News from Critter Creek

[Richard S]

Stepping out of the door this morning I noticed a putrid odor in the air. "Some 'critter' has killed another 'critter' a few days ago," I said to myself, "and I've got to bury the remains."

Following the odor upwind, what do I find? Not a carcass, but dracunculus vulgaris, no less -- sometimes known as a "Voodoo Lily." How this thing got to East Tennessee from the Eastern Mediterranean area is anyone's guess.

Last week it was a Civil War cannon ball. This week a primitive, alien plant. What next?  

http://www.flowersofchania.com/html/body_dracunculus_vulgaris.html

[RickP]

Shoot it!

[kjtrains]

Good looking plant, there, Richard; good that the odor doesn't last but one day.  It is a wonder how it got there.

[yankee2500]

Richard,
  At least you didn't have to use the Hickory Backhoe to bury a carcass.  

Dracunculus vulgaris is a species of aroid in the genus Dracunculus and is known variously as the Dragon Arum, the Black Arum, the Voodoo Lily, the Snake Lily, the Stink Lily, the Black Dragon, the Black Lily, Dragonwort, and Ragons. In Greece, part of its native range, the plant is called Drakondia, the long spadex being viewed as a small dragon hiding in the spathe.[1]
It is native to the Balkans, extending as far as Greece, Crete and the Aegean Islands, and also to the south-western parts of Anatolia.[1].[COLOR="Red"]It has been introduced to the United States and is currently present in the states of Oregon, California and Tennessee as well as the commonwealth of Puerto Rico.[/COLOR]2]
The species is characterised by a large purple spathe and spadix has a very unpleasant smell reminiscent of a carcass. That is because the pollinators of this aroid are flies (Lucilia and others).

[Reinz]

." How this thing got to East Tennessee from the Eastern Mediterranean area is anyone's guess.

 

http://www.flowersofchania.com/html/body_dracunculus_vulgaris.html

It came over during the rapture.  

[Richard S]

It came over during the rapture.  

D**mn, Reinz, do you mean the rapture came after all just like old Harold Camping said it would and I missed the whole thing?  

[CaptBW]

Oh my! Strange happenings at Critter Creek.

[Reinz]

Rich it looks like we missed another one.

At 55, I have lost count at how many raptures I have missed now.  I konw you have just a few more years on me, and who knows how many more raptures.  

[Richard S]

Rich it looks like we missed another one.

At 55, I have lost count at how many raptures I have missed now.  I konw you have just a few more years on me, and who knows how many more raptures.  

Reinz:

At least one or two . . . or maybe three or four . . . .  Please just put in a good word for me if it ever actually does come and I get left behind. I'll probably be needing all the help I can get.  

[Reinz]

You can count on me.

I hope you will do the same for me as well.