Comparison:
Fungi + Galls + Lichen + Plants
Frei nach: L. R. Twentyman,
M.B., F.F. HOM.
Fungi strange and paradoxical: plants without Chlp.live
as saprophytes or parasites/without leaves (most essential and characteristic
organs of the plant)/a metabolism which is catabolic,
in some respects more like an animal's than anabolic like a plant's.
They are composed of mycelial networks which are
made of fine hyphae, thread like columns of simple
cells which in the yeasts even fall apart into these separate cells.
These mycelial threads may become matted
together (mold on jam)/is not really a tissue, as the
mycelial threads grow only lengthwise in one
dimension.
From these mycelial networks arise, in some
forms, the fruiting bodies, amongst which the toadstools and mushrooms are
familiar to everyone.
They don’t produce the two-dimensional organs = the leaf/don’t produce
the green Chlp. of the typical plant.
They do produce some brightly colored
pigments, familiar to us in the variegated toadstools. There is something
rather garish, even ghoulish about many of these and mostly they emit stench
rather than the perfumes of true flowers. They are visited mostly by
flies and beetles and slugs rather than the bees and butterflies attendant on
the blossoms of higher plants. What are fungi?
What element of the fully developed plant do they represent or manifest
in such a one-sided specialized mode?
Fungi play a big part in our social economic life. Under their influence
organic matter is decomposed into the inorganic (destroy wooden parts of
buildings = dry rot). In the forests and
woodlands they bring about the decay and rotting of fallen trees and
vegetation to prepare new soil. Their existence around and even within the
roots of many trees and plants is necessary
for the growth of these plants. Invasion of the tissues of plants by
fungi on the other hand is one of the major causes of diseases in plants and
calls for constant surveillance and use of fungicides
in horticulture and farming. They can cause disease in animals and
humans. (Claviceps purpurea = Sec). On the other hand yeasts play a
valuable part in the production of bread and beer.
During and since the last war fungi have been a main source of the new
drugs, the antibiotics, which have transformed much of medical and veterinary
practice. Hundreds of thousands of
different fungi have been screened as possible sources of new
antibiotics and the array of rival antibiotic drugs now available for the
physicians and surgeons has become bewildering.
They are clearly important in the economy of nature and in the economics
of man.
In normal flowering plants we do find processes which are essentially
parasitic on the rest of the plant. The flowering and fruiting processes are
dependent on the anabolic processes in the rest of the plant.
In the blossom Chlp. disappears and although
the petal retains the planar two-dimensional form of the leaf, this almost
gives way to linear form in the stamens.
The fungus has no stem, its fruiting body arises straight out of the
earth or earth equivalent. It can grow in the dark.
Something similar is observed in those fungus infections known as rust. (invades the under surface of the
leaves of plants (grasses)/produce spores reminiscent of those produced
normally on the under surface of the leaves of ferns. Through their action the
higher plant reverts to a more primitive fern-like condition and a premature
"spore" formation replaces the normal "fruiting" process.
We get yet a clearer indication of the nature of the fungus when we see
it replacing the stamens and anthers of some plants. Then it sheds its spores
instead of the plant shedding its pollen.
The plant itself remains unaffected. We can see the fungi as a
fructifying process which has been pushed downstairs into the darkness of the
earth. Or, as in these infestations, we have
to understand that the telluric, earthly forces have themselves risen up
in the plant, affording a second dynamic earth level for the fungus to grow in.
Plant galls: abnormal growths on trees/plants produced by fungal
infestation or by the larvae of mites/gnats/wasps/nematodes (= Fadenwürmer).
There is similarity in the influence upon the host plant of the fungus
and larvae.
The gall itself often resembles a fruit/nut. The parasite instigates the
host to a fruiting or pseudo-fruiting process, displaced from its normal
position in time and space. This may result in damage
to the further development of the host. But the host may isolate the
abnormal process and appear otherwise unaffected. (imitatations
of fruits/developing on leaves as a pseudo-carpel, a pod).
