The Listless Flower

A peek at my desk at work will clue you in on the real reason I do research: I love plants. I'm already growing hundreds of Arabidopsis, soybean, poplar, and switchgrass plants in greenhouses and growth chambers, but I still keep two African violets and three Pothos rescued from my renter on my desk, along with various cuttings soaking in a plastic juice bottle full of water. I also have a rangy begonia, which is unfortunately not flourishing like the others. Begonias aren't that difficult to keep alive and with the right conditions they can be stunning. Mine is not. My begonia has straggled along for months now. It grows, but the new leaves emerge oddly curling and twisted, and those lower on the stems progressively yellow and fall off, leaving long, bare stems that sprawl gracefully from behind my computer (this is classic shade avoidance phenotype--elongating, non-branching, sparsely-leaved shoots). My plant also flowers, and in classic begonia fashion the flowers are short-lived and shed often. The fact of the matter is that begonias are particularly messy plants to grow and mine is no exception. However, I rather like this aspect of my plant, particularly on very quiet days like today, when few people are around and the loudest noise you hear is the steam pipes rattling in our ancient building. At random times throughout the day the stillness is interrupted by the softest of sounds: the fall of a flower.