Introducing the world citizen, the Sago water lily

Below is an excerpt from Dispersal: About plants, borders, and affiliations Written by Jessica J. Lee.

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Dispersal: About plants, borders, and affiliations

Paddling from our camp on the outskirts of Brandenburg, we emerge from a narrow, tree-sheltered stream onto a larger, windswept lake. Here a small wave rose, rhythmically nudging the canoe as it moved westward. I’ve paddled the plateau of this lake in Germany many times, and swam it even more, but I’m still invigorated by the views afforded by being in the middle of the water. Stay off dry land and away from the roads and trails that are only loosely strung around the area. Water was a way to see more from a different angle, beneath the roots and the land that covered East Germany’s forests. Freshwater life could be clearly seen here. White and butter-yellow lilies sway in our gentle wake. A round, holed lotus seed head. My mind kept thinking about food, the lotus root salad sprinkled with chili peppers and the sweet soup sprinkled with lotus seeds. Below us, sago plants danced like fennel leaves strung underwater. Sometimes he would pull up a tree branch with his oar and twist the stem between his fingers. Jade-colored and delicate.

However, I later learned that this plant was tougher than it looked and could grow in still lakes as well as rivers, canals, ditches, and brackish lakes. In murky conditions, aquatic plants like sago pondweed can help restore water bodies to a relatively clear and healthy state. In the late 1980s, when one of the region’s largest lakes began to recover from eutrophication, sago pondweed was one of the first species to slowly recolonize the lake and thrive, depleting the oxygen in the water. I survived though.

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A map of the natural range of sago pondweed covers almost the entire globe. They live on all continents except Antarctica. I noted the list of countries it’s based in, paragraph-sized blotches of locations from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, and the purple highlight above Hawaii, the only place it’s thought to have been introduced. Masu. The range of sago pondweed is therefore described as “cosmopolitan.”

What does it mean to be a citizen of the world among species? The sago aquatic plant lives on the banner of free movement in a world where borders are becoming increasingly pronounced. But the natural world resists our tendency to set arbitrary geopolitical boundaries on it, and we, too, are similarly forced by our actions to overstep the boundaries we apply. Masu.

The first time I thought about what it meant to be cosmopolitan was at the age of 18, clutching a pink pocket-sized book by Jacques Derrida. I read that to talk about Cosmopolitan you need to talk about hospitality. An attitude that welcomes those who stay.

For those who move, the reality of migration is much different. The first international standards for passports were not agreed until the 1920s after World War I. However, phytosanitary efforts had been underway for decades earlier. Measures to regulate the movement of plants across national borders were widely enacted in the late 19th century and early 20th century, with national laws on pest control and quarantine enacted in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. I did. As knowledge about plant pests and the means to control them increased, so did others. But what about a world that doesn’t fit neatly into these maps? Not all passports give the same rights of passage. Some species, like aquatic plants, can belong everywhere at the same time.

I’m moving, but I don’t plan on staying stuck at home like my parents and grandparents did. My friends are buying houses and are asking which of my phone numbers are still valid and which can be deleted. Still I’m moving. Every time I move, I miss the places of my past and find myself unable to wash them away. I am a mother’s daughter and I look for ponds everywhere.

When I read that Lake Berlin was recolonized by sago aquatic plants, I knew that it spread slowly and persistently, not by seeds, but through tubers that grow below the lake bed. What does it mean to move and stay rooted, to put down roots across continents?

Excerpt from Dispersion: About plants, borders, and affiliations; Copyright © 2024 by Jessica J. Lee, reprinted with permission from Catapult.