 107, 109, 113, 127, 131, 137, 139, 149, 151, 157, 163, 167, 173, 179, 181, 191, 193, 197, 199, 211, 223, 227, 229, 233, 239, 241, 251, 257, 263, 269, 271, 277, 281, 283, 293, 307, 311, 313, 317, 331, 337, 347, 349, 353, 359, 367, 373, 379, 383, 389, 397, 401, 409, 419, 421, 431, 433, 439, 443, 449, 457, 461, 463, 467, 479, 487, 491, 499, 503, 509, 521, 523, 541, 547, 557, 563, 569, 571, 577, 587, 593, 599, 601, 607, 613, 617, 619, 631, 641, 643, 647, 653, 659, 661, 673, 677, 683, 69

 

The rules are given
in order to make them prevail.

Which rules? he asks her
and his movement beats out the hours, like a bird.

Someone else, on the other side of that movement
ducks
and holds an arm over the head.

Suppose this is a bird
says the one who is staring at a spot
that  is slowly becoming red.

Om te beginnen is er geen feilloze methode
het is zover het oog reikt
en het daarin geziene.

Planten kunnen als voorbeeld dienen.
Wie van de planten wil leren krijgt kansen genoeg.

Maar vanwege de rapportage wil het toezicht dat we moeite doen
voor de methode. Het is een mager begin de bewering dat niets stilstaat
dat niets blijft, dat de meest succesvolle levende organismen gewend zijn om te groeien.

Groei is een beweging
Groei zoekt niks in de palmen en alles in de groei.
Groei is vitaal, is feitelijk.

Forms, Figures, Tables, Ideas.
All that happened once.

Difficult to think, given the absent wind in the picture.
When the lull inches across the afternoon and your lips don’t move any air about either.

The thought scares me, I try to comfort myself with what I know, but can’t find a single fact that brings relief. The photos still don’t convey anything of what continues to grow inside the lab technician.

Zoals de planters zich tot de houthakkers verhouden.
De palmen hebben zwaar op onze schouders gedrukt. Als idee van hout, maar meer als idee op zich. Steeds als in onze gesprekken een stilte viel waren het de palmen die onze gedachten innamen.

We hebben de liefde van planters en houthakkers hoog zitten. Daar gaan we in de tabellen niet graag aan voorbij. We weten dat we in kaart brengen waar anderen hun argumenten aan ontlenen.
Zoals de kaart zich tot de argumenten verhoudt.

Where to go
the day we see
there is nowhere to go?
all that remains
and the rain making sound
all that
all that
that all one’s thoughts
have been thought by others
one another
confusion and balance
other times not

Water is the mouth
I am your confusion
I that must always be
the only possible point of departure
the darkness that
sleeps, the blood in the body that sleeps
tomorrow it will be almost sleep
always take up sleep, also