Sunday, April 19, 2009

Peony With Its Doggone Ants























At the foot of this Peony, if you click upon and enlarge this picture, you can just make out the personal ant hill of the plant.  It is said that Peonies need ants to flower.  It is certainly the case that their flowers are generally covered with ants.  This Peony is in great shape, Ant wise.  Peonies are said to be from China, which explains perfectly to me why Indiana chose them as its State Flower.  The name Peony comes from Old English and was given to Old English by Latin.  Latin sucked the name up from Paion, which was the physician of the Gods.  No reason is given why the word was tossed around like a frisbee in this manner.  Or why something like a Peony would be named after the doctor of the Gods.  I have never heard of any useful substance coming from a Peony, and half the time the flower doesn't even make it through its first day without falling flat on its face. The explanation I gave above, of a Peony's name, was given by the American Heritage dictionary.  I'm thinking of sending them a letter explaining the following:

The word "dog" comes from the French word "doggone" which means chair, and shares with the dog, four legs.

I'll bet you a million dollars they buy it.


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