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Through the recognition of the qualities of plants that promote life, the study proposes these characteristics as necessary for the generation of living environments in education and research. Autopoietically, we identify relationships of sensitivity, collaboration, movement, travel, communication, memory and care. We value these qualities for the learning, change and transformation environments necessary in Education, which constitute dynamic, self-organized, changing and complex environments that are recognized as narrative environments. This work contributes to the understanding of life-research as an investigative and narrative experience, which from bioinspired research models, makes research possible as an experience of life itself that happens in its future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Omani poets theorize the value of generosity by distinguishing between two nominally similar events—two instances of men watering trees. Analyzing Omani oral poetry shows how this distinction is justified by graded equivalencies that metaphorically justify a status hierarchy and invest it with behavioral expectations of generosity. To understand how generosity and status relate, Omanis distinguish between reciprocity (iconized in date palm agriculture), the divergent capacities of the rich, who are obliged to give generously, and the poor, who cannot give at all. When a rich political leader pours water on a dying plant, he demonstrates an exceptional sense of his commitment to generosity and confirms the central—but graded—value of giving. When the poor pour likewise, they underline the necessary link between generosity and capacity that they fail to achieve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing is a form of creative expression that children enjoy from a young age. Drawing is also an effective and engaging strategy for exploring children's comprehension of the natural world. Examination of the content, colours, and developmental changes of children's drawings can provide us with valuable insights into how understanding of plant life develops during childhood. In this regard, previous studies have analysed the relationship that the representations that children draw when graphically expressing their understanding of the plant world have with the variables gender and educational level. This line of research has established that children's drawings of the plant world vary significantly when those drawn by older children are compared with those drawn by younger students and that the differences between girls and boys seem irrelevant. However, no studies have investigated the combined influence that both variables (gender and educational level) have on children's representation of the plant world. This study investigated this influence by examining 251 drawings by young children (aged 4–7 years). The results indicated that gender and educational level influenced key pictorial elements. Thus, that when comparing the understanding of biological phenomena through drawings between girls and boys, it is important to control for educational level.

This article considers what it means to give plants a voice as witnesses to nuclear events. It examines two texts that attempt to represent the nonverbal testimony of irradiated plants through a hybrid approach of text and image: Sugihara Rieko's Pilgrimage to the A-Bombed Trees (Hibakuju junrei, 2015) and Michael Marder and Anaïs Tondeur's The Chernobyl Herbarium: Fragments of an Exploded Consciousness (2016). Published a year apart, both texts focus on the afterlife of nuclear catastrophes: the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. Sugihara's book is an account of the hibakujumoku – trees that survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and continue to produce new growth to this day. Combining maps, photographs, interviews, and short essays, Pilgrimage to the A-Bombed Trees is intended as an immersive guidebook to the nearly 170 irradiated trees located within a two-kilometer radius around Hiroshima's ground zero. It presents these trees as "living witnesses" whose subsequent flourishing has provided human survivors with a conceptual figuration of destructive plasticity. Marder and Tondeur's The Chernobyl Herbarium formally resembles Sugihara's Pilgrimage to the A-Bombed Trees, and likewise combines text (a combination of short theoretical essays and personal remembrances of the Chernobyl meltdown) and images (Tondeur's photograms of plants grown in the exclusion zone) into a slim volume that calls for a rejection of language as the sole means of bearing witness. According to Marder, Tondeur's photograms "bring out the testimony of the plant," and yet the same procedure renders these plant witnesses "specimens," full of radioactivity but devoid of life (something Sugihara's book avoids through the medium of photography). The Chernobyl Herbarium is an attempt to capture, in fragmentary form, the limits of language in the conceptualization of plant life and in the proper conceptualization of the Chernobyl disaster. Ultimately, both texts are experiments to "think the unthinkable and represent the unrepresentable," to borrow Marder's words, through a deep, speculative engagement with the botanical realm. As wordless testimony is given voice through human–botanical intra-action, the plasticity of plant life (its capacity to adapt and change) is highlighted, and this allows us to locate moments of phytomorphism – the attribution of vegetal qualities to the human – in these two self-proclaimed "guidebooks." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the authors of this winning competition entry to house sculptor Mario Irarrázabal’s work, a museum can be understood as a garden -defined by its limits but also open to change. For us at ARQ, this project also demonstrates how buildings can be tools for ecological recovery, wherein the logic of their positioning, circulation, and infrastructural networks are treated as opportunities to favor the more-than-human species that already inhabit the site.

