#plantsongs

[popbotany]

#PlantSongs -- Cattails by Big Thief

“where the cattail [Typha] sways with the lonesome loon“

[popbotany]

#PlantSongs -- Jo by Haley Heynderickx  

And I still watch the fig tree You planted all grow And its fruit is the sweetest That I've ever known 

Fig: Ficus carica, family Moraceae

[popbotany]

#PlantSongs -- ‘Cherry Blossom’ by ALA.NI

“Cast some cherry blossoms by the river Blowing through the flowing of my heart"

Love the old-timey chanson style, from a modern artist. Perfect for walks under cherry blossoms. 

[popbotany]

#PlantSongs -- The Cactus Where Your Heart Should Be  by The Magnetic Fields

“The cactus where your heart should be has lovely little flowers, so though it's always pricking me my ardor never sours”

[popbotany]

#PlantSongs -- Acony Bell by Gillian Welch

“The fairest bloom the mountain knows Is not an iris or a wild rose But the little flower of which I'll tell Known as the brave acony bell

Just a simple flower so small and plain With a pearly hue and a little known name But the yellow birds sing when they see it bloom For they know that spring is coming soon”

This is such a lovely tribute to a plant, Shortia galacifolia, that grows in the southern Appalachian Mountains. 

(This page has some nice pictures of this wildflower.) 

[popbotany]

#PlantSongs -- Pine for Cedars by Dan Mangan

“And I do like the road But I'd be better at home I will pine for the oak streets And pine for the cedars and you”

A nice play on the word pine in the context of other trees, but used as a verb

[popbotany]

#PlantSongs -- Yarrow and Mint by The Weather Station

Lyrics:

It was the summer of scent, yarrow and mint.  How could I forget the slight still scent of blue vervain or common plantain?  I learned to know the names they been called, years ago.  Flowering mullein.  Harbinger of Spring.  In the heat, the air lay heavy on the street.  Sweating with smoke, lilac, and gasoline.  What are you looking for?  Something you never even seen.  Better to know all those weeds that ever will grow beneath your feet.

Yarrow: Achillea millefolium, Asteraceae Mint:  Mentha, Lamiaceae Blue vervain:  Verbena hastata, Verbenaceae Common Plantain:  Plantago major, Plantaginaceae Flowering mullein:  Verbascum, Scrophulariaceae Harbinger of spring:  Erigenia bulbosa, Apiaceae Lilac:  Syringa, Oleaceae

[popbotany]

#PlantSongs -- References to Sad Tomatoes

I heard R.E.M.’s ‘Crush with Eyeliner’ today, and I remembered one of the better insults in song, “She's a sad tomato / She's three miles of bad road”.

But this isn’t the only song calling a woman a “sad tomato”, R.E.M. probably drew inspiration from the song 'And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine' which contains the lyrics “She's a real sad tomato, She's a busted valentine”. This song was sung by Lauren Bacall in the movie ‘The Big Sleep’.