Altar Lilies (Haemanthus perniciem)
Altar Lilies (Haemanthus perniciem)
After countless centuries of codependency, the Haemanthus perniciem has evolved a terrible symbiosis with the people of Olinda. These lilies bloom only beneath the sacrificial altars of the temple, where the soil is regularly fertilized with human blood.
It is said that Olinda’s forefathers offered their gods only victims who were sick, or elderly, or infirm. In time, however, the high priests of the temple — having suitably conferred with their deities — declared that each firstborn daughter must also be sacrificed. Soon, they demanded their parishioners’ firstborn sons as well. And any child born deformed, enfeebled, or disfigured. And any woman thought to be barren, or man thought to have spoken ill of the clergy.
Today, the lilies beneath the temple’s altars bloom year-round; they do not lack nourishment. And, of course, the people of Olinda benefit also from their symbiotic relationship with the Haemanthus perniciem. With each new blossom, the colony drives itself one step closer to the solace of extinction.
Strange Flowers: An Illustrated Field Guide
“Each of Dr. Sieber’s ‘strange flowers’ is a world unto itself, a window into the tortured psyche of one of this century’s most controversial and important naturalists.”– Stephen Blackmore, Professor of Biology at University of Malawi
A celebrated figure in the botanical world, Dr. Franz Sieber spent the final 14 years of his life in Prague’s most infamously cruel insane asylum. It was during this time that Dr. Sieber wrote his final manuscript, Strange Flowers. By turns nightmarish and poetic, Sieber’s field guide purports to describe a series of flora that the author observed during his many travels to the most remote and death-haunted corners of the world. My upcoming work compiles a small selection of Dr. Sieber’s works, including the excerpt above. These passages are translated, edited for clarity, and accompanied by full-colour illustrations. With neither judgement nor interpretation, Dr. Sieber’s final writings are presented as a record of the strange machinations of the great botanist’s troubled mind.