Little Plantlets: Just Like Their Mother

Pink Heliconia is parthenogenic. That means it makes little plantlets on the dying flower. Daylilies and other plants do it too. All are exactly the same as their mother.  You can take those off and put them in nursery pots.  On the day we picked the pink ginger plantlets, my friend Gillaine gave them away to children.

Sisal fiber which we see in rugs comes from the leaves of agaves. When we were on the trail in the mountains picking up sisal plantlets ( it’s parthenogenic too) children treated us like children saying “Pica! Pica! Blan!” Meaning “Careful, that will poke you white guy!”

A little girl in ripped off at the knee sweats and some sort of top that must have been part of a weeding dress helped me collect plants. She ran the tiny rock path with her arms out, full of joy and wanting the same for me.

In the evenings, in the patio of my dorm, a bright, smiling 13 year old who hasn’t ever lasted in any foster home stops by to visit.  He lives around, has a sort of caretaker but hangs out with visitors mostly.   He teach me a few words of creole and some nights dances with us blans. Last night, he hit his head and needed stitches. He didn’t even cry after the fall, but I could see in his face a little shock. I reached to check out the wound but my coworker said, “Oh wait. We need glove. he’s positive.”  It took a second to register then so much from the early 80’s ran through my head.   My coworker saw something in my reaction and took care of me a second too say, ‘Don’t worry, he’s doing great.  He was born with it; got it from his mother.   Let’s go.”