A DRAGON ON THE PAVEMENT

                     

A typical English morning, grey, cold and light drizzle. I went to the get my car from the garage in the back of my house. On the concrete footpath this beautiful yellow flower plant just lighted up the day. The plant was growing in the groove between slabs next to the fence. Shiny green narrow pointed leaves and spike of blooming clusters of trumpets like flowers I drove out of my garaged, had another look at this happy flower. It put a smile on my lips.

Pink Snapdragon in our garden 

I knew this flower, “Snapdragon”, I have it in my little garden. It took some time and effort to get a few of these growing in
pots. And, here, this plant was happily growing in this barren concrete car park with little sustenance! And despite its meagre resources it was thriving and certainly adding some gaiety in an otherwise bleak space.

I have a friend who is like that. He is constitutionally jolly even in difficult circumstances and is always ready to help and cheer up others if needed. He manages to liven up any gathering just by his presence. I am sure you too, do know someone like that in your neighbourhood and friend circle.

Back to the Snapdragon plant. It is called a dragon because the flower does look a bit like dragon head and if you press its sides, it does snap its jaws!

I looked up its proper botanical name: Antirrhinum majus. It is so named because it looks like a snout. Rrhinum means nose,

being a medic, I do know that but why “Anti”. In common parlance, “anti” denotes something opposite rather than alike. Antirrhinum should mean that this flower is against the nose, ready to oppose the nose (like, Anti-apartheid or antibiotics). I was intrigued. and had to check the Web. Apparently, the Greek word “Anti” has got many meanings*:

1.     in exchange for, in place of

2.     at the price of, in return for

3.     for the sake of, for

4.     instead of

5.     compared with

6.     equivalent to, no better or worse than 

 

In Antirrhinum, it may mean equivalent to or instead of nose, in other words “Anti” could mean “like”, which justifies the botanical nomenclature. Does it feel anti-rational to you? Pardon moi, I cannot resist saying, it is all Greek to me.

* ἀντί - Wiktionary, the free dictionary