Faux Mercury
broccoli
water beads on broccoli
I’ve mentioned before that rain causes some visual transformations in the garden. This has caused me to discover an amazing fact about the broccoli plant. It is completely waterproof. Water beads up on the large leaves giving the illusion of a garden of mercury.
Mercury?
What is now known to be a hazardous element was years ago a fascinating childhood toy. A broken thermometer in our house was the beginning of an adventure for my brother and me. Watching the silvery metal bead in my hand – then crushing it into miniscule pieces only to have it reform into a single bead – was a miracle.
If you have broccoli in your garden you may want to run out there this week (there’s going to be a lot of rain in the Chicago area) and you may experience a little of that childhood miracle without the hazard.
amazing! don’t know if i love the bit of a story or the photos more…
Great pictures of mercury-like water drops, Bill! Here’s some trivia that I’ve heard. Years ago, hat makers used to treat beaver pelts with mercury to cure them. But over-exposure to mercury eventually makes people go nuts. Hence, Alice in Wonderland’s “Mad Hatter,” and the number of royalty members in the Middle Ages who would go crazy because of displaying bowls of mercury (they were the only ones who could afford the stuff) that would amaze–and eventually sicken the royal family.
Well, Craig…I guess that explains a LOT what with my playing with mercury and all. Thanks for the info. A friend of mine in Nevada told me that mercury was also used to help pan for gold. Somehow it was used to help separate gold from other rocks.
Gosh, does mercury have ANY use these days?
[...] is the same type of leaf that in June I was so taken by its waterproof quality. It now looks very different. No longer waterproof, it has taken a distinctly autumn-ish color. It [...]
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