the paradoxes if life

here’s another take on those splendid black hyacinth bean seedpods. this time with a little more stem, which gives a little more context. although as i look at this now, even this photo is a little misleading, as those are not really branches, so much as vine stems. hyacinth bean is indeed a bean plant. as i read the wiki page on this plant, it strikes me how often i see plants listed as both edible and toxic in the same sentence.*  it reminds me just how paradoxical life is–we humans are both astoundingly robust and unfathomably fragile simultaneously. we can survive in myriad environments, under tremendously varied circumstances, and yet if eat one bean cooked the wrong way…well, it’s game over. imagine all the trial and error that went into learning which plants were edible and which were not. it boggles the mind.

hyacinth been vine with winter seedpods (Lablab purpureus)

*e.g. “…in addition, lablab bean is cited both as a medicinal plant and a poisonous plant….the fruit and beans are edible if boiled well with several changes of the water. Otherwise, they are toxic due to the presence of cyanogenic glycosides, glycosides that are converted to hydrogen cyanide when consumed.”