A fungus or larva therefore in touching the plant initiates a fruiting
process. The fungus in this gesture, again betrays its "animal"
aspect. When a plant blossoms and fruits it is, as if it were, touched by the
animal world of insects hovering over it; it attains to the status of animal in
its fertilization and fruiting. The particular forms of the gall are specific
to the particular larva or fungus involved, typical for that parasite rather
than for the host. They may show the same characters when the same parasite
invades a different host. The form of the gall comes more from the parasite
than from the host.
Fungus has no stem (fruiting body arises straight out of the earth or
earth equivalent).
It can grow in the dark.
Fungus the fruiting process has been transposed downwards to the earth
and makes no relationship to the light.
In the fungi, the influence of light is missing so that the fungi
develop one-sidedly as earth beings. They show no influence from the realm of
light, the wide spaces of the universe. Their linear growth
by cell budding at the mycelial tips is
entirely an example of Euclidean geometry, knowing nothing of the planar forces
and forms of negative Euclidean space. The cell principle, atomic principle,
dominates and there is a constant tendency to disintegration into
spores. Their influence is towards disintegration into dead mineral substances.
Chains of fungi work together to accomplish chains
of chemical breakdown. Those forms and forces which lift up the dead
mineral substances into the realm of life in normal plants are foreign to them.
They themselves turn to dust in spore formation
and turn everything to dust. They are the expression of earthly and
sub-earthly forces and show us that the life and living forms of the true plant
world must be looked for elsewhere than in the earth.
It was indeed a clear message, indicating the true nature of the forces
involved, when the atomic explosions gave rise to the mushroom clouds.
Disintegration, mineralization, destruction of life forms,
production of dust, these are key notes of the "life" of
fungi.
Comparing the parasitism of the fungus with the parasitic flowering
fruiting process in the higher plants we must add that here this process has been
transposed downwards to the earth and makes no
relationship to the light. The normal plant develops between the dark
and damp earth and the light and airy realm. We can watch this polarity of
influences in the plant. The plant unfolds its true
form and nature within the play of this polarity. In the fungi, the
influence of light is missing so that the fungi develop one-sidedly as earth
beings. They show no influence from the realm of light,
the wide spaces of the universe. Their linear growth by cell budding at
the mycelial tips is entirely an example of Euclidean
geometry, knowing nothing of the planar forces and forms of negative
Euclidean space. The cell principle, atomic principle, dominates and
there is a constant tendency to disintegration into spores. Their influence is
towards disintegration to dead mineral substances.
Chains of fungi work together to accomplish chains of chemical
breakdown. Those forms and forces which lift up the dead mineral substances
into the realm of life in normal plants are foreign to them.
They themselves turn to dust in spore formation and turn everything to
dust. They are the expression of earthly and sub-earthly forces and show us
that the life and living forms of the true plant world
must be looked for elsewhere than in the earth. It was indeed a clear
message, indicating the true nature of the forces involved, when the atomic
explosions gave rise to the mushroom clouds.
Disintegration, mineralization, destruction of life forms, production of
dust, these are key notes of the "life" of fungi.
We may however get another view of the world of the fungi from the
phenomena of plant galls. These abnormal growths on trees and plants are
produced by fungal infestation or by the larvae of
mites, gnats, wasps or sometimes by nematodes. We are struck on the one
hand by the similarity in the influence upon the host plant of the fungus and
larvae. On the other hand, we are faced with
the gall itself which often resembles a fruit or nut from some other
tree. The parasite, whether fungus or larva, instigates the host to a fruiting
or pseudo-fruiting process, displaced from its normal
position in time and space. This may result in damage to the further
development of the host. But the host may isolate the abnormal process and appear
otherwise unaffected. Some of these galls
really imitate fruits, such as plums or cherries, to a remarkable degree
and some, developing on leaves, bring about a transformation of the leaf into a
pseudo-carpel, a pod. A fungus or larva
therefore in touching the plant initiates a fruiting process. The fungus
in this gesture, again betrays its "animal" aspect. When a plant
blossoms and fruits it is, as it were, touched by the animal
world of insects hovering over it; it attains to the status of animal in
its fertilization and fruiting, as Oken long ago
pointed out. The particular forms of the gall are very specific to the
particular
larva or fungus involved, typical for that parasite rather than for the
host. They may show the same characters when the same parasite invades a
different host. The form of the gall comes more
from the parasite than from the host.
