Plant metaphors are the second most prominent metaphor within the ontological metaphors identified in the corpus. The corpus identifies two conceptual metaphors related to the plant conceptual domain that are expressed by a total of 32 metaphorical expressions, with a percentage of 4.73% of the total metaphorical expressions identified in the corpus. These plant-biomedical metaphors identified in the corpus are intended to interpret the function and process of the biomedical target domain in question in terms of a more familiar experience of the plant source domain. The plant source conceptual domain generates the following conceptual metaphors.
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5.2.2.1 A BIOMEDICAL ENTITY IS A PLANT
This is the most prominent metaphor type detected in the plants metaphor, with a total of twenty-one metaphorical expressions. This metaphor conceptualises the abstract development of the biomedical entity in question in terms of the natural growth of a plant. The metaphorical expressions underling this conceptualisation highlight various stages of plant growth, each of which corresponds to the abstract progress of the respective biomedical target domain. The initial or starting stage of the biomedical entity is highlighted by the initial stage of plant growth, which is expressed by metaphorical expressions like seed, take root, grow, root, growth, and home-grown; the development of the biomedical entity is indicated by expressions like flourishing, thrive, blossomed, bud, budding from, and buds off; and the valuable and gainful outcomes of the biomedical process is encapsulated by expressions like crops up, fruition, fruits, and bear mature fruit.
The biomedical entity includes the biological functions and processes of the human body, the disease entity, medical therapy, and biomedical research and endeavours. In the following examples, the development of cancerous cells inside the body is interpreted in terms of a natural initial stage of plant growth. Similarly, biomedical research and endeavours in the context of Alzheimer’s disease are portrayed as a plant and the success of this research in identifying the pathological nature of Alzheimer’s is interpreted in terms of the fruits of that plant. In addition, the development of medical technologies is also interpreted in terms of the rapid growth of a plant as indicated by the expression flourishing. Consider the following examples:
5.93 To the extent that T-regs impede this surveillance, they might inadvertently help a malignancy take root and grow. [SA 11]
5.94 Such an endeavor may come to fruition because imaging and other technologies, now flourishing worldwide, can track biomarkers to reveal the nature of the underlying disease process [Alzheimer]. [SA 53]
As shown in these examples, the growth of a plant in the first example is used to mirror the negative development and harmful consequences that worsen the patients’ health if a disease progresses inside the body. In contrast, plant growth is used in the second example to emphasise the health benefits resultant from the success of biomedical research in developing the ways whereby the actual process of Alzheimer’s disease
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can be detected. It is worth mentioning here that the concept of the main and most supportive element of the biomedical part in question is expressed by the constitutive metaphor stem cells in the sense that these cells have the power to produce a large number of cells. It is noteworthy here that this metaphor also serves to attract the reader’s attention; given that the metaphorical expression budding appears in the headline of the ST article “Budding Vesicles in Living Cells”.
5.2.2.2 A BIOMEDICAL PROCESS IS AGRICULTURE
This is the second recurrent image identified in the plant conceptual domain which is expressed by nineteen metaphorical tokens. Within this plant image, the biomedical part is perceived as a natural plant and the functions, processes and consequences they have in the human body and its health are expressed in terms of the natural agricultural activities performed by the farmers. The first stage of farming including preparing the land for farming and providing nourishing substances is reflected by metaphorical tokens like fertilise and fertile soil which conceptualise respectively medical research in enhancing and reinforcing the T cells in AIDS patients, medical research in the insertion of male reproductive material into the female reproductive system to produce new organisms; and medical research in the field of protein-causing ageing as a powerful resource for promoting the medical research regarding slowing cellular senescence.
The following agricultural activities are linked with cultivation and are meant in the corpus to reflect the creation of biomedical entities that are analogous with the implanting process which is manifested by expressions like seeds, cultivate, implant, culture, transplant, and grow (transitive). These expressions that emerge from the implanting theme are used in the corpus to describe the biological creation of various cellular and genetic components relating to replacing the damaged or defective biological part or joining a new organ into the existing one as is the case with inserting a graft into a stem or trunk of a plant. It is noteworthy here that metaphorical expressions culture, transplant, and cultivate are also constitutive metaphors. Consider the following example:
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5.95My co-workers and I routinely cultivate a single B cell to grow a “clone” comprising hundreds of daughter cells. [SA 41]
Lastly, in the corpus harvest-related terms such as eradicate, clear, weeds out, reap, and rooting out are further used to positively highlight the biological process, the medical procedures, the vaccines and biomedical research that help to destroy both the disease components and human bodily components in the human body, since their persistence in the human body may develop severe risks to people’s health or a patient’s condition. Consider the following examples:
5.96This new view implies that rooting out every last cancer cell in the body might not be necessary. [SA 51]
5.97Eventually the modified immune system would also be likely to clear any remaining HIV from various hiding places in the body. [SA 29]
It is worth mentioning here that in the corpus the plant-biomedical metaphor is also meant to highlight the biomedical research and endeavours performed by the biomedical scientists to detect the actual causes of cancer disease. This is expressed in the corpus by the expression “Untangling the Roots of Cancer” which appears as a headline of one of the ST articles.