1 18 k7 The Secret Liji of NatureNaturally, says Steiner, those who regard the plant as something
purely material know nothing of its ideal spiritual form. Materialistic
science describes the plant as taking root in the ground, while above
ground it develops leaves, finally unfolding its blossoms, and within the
blossoms its stamens, followed by the seed bud. At which point pollen
from vessels, usually from another plant, is carried over to the germ,
which is fertilized, and through this, a new plant is produced,The germ
is regarded as the female element and what comes from the stamens is
the male."Indeed,"says Steiner,"matters cannot be regarded otherwise,
so long as people remain fixed in materialism; for them this process re-
ally does look like fertilization."
Spiritual science views the process in quite another light, granting
to salamanders, or fire spirits, a significant role in the life of plants,
without whom there would be no so-called generative propagation of
plants, no blossoming. After the plant has grown up through the sphere
of the sylphs, says Steiner, it comes into the sphere of the elemental fire-
spirits, inhabitants of the "warm ether" element, the salamanders.When
the warmth of the earth is at its height, or is otherwise suitable, the
salamanders gather the warmth together and carry it into the blossoms
of the plants.The pollen, seen clairvoyantly, now provides what may be
called little air-ships to enable the fire spirits to carry the warmth into
the seed: everywhere warmth is collected with the help of the stamens,
and is carried by means of the pollen from the anthers to the seeds and
the seed vessels.What is formed here in the seed bud, says Steiner, is en-
tirely the male element, which comes from the cosmos."It is not a case
of the seed-vessel being female and the anthers of the stamen being
male. In no way does fructification occur in the blossom, only the pre-
forrmng of the male seed."
Salamanders carry warmth-ether into the plant in the same way
that sylphs carry light-ether and undines carry chemical-ether; with-
out salamanders there would be no flowering of plants: they transform
lifeless warmth into living warmth. No creature could live or repro-
duce without salamanders.These fire spirits, he notes, take the utmost
delight in following in the tracks of butterfly flight so that they may
bring about the distribution of warmth, which must descend into the