… Plato, they say, could stick it away
Half a crate of whisky every day …

A colourful contrast to the heather moorland, still largely in its drab winter colours. But the Rhododendron shouldn’t be there, it’s an archaeophyte, and generally considered to be invasive, offering very little to the local ecology. It’s a bit of a mystery how it’s managed to be growing here on Hutton Moor. I don’t think it seeds, yet it’s distance from the nearest path makes it unlikely to have been deliberately planted.

The Rhododendron’s true homes are the Iberian Peninsula and the Caucasus mountains¹Wikipedia Contributors. 2021. “Rhododendron Ponticum,” Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhododendron_ponticum> [accessed 8 June 2021]. The plant contains a neurotoxin called grayanotoxin, which ends up in Rhododendron honey. It brings on light-headedness and hallucinations, and is much prized in Turkey as deli bal or “mad honey”²“The Strange History of ‘Mad Honey.’” 2014. Modern Farmer <https://modernfarmer.com/2014/09/strange-history-hallucinogenic-mad-honey/> [accessed 8 June 2021].

Aristotle was aware of “mad honey” and its intoxicating effects, a fact which has just doubled my knowledge of the philosopher³Wikipedia Contributors. 2021. “Grayanotoxin,” Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grayanotoxin> [accessed 8 June 2021]. Previously it was limited to the Bruces’ Philosophers Song from Monty Python extolling the drinking habits of the various philosophers:

…
Plato, they say, could stick it away
Half a crate of whisky every day
Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle
…

Plato, of course, predicted that all democratic governments will inevitably lead to chaos and anarchy. He foresaw that elected leaders would deliberately lie to us, in an attempt to placate its support. It follows that the only logical result from democracy is … tyranny; a state where the government purposely undermines the people’s needs in order to maintain power. As far as Plato is concerned, tyranny is the worst of all regimes, where the whimsical desires of the ruler became law and there is no check upon arbitrariness⁴Wikipedia Contributors. 2021. “Republic (Plato),” Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_(Plato)#Book_VIII> [accessed 8 June 2021].

Plato must surely have been on the “mad honey” as well as the half a crate of whisky when he dreamt that lot up. His prediction couldn’t possibly come true, could it?

• 1
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2021. “Rhododendron Ponticum,” Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhododendron_ponticum> [accessed 8 June 2021]
• 2
  “The Strange History of ‘Mad Honey.’” 2014. Modern Farmer <https://modernfarmer.com/2014/09/strange-history-hallucinogenic-mad-honey/> [accessed 8 June 2021]
• 3
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2021. “Grayanotoxin,” Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grayanotoxin> [accessed 8 June 2021]
• 4
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2021. “Republic (Plato),” Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_(Plato)#Book_VIII> [accessed 8 June 2021]