Re-Visiting Camu-camu

Graduate student Meredith Martin (Yale Forestry) re-sampled the camu-camu (see Camu-camu) inventory plots that I originally established in 1984 along the banks of an ox-bow lake (shown above) in Peruvian Amazonia. Although the population had been exploited commercially for the past 27 years, Meredith found that the species continues to regenerate on the site, albeit at a lower rate, and that camu-camu is still an important wild-harvested resource along the lower Ucayali River. Extreme hydrological events since the late 1980's and the natural successional closure of the ox-bow lak have had a greater impact on the dynamics of this plant population than annual harvetsing. From the standpoint of sustainable forest use, this is an extremely important finding. [NOTE: A copy of the paper detailing this work (Economic Botany 68) can be found here].  

Maestrapeace

The San Francisco Women's Building at the corner of Lapidge and 18th Street in the Mission District is covered with an unbelievable mural called "Maestrapeace" (great title).  Painted in 1994 by Juana Alicia, Miranda Bergman, Edythe Boone, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Meera Desai, Yvonne Littleton, Irene Perez, and many helpers, the mural is a visual testament to the courageous contributions of women around the world. Beautiful (thx, Dan and Astrid).

Maitreya

Exquisite rendering of the Bodhisattva Maitreya, the future Buddha of this world, at the Berkeley Museum of Art. It is said that Maitreya will be the fifth Buddha of the present kalpa, and that his arrival will occur after the teachings of the Buddha are no longer practiced. His arrival signifies the end of the middle time, i.e. the time between the fourth Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, and the fifth Buddha, Maitreya, which is viewed as a low point of human existence. [NOTE: Mongolian, 19th century. Gilt bronze, semi-precious stones].

Puya raimondii

Saw a lof of fantastic plants on my recent visit to the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden. My favorite was undoubtedly the flowering Puya raimondii, the largest bromeliad species in the world. The flower stalk is over 10 m tall, it has over ten thousand flowers, and it is estimated to set from 8 to 12 million seeds. Quite a reproductive effort. [NOTE: I was pleased to learn that the seeds from which this individual was produced were collected in 1999 near La Paz, Bolivia by Dr. Jim Luteyn (retired) of the NYBG].    

Sugar Pine

Majestic sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana Douglas) in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Sugar pine is the tallest and most massive species in the genus Pinus, and its cones (inset image) are the longest of any conifer. These are marvelous trees. [NOTE: Image from a beautiful piece of forest in El Dorado County (thx, Wade)].

Lema Sabachthani

One of 14 panels from Barnett Newman's series The Stations of the Cross: Lema Sabachthani at the De Young. The series addresses Jesus' cry from the cross "Why did you forsake me?" (In Aramaic, Lema sabachthani?). [NOTE: Rather than a religious narrative, Newman explains that the austere, abstract paintings represent "a complete statement of a single subject"].

Anti-Mass

Striking work by English sculptor Cornelia Parker at the De Young museum in San Francisco. The piece is constructed from the remains of a Southern Black Baptist church in Alabama that was destroyed by arsonists. [NOTE: According to the signage, "the title Anti-mass refers both to the elemental substance and the Catholic sacramental ritual, uniting science and religion in a metaphoric insistence on the triumph of creativity over violence. Just so you know].

Hagiwara Tea Garden

The Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park was originally built for the 1894 World's Fair. It is the oldest public Japanese Garden in the U.S. and a fantastic place to spend a few hours. The large bronze Budda statue (shown below) was cast in Tajima, Japan in 1790.

 

Alcatraz

Sipping a morning tea and watching the fog slowly burn off the San Francisco Bay. The island in the center of my field of view is Alcatraz. Now a recreational area and a National Historic Landmark, the island housed a maximum-security Federal Prison until 1963. What a view (thx, Guillermo).

Takin

The "takin", or gnu-goat (Budorcas taxicolor Hodgson), a sheep relative from the Eastern Himalayas, is one of the most Dr. Suess-like animals I've ever seen. I met this guy at the National Kandawgyi Botanical Garden in Pyin Oo Lwin (see Kandawgyi). Seems pretty docile, but I was told that this one killed his father in a rutting fight over a mate. Yikes. [NOTE: The takin is the national animal of Bhutan].