Thursday, April 6, 2017

Starts With A C...


Day 175: Here we go again. "It starts with a C...dammit...it's a crucifer...Cor...Claytonia...no, not Claytonia...Cr...Cl...Ca...wait, that sounds right...Cal...Cra...crap! I've lost it again!" Can somebody tell me why I go through this identical train of thought (usually aloud) every single blinkety-blank year when the CARDAMINE comes into bloom? That word just doesn't want to stick in my head. Sometimes, I even think, "It has something to do with 'heart,'" but "Cardamine" takes the deepest mental excavation of any plant name in my lexicon. I make a point of looking for them in my yard every spring, pacing the fenceline to the rhythmic recitation of "Cab, cac, cad, caf, cag, cal, cam, can, cap, car..." followed by the customary pause as the consonant registers. I almost wish the taxonomists (the plural banes of my existence) would reclassify this one. It might make it easier to retrieve from the depths of my cerebral databank.

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