Two takes on halberdleaf rosemallow flowers
On June 6th around the Arbor Walk Pond halberdleaf rosemallow (Hibiscus laevis) flourished in several places.
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What is a square root?
— A square root is an arithmetic construct.
What is velocity?
— Velocity is a physics construct.
What is a fricative?
— A fricative is a phonetics construct.
What is an isotope?
— An isotope is a chemistry construct.
What is a mode?
— A mode is a statistics construct.
What is auxesis?
— Auxesis is a rhetorical construct.
What is gender?
— Gender is a social construct.
What all those question-and-answer pairs have in common is that a person unfamiliar with each asked-about term still doesn’t know what the term means after reading the “answer.” Let’s give actual answers to the first six questions:
What is a square root?
— In arithmetic, the square root of a number is another number that, when multiplied by itself, equals the first number.
What is velocity?
— In physics, velocity is a measurement of the speed at which, and direction in which, something is moving.
What is a fricative?
— In human speech, a fricative is a sound made when breath passes through a narrow opening between two speech organs.
What is an isotope?
— In chemistry, an isotope is a variant of a chemical element that differs in the number of neutrons present in the nucleus of an atom of that element.
What is a mode?
— In statistics, the mode of a set of discrete numerical data is the number that occurs the most often.
What is auxesis?
— In rhetoric, auxesis is referring to something with a term that exaggerates its importance.
And that brings us to the last question: What is gender? In recent years I’ve heard people say in response to that question, as if reciting a catechism, “Gender is a social construct.” But many of those people never do explain what that socially constructed thing actually is. From the people who do go further, you may hear that gender refers to the behaviors and roles associated with being a woman or man, a girl or a boy. But then if you press further and ask, for example, what they mean by the term woman, you get the non-answer “answer” that a woman is anyone who “identifies” as a woman, and you still don’t know what a woman actually is.
© 2024 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
Thank you, Steve, for the beautiful study of a flower!
I love your answers and questions part as it is perfection in clarity and precision!
Joanna
gabychops
June 17, 2024 at 5:11 AM
This is my third variation on the theme. The first two were in May 2023 and July 2023.
Steve Schwartzman
June 17, 2024 at 7:19 AM
The center of these flowers is so pretty, and so interesting. Their leaves were especially helpful for me when I was learning to distinguish these species; there really is no mistaking them.
Coincidentally, I came across the first Hibiscus moscheutos (swamp rose mallow) I could get close enough to photograph yesterday. Its flowers can be white or (less commonly) pink, but the stamens are white to very pale yellow, and differently arranged.
shoreacres
June 17, 2024 at 6:21 AM
Happy swamp mallow to you yesterday. You make a good point about the different leaves in the two Hibiscus species, whose flowers people (including me) might easily confuse.
When I got acquainted with this species some years ago I had to look up halberd because I had a vague idea it was a weapon but didn’t know the specifics. The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as ‘a weapon of the 1400s and 1500s having an axelike blade and a steel spike mounted on the end of a long shaft.”
That dictionary also revealed that the compound word is etymologically ‘helm + beard.’ The helm in question must have been like the tiller of a boat, and apparently people saw a likeness in shape between the axe blade and a certain style of beard.
Steve Schwartzman
June 17, 2024 at 7:37 AM
I don’t think I have seen a white hibiscus. Very pretty photo.
Alessandra Chaves
June 17, 2024 at 7:52 AM
These are large flowers, up to six inches across, and therefore quite attractive. I know you’d have a good time playing with them (photographically) too.
Steve Schwartzman
June 17, 2024 at 8:18 AM
Trunp is the worst president EVER! That’s not auxesis! By the way, very nice photos, Steve.
oneowner
June 17, 2024 at 10:04 AM
It’s hard to miss with as photogenic a flower as halberdleaf rosemallow.
As for the other matter, some people separate person and personality from policies, while others find that impossible.
