Goat's Beard

Aruncus dioicus, known as goat's beard, buck's beard and bride's feathers, is an example of a dioecious plant. This means "having the male reproductive organs on one plant, and the female on another”, both of which are required for seeds. Dioecious plants house their male and female flowers on separate plants, though I cannot say the sex to which this particular one belongs, which I photographed growing in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester.

Other plants are either hermaphroditic (the plants have male and female parts together within the same flower) or monoecious, which can have male and female flowers in separate structures on the same plant. Whichever they are, there is ‘maleness’ and ‘femaleness’ about them which are required for reproduction. This plain biological assertion was once used to describe humans also, as the Maker of all plants also made all humans. In the twenty-first century, though, some clever human beings thought they knew better, and said that gender and sex were merely ‘constructs’ or imagined distinctions. By attacking the clear evidence of creation, it helped them justify ignoring and repudiating their Creator. Truly, such people had the minds of goats and had feathers for brains.

Why do the nations rage,

And the people plot a vain thing?

The kings of the earth set themselves,

And the rulers take counsel together,

Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,

“Let us break Their bonds in pieces

And cast away Their cords from us.”

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;

The Lord shall hold them in derision.