#whatisthisplant

[botanyshitposts]

thinking about the person on the whatisthisplant subreddit yesterday who had never been able to grow anything successfully in a garden but last year their dog stole a whole acorn squash of their table to run outside and play with it like it was a ball and now they have acorn squash growing in their backyard. dispersal via dog toy shape

#obsessed. #also. SO many cucurbits passing the big leaf test in my life rn

[rutilation]

I sincerely doubt I'm the first person to have noticed this, but I'm currently riding the high of having just connected some dots, so I'm going to jot down my thought process regardless.

Because I am the sort of person who reads dictionaries for fun, one of the first things I did after being introduced to this game last month was look into the etymologies of various characters’ names. We play as an android named magpie?  What a cute little reference to our gameplay loop of exploring and picking up stuff.  We’re looking for a girl named Alina Ariane?  That’s pretty juicy as well.  Ariane, and variations thereupon, are derived from the Greek Ariadne, which is the name of the woman who lead Theseus through the labyrinth with her ball of yarn—a fitting metaphor for Ariane’s role as the beacon guiding Elster through this surreal narrative.

Anyway, a little while ago, I found myself watching this playthrough of the game, and it was quite helpful because the person playing can read Chinese, and I myself am pretty helpless when it comes to characters that I can’t easily copy-paste into a dictionary.  Leng means 'cold,' you say?  Well, I'm happy to finally learn that!  A ways into the playthrough, she points out that one of the hanzi in the red desert sequence is likely to be Ariane’s last name.  Intrigued, I looked it up, and found out it means poplar.

That made me wonder if there was some rationale behind choosing that surname in particular.  After all, if the first half of Ariane's name was so obviously symbolic, why wouldn’t the second half also be so?  I ask myself: what do trees have to do with her?  My brain answers: “Die Toteninsel, obviously.”

The trees in that painting are cypress, though.  I start wondering: okay, if you’re going to name this character after a tree, why not name her after the tree that holds significance to the story—to her story?  Moreover, what do poplars even look like? I’m not an arborist…

They’re not cypress, but what I saw in google images looked like they could be mistaken for them at a distance. Their lenticular shape, at least, was reminiscent of the trees in Die Toteninsel. A new hypothesis starts germinating in my head at this point. Suppose the hanzi for ‘cypress,’ whatever that may be, isn’t in use as a surname.  If so, perhaps the devs had to work their way down the line, and pick out a tree that they could use as a last name, one that at least looked like the tree they had in mind, so that they could still evoke the image of the painting through Ariane’s name.

Obviously, I had to return to my precious dictionaries, and test this hypothesis.  It failed immediately.  柏 means cypress, and it is indeed used as a surname.  Now back to square one, my initial question becomes even more pressing.  Why did the devs name Ariane ‘poplar’ instead of ‘cypress?’  If the more meaningful option was already right there in front of them, why didn't they take it?

It was at this point my brain cells finally deigned to rub together, and the answer smacked me across the face.  There’s another painting I hadn’t been taking into account, and I’d already seen the shape and form of a poplar, even before I pulled up my search results.

The tall green trees on the left side of the Die Lebensinsel are unmistakably poplars.  My earlier observation that poplars and cypresses had similar silhouettes possibly had some merit after all—that may have been what was going through Böcklin’s mind as he worked on this painting which was the intentional antithesis to Die Toteninsel.

(I say “unmistakably,” but, again, I’m no arborist.  While some cursory googling didn’t reveal a gloss for the flora in this painting, someone on r/whatisthisplant also thought that these seem to be poplars, for what it’s worth.)

So, Ariane is named not after the isle of the dead, but the isle of life.  My reward for answering my initial question is, of course, more questions.  Why have Ariane’s name hearken to this painting? I haven't figured that out, but I do think that in order to answer that question, one first has to ask what Die Lebensinsel means to Signalis in the first place, and my thoughts are a little more substantial in that regard.  Substantial, but also pretty subjective. Everything prior to this point is trivia dug up by a dictionary-enjoyer, and everything past this point is me free-associating my way through confusing imagery, like our overlord, the big red eye, intended.

As for me, I associate Die Lebensinsel with the artifact ending.  Not so much because of how happy it is per se, (highly debatable,) but because of how both the ending and the painting are obfuscated by the game.  In Signalis, you can't get away from the other two paintings.  They dominate the red desert sequence, they're found decorating the occasional wall in overworld, and you even walk across the shore of oblivion yourself.  Die Lebensinsel, on the other hand, is never as tangible as the other two, only ever flitting across the screen for a single frame at a time.  It's almost completely imperceptible in the moment; you have to already know to look for it to glimpse it, or else discover it by playing back the red desert cutscene frame-by-frame.  All this mirrors how the artifact ending is integrated into the story. The keys to it are right in your face—the safe, the code, a strange signal on your radio, the lilies interspersed throughout game—but it's nigh impossible to grasp any of those things without hindsight, without picking it apart after the fact. You have to really look to find Die Lebensinsel, and you have to really look to find the artifact ending.