Something similar is observed in those fungus infections known as rusts.
In these the fungus invades the under-surface of the leaves of grasses and
other plants. They produce spores reminiscent
of those produced normally on the under surface of the leaves of ferns.
Through their action the higher plant reverts to a more primitive fern-like
condition and a premature "spore" formation
replaces the normal "fruiting" process.
We get yet a clearer indication of the nature of the fungus when we see
it replacing the stamens and anthers of some plants. Then it sheds its spores
instead of the plant shedding its pollen.
The plant itself remains unaffected. We can see the fungi as a
fructifying process which has been pushed downstairs into the darkness of the
earth. Or, as in these infestations, we have to
understand that the telluric, earthly forces have themselves risen up in
the plant, affording a second dynamic earth level for the fungus to grow in.
If we now turn our attention to the realm of the lichens, we discover a
fungus living in happy symbiosis with an alga. These two one-sided primitive
plants come together to establish a new
rank of plants, the lichens. But they are really a symbiosis. The alga
which contains Chlp. contributes photosynthesis while
the hyphae of the fungus form a protective covering
and make
minerals accessible to the partnership. These primitive plants, the
lichens, can survive and flourish under conditions impossible for other types
of living creatures, but on the other hand they are
peculiarly sensitive to atmospheric pollution, they are found under
Arctic conditions of extreme rigor. Commonly we know them on rocks and the bark
of trees, contributing their multi-colored
covering.
We have been struck so far by the predominently
catabolic metabolism of fungi. Their activity is largely a breaking down of
organic substance to inorganic matter. Enormously complicated
processes come about through the cooperation of different fungi
together with bacteria. They tend together towards disintegration, they are in
the main death processes.
Does this not lead us to question the relation between this realm of
fungi and the system which in the human organization carries preeminently the forces of death - the brain and nervous
system?
The nerve fibers run as threads throughout the
organism. The brain and nerves live fundamentally as parasites upon the
organism. Only in the embryo do the nerve cells multiply; probably after
birth or early childhood they lose the possibility of reproduction. The
fungi of course retain this capacity and the hyphae
are composed of long chains of cells, unlike the nerve fibre arising from
a single cell. In the embryonic stage of life, and even to a great
extent in babyhood, we are almost all head with a small appendage of trunk and
limbs. Gradually we grow down from this head,
as a plant grows up from the root. It has often been noted that plant
and man stand in inverted relationship to each other. A man would have to be
turned upside down and planted with his
head in the earth, trunk, limbs and genitals pointing upwards, for the
correspondences between man and plant to become clear.
So if there is a possible relationship to be discovered between brain
and nerves and the realm of fungi, it would point again to the earth as the
home of these strange forms of life. In the embryo and
baby, the head is still concerned with growth, and consciousness is
obviously not yet imprisoned within the witches cottage of our head. But as the
death processes gradually take over in our brains,
we wake up in our heads. Historically, it was only in Greek times that
thinking began to be experienced as related to the brain.
Can we get any further by looking at the drug pictures and medical experiences
in relation to fungi? The very nature of fungus activity leading to
fragmentation and disintegration, even to atomization,
is echoed in the intellectual activity based on the brain. This too in
its one-sided analytical and abstracting activity leads to information of ever
increasing complexity and chaos, the information explosion.
So it is understandable that synthetic grasp of the phenomena is
particularly difficult in this study of fungi.
In the homoeopathic Materia Medica we find the following representatives of the fungi
(names used in the Materia Medica):
Agar.
