[Opinion] Indigenous Dandelions?

Around the time when Noah’s flood occurred, people and animals that were not invited to “Noah’s Ark” were frightened by heavy rain and rushed to the top of mountains. Plants were not spared in the flood. All the plants tried hard to survive the flood. Dandelions that were stuck on the surface of the soil couldn’t do anything. Dandelions were submerged in the heavy rain. The flowers prayed God to help them. Their prayer was answered. God sent a strong wind. The seeds of dandelions riding on the wind flew far away and sat on the roof of Noah’s Ark. After the flood, buds came out. The floral language of dandelions is “gratefulness.”

There is a popular song titled, “Becoming a seed of dandelions.” Dandelions are very small, but strong as their seed flies as far as 40 km. Roots run deep into the earth. They are resilient even when stumped. And sap oozes from broken stems. Young leaves are used for cooked potherbs. Roots are used for a fever reducer. Dandelions endure a cold winter and they bloom in April and May. The strength of dandelions is similar to the resilience of Korean people. They are often the subject of songs and poems.

However, dandelions, which are in full bloom every spring, proved not to be indigenous. The Ministry of Environment commissioned Chonbuk National University to do research on dandelions. Dandelions were crossbred with western ones that are more prolific than local ones. Now indigenous dandelions are in the danger of extinction. In the survival of the fittest, indigenous dandelions lost, but the genes of indigenous dandelions remain in the foreign dandelions.

The strong procreative power of western dandelions forced out indigenous dandelions. The rule of the survival of the fittest is the most pronounced in the ecosystem. However, western dandelions did not have dominant genes in the first place. Through crossbreeding, they became stronger. It is sad that indigenous things are disappearing. It seems that plants are also affected by the globalization.

Chung Seong-hee, Editorial Writer, shchung@donga.com