There’s also the subject matter of the paintings to consider.  Die Toteninsel depicts a psychopomp ferrying a soul to the eponymous isle of the dead, and the story of Signlais is about trying help Ariane die, with the normal endings representing all the ways Elster succeeds and fails in doing so.  In the artifact ending, however, we are not trying to put anyone out of their misery.  We’re beseeching the King in Yellow, or the Almighty Red Hexagon, or the Music of the Universe, or whoever the fuck, to grant us our own little pocket-dream-dimension where we never have to die and can dance with our wife forever, amidst the decay of a solar system which has just contracted cancer.  We’ve already cast off from the shore of oblivion by this point, but the island we’ve landed on in this ending can’t really be considered the isle of the dead. We're dancing, after all, so this must be the isle of life.

This interpretation of Die Lebensinsel having crystallized in my mind, I circled back around to my most recent question: why is Ariane named after the artifact ending?  I still wasn’t sure.  But, as I ruminated on it, I realized that you can also draw a direct line from Elster’s name to the artifact ending.  After all, Elster=Lilith, and Lilith=lilies, and lilies=the artifact ending. 

To surmise, my question has gone from “Why is Ariane named after poplar?” to "Why isn't Ariane named after cypress?" to “Why is Ariane named after Die Lebensinsel?” to “Why is Ariane named after the artifact ending?” to “Why are Elster and Ariane both named after the artifact ending?”  What could it all mean?  Maybe in a few weeks/months/years, I’ll come upon an answer I’m satisfied with.

#signalis #currently reeling from the implications of a cypress/poplar dichotomy don't mind me

[neverelo]

This is the first time I've written anything for a blog.

I used to be too anxious to even comment on Reddit, but I'm trying to convince myself that at worst, no one will see it and that's okay.

I stopped using Reddit because the API changes are bs and using Reddit less was kind of a win-win. Having everything categorised into neat little sections was nice, and some of the communities were great (I will miss r/whatisthisplant for sure) but I don't see myself going back.

This site reminds me of getting super into Warrior Cats as a kid and seeing all of these cool OCs and animations and comics (I would scroll religiously through Google images, because I wasn't old enough to make accounts on anything cool). I used to read y/n fanfic, and take Quotev quizzes. Growing up, I was friends with a Dr Who-and-Sherlock fan, and a Supernatural-and-Sherlock fan, and I think this prior experience will help me adapt to this new ecosystem.

I think that maybe it's weirder that I haven't been here all along.

Thank you Tumblerinas/Tumblypoos for your patience and all the advice posts, it's been really helpful and welcoming x

#reddit refugees #reddit migrants #oh god i had a hetalia phase #but everyone else is cringe too so it's fine #pinterest truly is the shadows on the cave wall

[tomatonibbler]

i shoulsnt let r/whatisthisplant piss me off

[saprophetic]

two fave flavors of reddit comments are r/whatisthisbug posts showing a lantern fly and r/whatisthisplant posts showing pokeweed

#mine

[sparefry]

guy on r/whatisthisplant posted pics of his budding flower he wanted id'd and ppl told him it's queen of the night flower literally about to bloom that night and asked him to update so he came back with pics of it in bloom the next morning 🥲

#genuinely love that sub so much #that and r/mycology are my faves atm #r/turtle is rising in my list too aw man turtles are so cute

[magnetictapedatastorage]

Haven't touched my garden box since last summer, so now it’s FULL of this very very pretty very very dense moss-like plant? The tall things are clover flowers as far as I know, and the wooden-looking things are long-dead watermelon vines (the ONLY planted item in the pic). The huge sprawling... thing almost looks like the top of a hedge, but the leaves are barely an inch out of the ground. It’s really pretty and I’m going to hate digging it up when I start planting seeds, so I’d love to know what it is.

#what is this plant #whatisthisplant #botany #gardening #USDA Zone 7a #long island #new york state

[flowaaasroundtown]

#pretty #flower #whatisthisplant #have a nice day #enjoy some vegetation #picture #photography

[kihaku-gato]

Since @geopsych is as curious as I am on the white violets (yes, idk what species it is either) let’s make this a post that’s a Viola/Violet ID request!

I assume they’re not native to Canada and more likely a European species as they originally came from my grandma's gardens & I have never seen this species in the wild, plus the OntarioWildflowers website does not have any matches. (Excuse the mild foliar chlorosis). 