This essay applies Riane Eisler’s biocultural partnership-dominator model as a relevant testimony of how transdisciplinary approaches to literature can broaden our critical scope, methodology and understanding when examining different types of texts. This comprehensive methodology for the study of literature draws upon different fields of knowledge and scientific investigation, such as quantum physics, biology and systemic science, ecosophy, ecoliteracy and contemporary studies on plant life. With the aim of rekindling the fundamental relationship between humans and nature, Richard Powers’ novel The Overstory (2018) is analysed as a powerful denunciation of the current dominator, destructive, violent world-view pervading our planet. If the Earth and its inhabitants are portrayed as being controlled and exploited, the novel also unmistakably reinforces the fundamental values of the partnership cultural paradigm, which focuses on the caring potential of human love and reciprocity.

This study analyses the depictions that a sample of young children completed to express their knowledge of plant life at two different times, two years apart. The pictorial content is examined by the complexity of the depictions of flora as well as the range of colour that the children in the sample chose. The study presents the changes that occurred in the children's illustrations of plants after 24 months. The conclusions are discussed in view of the data that preceding studies provide on the subject of botanical literacy in childhood, and raise the hypothesis that the unexpected results obtained in the study might reflect a learning loss in the understanding of the plant world as a consequence of the school closures that followed the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wadi El Rayan is located in Egypt in the Sahara ecoregion the Palearctic ecozone (the world’s largest hot desert). The total area of Wadi El Rayan is 1759km2. The aim of this work was to study the ecosystems, compare species composition, species richness and species diversity of the study sites in the Wadi El Rayan protected area and the distributions of plants in the different landform. The field observations found that there is a low diversity and number of plant species around the lakes, in particular a decline in vegetation cover in accordance with a dramatic decrease in the water level in the lakes compared to earlier studies. The reduction of water levels due to decreased water supply is considered the main threat facing ecosystems and biodiversity in the lake area which requires a continuous survey of flora and measures to be implemented to conserve the natural vegetation in the area. Based on investigations of the spontaneous flora of Wadi El Rayan in 2018, 18 taxa of vascular plants were recorded. This inventory was compared with published records of investigations made in 1998, 2002 and 2014. A total of 18 vascular plant species belonging to 14 families were recorded in the wetland and desert ecosystems around the lakes of Wadi El Rayan. The vegetation mainly consists of sparsely distributed xerophytic and halophytic plants except in the wetland ecosystem around the lakes where it is characterized by some hydrophytic and halophytic plants. The family with the highest number of species was Poaceae followed by Zygophyllaceae. The results showed that a higher number of species was recorded from the Lower Lake (13 species) than the Upper Lake (10 species) and (5 species) for the connecting channel. The most frequently recorded species were Phragmites australis, Tamarix nilotica, Juncus rigidus and Alhagi graecorum: the first two species were the most successful species as they grow in a variety of ecosystems and habitats.

My short essay on Irigaray’s relation to Nietzsche could be divided into the beginnings of six arguments: First, Nietzsche continues to hold a special place in Irigaray’s thinking. Second, Amante Marine is an important part of Irigaray’s elemental philosophy. Third, Irigaray’s insistence on depth over surface in Amante Marine points to two different ways Nietzsche has been taken up in French Philosophy, which could be characterized as the difference between surface and depth. Fourth, Irigaray’s Amante Marine anticipates the most recent direction in Nietzsche scholarship, which focuses on plants and the earth. Fifth, following Nietzsche, Irigaray suggests that we can learn lessons about sharing the earth from plants. And, finally, Irigaray’s elemental philosophy resonates with my own conception of earth ethics as responsiveness to other earthlings and our environment, which I develop in my recent book Earth and World.

