Fen Grass of Parnassus

 

Fen Grass of Parnassus
Parnassia glauca

Grass of Parnassus is a pretty little flower found in wet meadowy areas next to lakes and ponds.

I've copied poems for this blog in posts past, but always planned on doing one of my own sometime. Well, time it running out, and Parnassus is the home of poetry and literature, at least according to the Greeks, so here it is. Keep in mind that I'm not a poet. :-)

Grass of Parnassus alas is no grass
It’s actually one of the Saxifrages
Or perhaps Celastraceae
Maybe Parnassiaceae
Who knows, the taxonomists simply just can’t agree
All they will tell you is it is no Poaceae

So why call it Grass, you can tell by its leaves
The status of grass, it never achieves
The flower is pretty, not at all grassy
Call it Flower of Parnassus, to be a bit sassy

Mount Parnassus is famous in old Greek legends
Most peculiar things that they imagined
Happened on that mount in Grecian history
Muses & nymphs of mythology
Mattered not in the naming of this plant
The cows simply ate it, or that’s how it went

It’s a plant that’s preferred by the cows of Parnassus
That place of poets, muses, cute lasses
The center of learning, the home of Pegasus
It needed a plant of its own, to show to the masses
So why not the beautiful Grass of Parnassus