Bov.
Sec.
Ust.
To these should perhaps be added Thlas. (The
Shepherds Purse) a plant belonging to the Cruciferae
(Coch./Ib./Raph./Sin-n.)/= almost always heavily
invaded by a fungus and
O. Leeser suggested that its drug picture,
divergent from the other members of the family was in fact due to the fungus
parasite, not to the host plant.
The lichens, a symbiosis of an alga and fungus, in the Materia Medica are:
Cetr. (Iceland Moss)
Clad. (Reindeer
Moss)
Stict.
Usn.
We must also consider, in broadest outline, the antibiotics. But the
huge range of diseases arising from fungus invasion is outside the scope of
this essay. Poisonings and provings have
been due either to eating the mushrooms or fruiting bodies or in the
case of provings, taking tinctures of these.
In the case of fungus diseases, mycelial
invasion of tissues takes place. The first are usually called mycotoxicoses, the second mycoses. There are also allergic
reactions, such as "farmers lung."
Agar: Chilblains with discoloration, burning and
irritation. < cold; > heat; distinguishing them from the Pulsatilla chilblains and from the burnings of ergot
poisonings which are worse for heat.
Pains „As from ice cold needles“ also relieved by warmth and headaches
with these icy needles, „As if a nail were driven into the temple“. VERtigo, < walking in open air/in sunshine.
These patients are cold and very sensitive to cold; Exhausted by mental
work and by coitus. They tend to be owls rather than larks. Acute: severe diarrhea and vomiting.
Main actions in the changes of consciousness and the nervous
irritability showing itself in hypersensitivity along the spine, together with
tics/spasms/choreiform movements.
Chilblains and bunions with > by warmth and < by cold/mental
work/coitus.
The questions arise as to how far the changes in consciousness are
brought about by changes in the nervous system itself. And how far the nervous
symptoms such as spinal sensitivity are hysterical.
The brain and nervous system normally function in adult life in an inhibitory
manner. The expression "to keep a cool head" is highly indicative.
Bergson, at the beginning of this century, showed
that our senses screen from us, as it were, the multitudinous incoming
impressions so that we become conscious only of a tiny selection, those needed
for our action. It would seem then that the
fungus represents the brain and nervous system at an earlier, more embryonic
stage of development before it has been overwhelmed by the death or dying
processes characteristic of the adult stages.
Sense impressions in our drug picture are therefore described as more
vivid, more full of life, beauty and springtime. When we look back even as far
as the Greek civilization we are enchanted by the
freshness of their thoughts which are still full of life and perception.
They have not yet been killed off into the abstractions of modern thought life.
We may further question whether the movements of uncoordinated character
also reflect in some degree the uncoordinated movements of the baby before it
has learnt to still the unnecessary,
useless? movements and permit only the useful ones to occur.
Parkinsonism, General Paralysis, M.S. Epilepsy, Chorea.
Agar: Vomiting and severe vertigo relieved by
copious cold water.
Agar-p: Cause of 90% of deaths due to mushroom
poisoning. Suggested is that it was a favorite poison
used by the Borgias because the symptoms do not
develop for 6-24 hours after ingestion.
Violent diarrhea with cramping pains and
collapse (Cholera). Violent vomiting, diarrhea and
pain in the abdomen with THIRST and scant urine. Symptoms abate only to return
with increased violence
and this periodic remission and return of the symptoms is
characteristic. After some days coma and jaundice develop and lead to death.
Mainly abdominal and in the liver and kidneys. The coma is probably
secondary to these effects.
Bol-s: Bol-la. Bol-lu. severe symptoms of gastroenteritis.
Bov.: Head „As if enlarging“ and by distensive headaches. Clumsiness, drops things, mixes words
up, weakness of limbs. Skin: urticaria/eczema.
Hemorrhagic tendencies from uterus.
