The blood red heart of the matter: the Steppe

Paeonia tenuifolia

  This picture was taken on the 26 of April, 2018 near to border of Azerbaijan in the far east of Georgia, but it could well be taken in the Ukraine about the same time of year where this also grows. Or in my garden for that matter...we are, perhaps the hard way, learning why so many steppe flowers are this brilliant, blood red color. Not just peonies, but blood red poppies, scarlet tulips. Logic says it's pollinators. History suggests a darker reason.

Paeonia tenuifolia

Here's a longer shot, showing the Great Caucasus in the background.

Of course, it's absurd to suggest the steppes have been stained with the blood of humanity for millennia. No biomes on the planet have nurtured and murdered humans so long. Just read a book or two about the Khans, or Timur (Tamerlane): the scale of their butchery was only matched by Hitler and Stalin in the 20th Century. Considering the times they lived in, this is saying a lot. And there were no end of other kingdoms and empires: Parthian, Scythian, the endless permutation of Persian, Seleucid, and let's not forget the permutations of Turk, Turkmen and their hordes.

Papaver commutatum near Lagodechi

On the same trip we found ourselves closer to the Caucasus: an old corn field was now bloody red with the lady poppy--possibly my favorite of the annual sorts. How ironic that the corn poppy symbolizes armistice...

A closeup of the stunning Caucasian poppy...

 A symposium on the botany and horticulture of the Steppes will not solve the tragic happenings in the Ukraine, but it behooves all of us to study and learn all we can about the world's steppes--not only because they encompass much of our history as humans, but because these are increasingly the flashpoints of humanity today: the largest oil and mineral reserves on the planet, and the tension points between democracy and dictatorship...

And the steppe flora encompasses some of the greatest untapped biodiversity on the planet.

Put it on your calendars please!