Steve Schwartzman
June 17, 2024 at 10:19 AM
A great person that I always admired said it beautifully: “I yam what I yam and that’s all that I yam”!
oneowner
June 17, 2024 at 12:27 PM
In the hands of the right chef, spinach and yams make a tasty dish.
Steve Schwartzman
June 17, 2024 at 12:31 PM
It’s going to be difficult to find the right chef.
oneowner
June 17, 2024 at 3:05 PM
I still think it’s doable.
Steve Schwartzman
June 17, 2024 at 4:04 PM
Very nice captures of the hibiscus. The first is somewhat reminiscent of O’Keeffe’s flowers, in its simplicity and rich color. I realize that it’s a white hibiscus, but the white is a very creamy white and the center is rich in color.
Tina
June 17, 2024 at 4:10 PM
I see the similar simplicity in this portrait of the rosemallow many of O’Keeffe’s. If I could get in a time machine I’d go back and prevail on her to portray more native wildflowers from New Mexico.
Steve Schwartzman
June 17, 2024 at 6:28 PM
Growing up in the West Indies we had a lot of hibiscus of various colours in the yard. Many people experimented with grafting one variant onto another.
Humans created the concept of gender. It may be social constructs because gender norms vary across cultures. I searched the internet.
Many Native American tribes recognize the existence of Two-Spirit people, who embody both masculine and feminine qualities. These individuals often take on special roles within their communities, such as healers, mediators, or spiritual leaders.
In countries like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, hijras are recognized as a third gender. They often hold unique social and religious roles, including blessings at weddings and births, despite facing social marginalization.
The Zapotec people of Oaxaca, Mexico, acknowledge the existence of muxes, who are assigned male at birth but take on roles and identities associated with both genders. Muxes are often accepted and respected within their communities.
In parts of Albania and other Balkan regions, some women choose to live as men, adopting male clothing, roles, and responsibilities. Known as sworn virgins, they make a vow of chastity and are often given the same social status and rights as men.
Fa’afafine in Samoa are individuals who are assigned male at birth but embody both male and female gender traits. They are accepted and often play vital roles in Samoan families and communities, particularly in caregiving and domestic tasks.
Khürt Williams
June 17, 2024 at 10:16 PM
I’m skeptical about reading too much into recent interpretations of beliefs held in ancient and remote societies. Such accounts are often polemical, looking to justify modern ideology. The same people who extol those ancient cultures for their supposed belief in fluid genders would be appalled by various other beliefs and practices in those same cultures, including women’s rigidly constrained roles, arranged marriages, human sacrifice, infanticide, and slavery.
Articles I’ve read say that the large majority of children who express confusion about or discomfort with their sex outgrow it by the time they’ve become adults—provided, of course, that they’re left alone and not pushed into being “affirmed” by practitioners in the trans-industrial complex. There’s lots of evidence showing cultural contagion among adolescents, particularly girls. As anorexia and bulimia and cutting have been fads, so is being “trans.” A good book about that is Abigail Shrier’s Irreversible Damage.
Steve Schwartzman
June 18, 2024 at 7:47 AM
I think the native peoples of the Americas and the Indian cultures are extant and hence still relevant. The fact that western societies are intolerable of “others” is well documented.
Khürt Williams
June 18, 2024 at 11:20 AM
A couple of years ago in New Mexico we got into a good half-hour conversation with a National Forest ranger at a welcome center. Her native language turned out to be Diné (Navajo). I wish I’d thought to ask her about Navajo attitudes regarding the sexes. Much of what I read about native cultures online is written by white ideologues, so I’m leery of their claims.
Steve Schwartzman
June 18, 2024 at 11:57 AM
Thanks for reminding me of how incredibly beautiful the calyx is. You’ve inspired me to blog more about some of the ones we have here.
Maria
June 20, 2024 at 12:00 PM
Go for it!
Steve Schwartzman
June 20, 2024 at 1:00 PM