Sec: = claviceps purpurea. The gangrene associated with these pains is dry
and due to constriction of small blood vessels. In more acute and severe
poisonings, hallucinations and convulsions may occur.
Orthodox medicine: ergot and its derivatives found their main spheres in
obstetric practice and migraine. Raynaud's Syndrome,
Scleroderma, and arteriosclerosis leading to severe circulatory obstruction,
intermittent claudication, and gangrene have
all on occasion been greatly ameliorated. Pain < by heat runs. Paralyses of
indeterminate type are mentioned with cramps (fingers spread out wide).
In the last century Secale found a use, as did
others of the fungi, in the treatment of Cholera.
Comparison: Sec. [hemorrhages (uterine/purpura)/respiratory system/sekondär:
action on the heart] mit Cupr-met.
[temper tantrums/respiratory system with asthma and paroxysmal
coughs/cholera/cramps and convulsions] mit
L.S.D. [hallucinatory storms]:
Both: cramps of the peripheral vessels and limbs to cramps of the uterus
and intestine to cramps of the head in migraine and "brain storms".
Ust: seems to have some similarity in
its spheres of action to the ergot. Provings: strong
relationship to the genital organs and functions. In women, it produced hemorrhages and has found a main use here in bleeding
(menstrual/climacteric/post-partum). Animals have shed their hoofs and hair and
shedding of nails and hair in humans is recorded. Headaches with vertigo and
double vision and scotoma point to migrainous phenomena. So in this little known or used
remedy the same directions of action as in ergot have been noted.
Thlas. with its almost normal symbiotic
invasion by a fungus. The main use of this remedy has certainly been in
relation to uterine hemorrhages, profuse
menstruation.
Different pictures of the fungi: certain common features, spheres of
action. gastroenteritis. Is typical of acute poisoning in general but for the
phenomena resulting from eating Amanita-phalloides.
In this case the patient or victim feels perfectly well for hours after
eating the mushroom. It may be up to 24 hours before the symptoms commence with
Severe abdominal pain and diarrhea and
vomiting. The poison must have been absorbed, perhaps metabolized, before
manifesting specifically in the abdominal and alimentary symptoms.
Skin:
Agar.: chilblain-like itching, burning, red-purplish discoloration
relieved by warmth.
Sec.:discoloration and burning progress to gangrene,
pain > cold.
Bov.: Eruptions, eczema, urticaria.
Ust.: loss of hair with associated eruptions of
the scalp, scald-head.
Headache:
Ergot used in orthodox medicine.
Agar.: ice-cold needles.
Bov.: Wth sensation of
enlargement of the head. Vertigo also is a marked feature in these drug
pictures.
Hemorrhages:
Marked in Sec., Bov., Thlas.,
Boletus and Ust. not so marked in Agar.
Nervous system:
Agar.: "Spinal irritation", twitchings
and tics, chorea and spasms. Disturbances of the sense, everything becomes very
beautiful, small things appear large and the sense of balance is disturbed.
Mental faculties retarded, the
emotional balance labile. Symptoms can intensify to mania.
Ergot: Mentals have come under scrutiny owing
to the use or abuse of L.S.D. Intensification of sensory impressions and
dissociation come about leading to schizophrenic-like experiences.
Also Psillocybe
species have hallucinogenic effects, used by Mexican Indians in religious
rituals.
Summarize: Main spheres of action in the metabolic and sexual organs on
the one hand and the nervous system on the other. The lungs seem unaffected (if
we leave the Mycosis caused by
Aspergilla out).
Stict.: lung and respiratory and rheumatic symptoms
dominate the picture.
Fungi have no leaves or proper stems, no Chlp.
They lack the middle realm of the plant between root and flowering process.
This middle realm of leaf is related to the lung in inverted fashion.