Additionally we have a purple mystery viola/violet that almost appears to be a variant of the white (but doubt as I've yet to see hybrids). Most morphology is nearly identical save for the flowers & the fact that the leaves are a much darker/deeper green

#there's a third mystery species but I'm not involving it in this post for various reasons #plant ID #mystery plant #whatisthisplant #wildflower #violet #viola #my post #plantblr #gardeners of tumblr #gardeners on tumblr #flowers #spring flowers

[ghostsiren]

Spring is here! Does anyone know what this flower is? . . #identifythisflower #floweridentification #whatisthis #whatisthisflower #identifythisplant #whatisthisplant #plantidentification #springtime #beltane #ostara #springflowers https://www.instagram.com/p/BwRlVHAHUUG/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ht1qqswg2s6c

#identifythisflower #floweridentification #whatisthis #whatisthisflower #identifythisplant #whatisthisplant #plantidentification #springtime #beltane #ostara #springflowers

[mikeg-bean]

Really BIZARRE fungus, anybody know what it is?

#whatisthisplant #plant's #nature #fungus #mushrooms

[raredankart]

Jasper (Mystery Opuntia) If anybody can tell me the exact scientific name of this prickly pear I would greatly appreciate it because apparently I’ve got two different species in my garden and those photo plant apps won’t tell them apart… . . . #pangea #raredankart #plantidentification #whatisthisplant #pricklypear #opuntia #jasper #plantswithnames #inamemyplants #succulents #succulentgarden #bonsai #bonsaisucculent #cactus #bonsaicactus #graphicdesign #terazzo #background #photoroom #creativedirector #productphotography #sunlit #naturelovers #plantdaddy #gayplantdad #growthmindset #growyourownfood #littletrees #miami #miamiplantgang (at Miami, Florida) https://www.instagram.com/p/CYbrYvsLNG4/?utm_medium=tumblr

#pangea #raredankart #plantidentification #whatisthisplant #pricklypear #opuntia #jasper #plantswithnames #inamemyplants #succulents #succulentgarden #bonsai #bonsaisucculent #cactus #bonsaicactus #graphicdesign #terazzo #background #photoroom #creativedirector #productphotography #sunlit #naturelovers #plantdaddy #gayplantdad #growthmindset #growyourownfood #littletrees #miami #miamiplantgang

[hortushorrei]

What is this??!! I have nurtured this 8 foot beast from seed but lost its name along the way. I love its scent and frothyness. #mysteryplant #whatisthisplant #whatisthis #scentedfoliage #mezzogiardiniere #clarkanthonylawrence (presso La Macchina Fissa) https://www.instagram.com/p/CUMs8NnIsIa/?utm_medium=tumblr

#mysteryplant #whatisthisplant #whatisthis #scentedfoliage #mezzogiardiniere #clarkanthonylawrence

[lost-edo]

Not 100% sure, but my sleuth work led me to believe that these leaves are from a Japanese nutmeg-yew or perhaps a momi fir. What do you think? 。 16 June 2018 。 2018 © Michael Mercado // lost-tokyo.blogspot.com // lost-edo.tumblr.com // www.facebook.com/Lost.Edo 。 。 #JapaneseNutmegYew #榧 #MomiFir #モミ #Leaves #Green #WhatIsThisPlant #WhatIsThisTree #MinamiAzabu #Minato #Tokyo #Japan #南麻布 #港区 #東京都 #東京 #Japan #日本 #Bokeh #Glow #NoFilter #OriginalPhotography #OriginalPhoto #Nikon #NikonD600 #D600 (at 港区南麻布)

#東京都 #日本 #originalphoto #nikond600 #d600 #港区 #japanesenutmegyew #whatisthistree #glow #東京 #モミ #榧 #japan #whatisthisplant #leaves #minato #momifir #green #nikon #minamiazabu #nofilter #bokeh #南麻布 #originalphotography #tokyo

[gmessy30]

Various. Unknown, goldenrod, red berries, blue berries, but probably not blueberries. #sonydschx400v #SonyCameras #sonydsc #goldenrod #wildberries #whatisthisplant (at Kalifornsky, Alaska) https://www.instagram.com/p/CR7sc-clCEm/?utm_medium=tumblr

#sonydschx400v #sonycameras #sonydsc #goldenrod #wildberries #whatisthisplant

[justsayjeny17]

Is this a weed? It looks like something I could have planted. It looks like I placed it in a specific location. I keep waiting for it to become a pretty flower. #justsayjenny #gardening #garden #floweridentification #gardenlife #flowers #whatisthisplant #whatisthis #greenthumb #blackthumb #blackthumbgardener (at Norwich, Vermont) https://www.instagram.com/p/CRofJPFrif1/?utm_medium=tumblr

#justsayjenny #gardening #garden #floweridentification #gardenlife #flowers #whatisthisplant #whatisthis #greenthumb #blackthumb #blackthumbgardener