Friday, May 08, 2009

The invasion of the Canadians

It's weird.  A large percentage of wildflowers and plants in Wisconsin are of the species canadensis or canadense.  Makes me think that Linnaeus was getting some Canadian nookie while he was churning out the names of classifications of things.  Like this Asarum canadense (Wild Ginger).


Or Eastern Redbuds (Cercis canadensis).



Or Mountain Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis).


Or Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis).  


Point is, half the bloody plants in my backyard seemed to be named for Canada.  Even some of the birds (Sitta canadensis) are getting in on the whole Canadian thing.

For the time being I'll allow it, but if this continues I'm going to start sending you invasive species, so watch out Canadians.  I'll send you Arrogant Faux Cowboys (Homo Texasiana) or Snobby Effete East Coasters (Homo Bostoniata), and perhaps some west coast variants (Homo Orangecountius Republicanii).  Worse, I could introduce the ultimate Ugly American (Homo touristica). At any rate, you Canadians will beg for mercy.

That, or I'll just have to move to Canada.  Go with the flow, eh?

Respectfully submitted,

      Canoelover

1 comment:

Rosie said...

I just took a minute away from my hockey game to think about this topic, and found this quite decent article in our political magazine the Walrus. Check it out!

Particularly cool sentence:
"More than a few times, Linnaeus paid homage to Kalm’s Canadian journey, naming wild ginger Asarum canadense (“of Canada,” in reference to the general northeast region), the Canada violet Viola canadensis, and wild onion Allium canadense."

http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/2007.11-pehr-kalm