Sunday 4 March 2018

Trees

On Aeneas, the Hedin Freehold has a windbreak comprising:

Aenean delphi and rahab;
Terran oak and acacia;
Llynathawrian rasmin;
Ythrian hammerbranch.

That is a very mixed ecology although not the only such in Technic civilization. When Flandry was on Llynathawr, trees were mentioned although they were not identified as "rasmin." The Hedins' flowers, cultivated with difficulty, are all extra-planetary because blossoms did not evolve on Aeneas.

Wind brings moisture from canals, marshes and salt lakes so the Hedins farm and ranch. The remainder of the account of the Freehold is familiar from many similar passages in Anderson's works:

manse
cottages
barns
sheds
workshops
paved coutyard
mosaics
machines
many kinds of people and animals
sounds
generations of leadership and loyalty

While rereading The Day Of Their Return, I do not summarize the plot, which is there for anyone to read, but instead try to highlight details that might be missed while merely following the plot. Ivar Frederiksen is on the run from the Impies but we can pause to appreciate the trees of four planets.

1 comment:

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Kaor, Paul!

Broadly speaking, the socio/political set up seen on Aeneas is almost certainly what Lord Hauksberg and Flandry commented on when discussing how feudalism had evolved on that planet.

And what on TERRA is a tree called "hammerbranch"? Leaves or branches resembling hammers?

Sean