This study analyses the depictions that a sample of young children completed to express their knowledge of plant life at two different times, two years apart. The pictorial content is examined by the complexity of the depictions of flora as well as the range of colour that the children in the sample chose. The study presents the changes that occurred in the children’s illustrations of plants after 24 months. The conclusions are discussed in view of the data that preceding studies provide on the subject of botanical literacy in childhood, and raise the hypothesis that the unexpected results obtained in the study might reflect a learning loss in the understanding of the plant world as a consequence of the school closures that followed the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The world's southernmost tree has been documented along with the condition and growth pattern of the world's southernmost forest on Isla Hornos, Chile. The distribution of trees at broad scales is strongly influenced by the abiotic environment and determining the position and condition of tree limits around the world is an important way to monitor global change. This offers an ideal way to test the relationship between the biogeography of individual species and the effects of climate/climate change. The limits of trees, as all ecotones, are also useful communication points – easily understood signposts of ecosystems and their change through time. The southernmost trees in the world exist at soil temperatures that correspond to the low range of global treeline temperatures, with a climate analogous to equatorial treeline despite the high latitude (56° S). However, their fine‐scale distribution is strongly influenced by wind exposure rather than simply aspect and/or elevation, as one would expect if temperature were limiting the range. Recent establishment further south was found from core forest areas, however significant dieback along wind‐exposed edges of the contiguous forest was also noted. In contrast to the wide extension of land where boreal or subarctic forests grow in the Northern Hemisphere, in the Southern Hemisphere Isla Hornos represents a single point embedded in the ocean under much milder climatic conditions. Documented shifts in wind intensity and direction as result of larger‐scale climate change will likely continue to strongly shape the condition of these unique forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the deployment of flower missions, flower shows and window gardening in Victorian efforts to elevate the moral and material condition of London's working poor. It identifies three forms of botanical engagement – the moral, pedagogic and civic – that were key to understanding the use of flowers in this period. The construction of a 'moral botany' in the early nineteenth century popularised the notion that flowers could carry meaning beyond their ornamental value. This attribute was widely used by social reformers who employed flower shows as biopolitical and pedagogical instruments to discipline the desires, habits and behaviours of the working poor and their children; projects that were heavily gendered, placing responsibility for the moral defence of the family upon women. Floral reform movements at the civic level also worked within a racialised framing of 'civilisation' amidst late century fears of racial degeneration. This paper therefore argues for the political nature of plant life, drawing attention to the role of plants in the co-constitution of human worlds. • Considers plants as biopolitical subjects which co-constitute humans. • Demonstrates that flower culture boomed in the high Victorian city, across all classes. • Argues that flowers were heavily gendered and used as vehicles of moral teachings. • Demonstrates that working-class flower shows disciplined the home and the body. • Shows that the cultivation of flowers worked within a racialised frame of 'civilisation'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing is a form of creative expression that children enjoy from a young age. Drawing is also an effective and engaging strategy for exploring children's comprehension of the natural world. Examination of the content, colours, and developmental changes of children's drawings can provide us with valuable insights into how understanding of plant life develops during childhood. In this regard, previous studies have analysed the relationship that the representations that children draw when graphically expressing their understanding of the plant world have with the variables gender and educational level . This line of research has established that children's drawings of the plant world vary significantly when those drawn by older children are compared with those drawn by younger students and that the differences between girls and boys seem irrelevant. However, no studies have investigated the combined influence that both variables (gender and educational level) have on children's representation of the plant world. This study investigated this influence by examining 251 drawings by young children (aged 4-7 years). The results indicated that gender and educational level influenced key pictorial elements. Thus, that when comparing the understanding of biological phenomena through drawings between girls and boys, it is important to control for educational level ., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

The paper looks at the contribution of Richard Powers as a novelist who blends genres and disciplines with the consummate ease of an artist combining various colours and shades to lend magical touches to landscapes. An abiding strength and theme running through Power's novels is the delicate mixing and inter-mixing of disciplines and the inevitable overlapping of science with arts, imagination with scientific temperament and artificial intelligence with natural. In one of his novels, he lends his surreal touch by combining the natural sciences with environmentalism and the bigger issues of our time -- racism, sexism, gender disparity, discrimination against women in scientific establishments, etc. and shows himself as another Rachel Carson, whose spring of ideas is not silent this time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though the roots of philosophy go back to a reflection on physis, its metaphysical version that has become predominant in the Western tradition is much more attached to the world of animals. It is likely that this preponderance of the animal in metaphysics, which situates it above the vegetal, has been responsible for the opposition of traditional philosophy to physis-natura, strictly tied to the world of plants. Vegetal life, in which we humans also participate, demands in its turn that we take it into account and attend to a peculiar way, in which the material and the psychic are intertwined in it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing activities are believed to be a useful methodology to gain insight into young children’s thoughts and ideas related to a diverse range of research topics. In this respect, the study of drawings has proven to be a valuable procedure with a view to unravelling how the natural world is conceptualised in early childhood. The present study examines the content of the drawings that 328 Spanish children aged between of 4 and 7 carried out in their bid to express their understanding of plant life and the data collected is related to the potential for connecting with nature which may be offered by the location of their educational centres. The results show slight but significant differences between the depictions undertaken by the children attending schools in rural environments, and those made by their peer group in urban centres. The evidence and conclusions of the study are coherent with the assumption that as early as kindergarten age, children are well involved in attempting to give meaning to their nature-based experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As I move through the garden, something, a strange species of writing, hovers before me like the perfume of a wild rose. I read the words: Metaphor is a plant. That is to say, plants are metaphors for metaphor. This message, then, this vegetal missive, appears to be constituted by a kind of phyto- or antho-morphism, reading by way of a metaphorical vegetal life. But as I continue to write, as I ‘extend’ myself, as Derrida does, ‘by force of play’, I find that this, in the end, will have been an extended metaphor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]