Intertwined Lives 65 
Pe 
Chains of white jasmine (Jasminum) are worn as a hair adornment in Tamil Nadu, India. The flowers become increas- 
ingly fragrant in the evening. 
while wild bees 
kiss them gently © 
Anthologies of classical Tamil, written 
between 100 BCE and 250 CE, describe the 
flowers that women bear as those of jasmine. 
For men, too, flowers have been a bedtime 
adornment for ages, and the exchange of flowers 
between individuals has always carried unspo- 
ken and covert sexual connotations.’ 
From trees in Costa Rica that use flowers to 
attract moths to women in India who use flow- 
ers for adornment, the fundamental motives of 
life are the same irrespective of geographies, 
gender, or species. But the enchantment of 
union does not stop there. The collision of these 
seemingly different worlds gets closer and more 
intimate. Jasminium sumbac and other spe- 
cies of Jasminum are native to South India and 
other parts of tropical Asia. Jasmine flowers 
are highly fragrant, pollinated by moths, and 
here, too, the maximum production of aromatic 
compounds is between seven and eight o’clock 
in the evening! ® 
Moon and Sex 
Back in Costa Rica and on another moonlit 
night, Iam driving to my campsite after a full 
day of fieldwork in the dry deciduous forest. 
MCKAY SAVAGE (CC BY 2.0) 
