DOCTRINE OF SIGNATURES (DOS) & PENIS PLANT
“The secrets are in the plants. To elicit them you have to love them enough.” — G. W. Carver
Recently a series of images of a plant went viral women posing and plucking with a particular kind of plant. The awfully resemblance of the plant is with the male genitalia when glanced upon a certain angle. Magic! The magic of the reality of the nature! This plant is none other than a kind of the pitcher plant having scientific name, Nepenthes bokorensis belongs to the family Nepenthaceae of plant kingdom. It is very often confused with Nepenthes holdenii. It is a kind of insectivorous plant that engulfs certain kind of insects as a part to meet up their protein demand. But the images became viral due to its close resemblance with the phallic shape of the male genitalia. The penis plant is endemic to western Cambodia and it is one of the endangered species of the tropical forests areas. The great concern about the plant is female attitude towards mass uprooting. Now the question comes about its uniqueness or it is the only plant having resemblance with human body organ? The nature can give the answers of a good number of plants with human organs resemblance. This has been highly advocated in the herbalists as a part of the doctrine of signature as far as health practices of human are concerned. Now what is doctrine of signature (DOS)? The Doctrine of signature is an old tradition of knowledge that advocates the ‘clues’ or ‘signatures’ offered by the organs in their shapes, forms, actions and things to strengthen their purposes in different spheres in general and health systems in particular. Since the time immemorial, human have been suffering from innumerable maladies and diseases and they experimented with plant cures as they were close to the nature. Might due to observation, they probably developed the concept of plant “signature” as they did not have any dependable alternatives. The word ‘doctrine’ means ‘belief’ and the word ‘signature’ is said to be a duplet, which has been derived from the two words ‘sign’ and ‘nature’. In a word, ‘doctrine of signature’ is a belief on various signs of nature or clues given by nature for the human existence. Paracelsus, Gambatista porta, Jacob Bohme, William cales, Hahnemann, C,A Borger, H.A. Robert, J.C. Burnett are some of the pioneers in the name of the doctrine of signature. The DOS has been carefully evaluated by several scientists from time to time and there is a little evidence to strengthen the principles of the doctrine of signature. A careful evaluation of signatures suggests four basic things-there is no evidence that morphological plant signatures ever led to discovery of medicinal properties; signatures are post hoc attributions rather than a clues priory tested to the utility of the medicinal plants; it is productive to redefine signatures to test the organoleptic and therapeutic values of the medicinal plants and DOS should be considered is a mnemonic and therefore is exceedingly valuable in traditional knowledge and culture dissemination systems. Now again, come to ‘Penis plant’ or ‘Penis flytraps’. This plant is not only the example of the plant having resemblance with male genitalia organ. There are a good number of examples that deserve mentioning in this regard. Aconite (Aconitum napellus, Ranunculaceae) resembles with eye like fruit, Walnut (Juglans regia, Juglandaceae) resembles to human brain, Naked ladies (Colchicum autumnale, Liliaceae), stinging nettle resembles fine needles, Lungwort (Pulmonaria officinalis, Boraginaceae), Cowslip primrose (Primula veris, Primulaceae). Kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris, Fabaceae),Foxglove (Digitalis lanata, Lamiaceae) like heart-shaped etc are some of the examples where there is a fragrance of the magic of the reality of the shape of the plant organs resemble with the different organs of the human body. Fortunately or unfortunately (?), the plants as mentioned earlier are still now used as a part of the traditional knowledge in the health care practices particularly in the under privileged areas without proper modern health care systems. Modern herbals, pharmacopoeias, and peer-reviewed literature are almost universally rejected DOS in the health care practices. It is called fanciful, far-fetched, premodern, prescientific and unreliable as far the therapeutic values in the modern health care practices are concerned. But fewer scholars interpret DOS in positive light without condemning it. Rather, they tried to advocate the significance of DOS particularly in the era of darkness when the ray of health care practices was very juvenile form and not accessible by the common people. What about Nepenthes bokorensis? The carnivorous plant like N. bokorensis attracts prey like ants by providing nectar on the lid and rim of the pitcher. Ants fall down the inside slippery shaft and into digestive juices to absorb. This provides protein supplement to the plants. The lid closes to trap food inside and it almost awfully looks like phallic. If the injudicious uprooting of the plant continues, the plant will become in the lane of gene erosion and loss of biodiversity. The Cambodian government has come forward to raise voice against the mass extinction. So far my knowledge is concerned, this plant does not promise any sexual stimulant like additives. The conscious people become very much unconscious particularly in the world of self pixels .We have the right to have the pleasure of the radiance of the magic of the reality of nature but we do not have right to uproot them. Let us join hands to promote the sustainable development by strengthening the conservation of biodiversity. I quote from the father of human consciousness, “Trees are the earth’s endless effort to speak to the listening heaven” (Tagore)