The leaf takes in Carbn-diox.,
photosynthesizes it into carbohydrates and gives off oxygen. Lung gives off Carbn-diox. and takes in O. They both belong to the
rhythmic
middle realm between the polarities of head and abdomen, or root and
blossom. In the fungi this polarity is not established, flowering fruiting
have, as it were, collapsed into the root or have not yet emancipated
themselves. In the lichen Stict., this middle realm
is provided by the algal part of the symbiosis. What is more, we know that
lichens which are particularly hardy in respect of climatic
extremes, are particularly sensitive to atmospheric pollution/used as
indicators of this pollution. The lichens therefore seem SENsitive
to the realm which the fungi alone do not care about:
the realm of air and light.
We have still to consider the application in modern medicine of
substances derived from this fungal underworld, the antibiotics.
Starting with Penicillin, an ever increasing variety of these substances
are available/used in controlling bacterial infections, inflammations. Their
antipathy to certain bacteria is based on similarities
in their metabolic processes, competition between them resulting in
blocking the bacterial growth. This is of course a homeopathic action on a very
selective narrow front. Looking at the
problems more broadly, from the periphery towards the center rather than from the center
outwards, more holistically that is to say, what can we see? On and around the
roots, in the soil,
flourish the vast multitude of fungi, devoid of Chlp.
In the upper pole of trees grows another parasite or semi-parasite, the
mistletoe. This plant is full of Chlp. even its
sinker which penetrates the host tree.
It is not subject to gravity in its growth, nor to the usual earthly
rhythms. It has not come to earth. In some ways we can therefore see it as a
polarity to the realm of fungi and it has an influence on carcinomata,
themselves the polarity to inflammation. From mistletoe, substances can be
prepared with the unique combination of cytotoxic and
immuno-stimulating properties.
We have a polarity in disease processes between inflammations and tumors and a polarity in the sources of remedies working on
these diseases.
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Sind strange and paradoxical in the plant
kingdom. Have no Chlp. (= saprophytes or parasites;
have no leaves (essential and characteristic organs of the plant) and have a
metabolism which is catabolic (= abbauend), in some
respects more like an animal's than anabolic like a plant's. Composed of mycelial networks which are made of fine hyphae, thread like columns of simple cells which in
the yeasts even fall apart into separate cells. These mycelial
threads may become matted together as in the mold
on jam, the mycelial threads grow only lengthwise
in one dimension. From these mycelial networks
arise, in some forms, the fruiting bodies. They don’t produce the two-dimensional planar
organs = leaf or green Chlp. They do produce some
brightly colored pigments (Agaricae).
There is something rather garish, even ghoulish about many of these and often
emit stench rather than the perfumes of true flowers. They are visited mostly
by flies/beetles/slugs rather than the bees/butterflies attending higher
plants. Fungi play a great part in our social
economic life. Under their influence organic matter is decomposed into the
inorganic. They can destroy the timbers of buildings with dry rot. In the forests and woodlands they bring about
the decay and rotting of fallen trees and vegetation to prepare new soil.
Their existence around/within the roots of many trees and plants is necessary
for their growth. Invasion of the tissues of plants by fungi on
the other hand is one of the major causes of diseases in plants and calls for
constant surveillance and use of fungicides in horticulture and farming. They can cause disease in animals and humans.
On the other hand yeasts play a valuable part in the production of bread and
beer. During and since the last war fungi have been
a main source of the antibiotics, which have transformed much of
medical and veterinary practice. They are important in the economy of nature
and in the economics of man. Fungi have no stem, its fruiting body arises
straight out of the soil. It can grow in the dark/this process is directed
downward to the earth and without relating to light. In the fungi, the influence of light is
missing so that the fungi develop one-sidedly as earth beings. They show no
influence from the realm of light, the wide spaces of the universe. Their
linear growth by cell budding at the mycelial tips
is entirely an example of 3-dimensional
geometry, knowing nothing of the planar forces and forms of negative
Euclidean space. The cell principle, atomic principle, dominates and there is
a constant tendency to disintegration into spores. Their influence is towards
disintegration to dead mineral substances. Chains of fungi work together to
accomplish chains of chemical breakdown. Those forms and forces which lift up
the dead mineral substances into the realm of life in normal plants are
foreign to them. They themselves turn to dust in spore formation and turn
everything to dust. They are the expression of earthly and sub-earthly forces
and show us that the life and living forms of the true plant world must be
looked for elsewhere than in the earth. It was indeed a clear message,
indicating the true nature of the forces involved, when the atomic explosions
gave rise to the mushroom clouds. Disintegration, mineralization, destruction
of life forms, production of dust, these are key notes of the
"life" of fungi. A clearer indication of the nature of the
fungus when is seen in replacing the stamens and anthers of some plants in
galls. Then it sheds its spores instead of the plant shedding its pollen. The
plant itself remains unaffected. We can see the fungi as a fruitng process which has been pushed downstairs into the
darkness of the earth. In these infestations, we have to understand that the
telluric, earthly forces have themselves risen up in the plant, affording a
2nd dynamic earth level for the fungus to grow in. Acts mainly in the metabolic and
sexual organs and the nervous system. The lungs seem unaffected. (considered
the Mycosis caused by Aspergilla separately). |
Galls: abnormal growths on trees and plants
are produced by fungal infestation or by the larvae of roundworms. There is similarity in the influence upon the
host plant of the fungus and larvae. And face the gall itself which often
resembles a fruit or nut from some other tree. The parasite (fungus or larva)
brings the host to a (pseudo-)fruiting process, displaced from its normal
position in time and space. This may result in damage to the further
development of the host or the host may isolate the abnormal process and
appears otherwise unaffected. Some of galls imitate fruit (plums/cherries) to
a remarkable degree and some, developing on leaves, bring about a
transformation of the leaf into a pseudo-carpel, a pod. A fungus or larva
therefore in touching the plant initiates a fruiting process. The fungus in
this gesture, again betrays its "animal" aspect. The form of the
gall are very specific to the particular larva or fungus involved, typical
for that parasite rather than for the host. They may show the same characters
when the same parasite invades a different host. Something similar is observed in those fungus
infections known as rusts In these the fungus invades the under-surface of
the leaves of grasses and other plants. They produce spores reminiscent of
those produced normally on the under surface of the leaves of ferns. Through
their action the higher plant reverts to a more primitive fern-like condition
and a premature "spore" formation replaces the normal
"fruiting" process. |
a fungus living in symbiosis with an alga.
These 2 one-sided primitive plants come together to establish a new rank of
plants, the lichens. The alga which contains Chlp.
contributes photosynthesis while the hyphae of the
fungus form a protective covering and make minerals accessible to the
partnership. These primitive plants, the lichens, can survive and flourish
under conditions impossible for other types of living creatures, but on the
other hand they are peculiarly sensitive to atmospheric pollution, they are found
under Arctic conditions of extreme rigor. Commonly we know them on rocks and
the bark of trees, contributing their multi-colored
covering. We have seen the predominently catabolic metabolism of fungi. Their
activity is largely a breaking down of organic substance to inorganic
matter. Enormously complicated processes come about through the cooperation
of different fungi together with bacteria. They tend together towards
disintegration, they are mainly death processes. |
leaves are the essential and
characteristic organs. Metabolism is anabolic/produce the leaf and Chlp.. Often carry perfume. In normal flowering plants we find processes
essentially parasitic on the rest of the plant. The flowering and fruiting
processes are dependent on the anabolic processes in the rest of the plant.
In the blossom Chlp. disappears and although the
petal retains the two-dimensional form of the leaf, this almost gives way to
linear form in the stamens and is relating to light, away from the earth. The normal plant develops between the dark
and damp earth and the light and airy realm. We can watch this polarity of
influences in the plant. The plant unfolds its true form and nature within
the play of this polarity. When a plant blossoms and fruits it is, as it
were, touched by the animal world of insects hovering over it; it attains to
the status of animal in its fertilization and fruiting. |
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Vorwort/Suchen Zeichen/Abkürzungen Impressum