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Jurassic Plants Make A Comeback
Makarand writes "BBC News is reporting that
saplings of the Wollemi Pine will go on sale
by the end of 2005. This is the only plant survivor from the Jurassic age. After it was discovered in 1994 in a single
Australian grove, the tree's home has been kept a top secret. Research to find the best way to grow the plants on a
commercial scale has now paid off and the pines are set for a return. As they grow slowly and like low-light conditions they will be marketed as indoor plants." This looks like an interesting addition to any home, even if the article's title is a bit of a misnomer.
There is another relict grove in Pitcunda on the Russian Black Sea coast. Due to something noone so far understands which happened over the last 600 or so years it no longer reproduces. The peninsula itself is slowly sinking into the sea after several earthquakes in the region in the 60-es.
So for now there is another grove and it is also listed as world heritage site by Unesco. Note the "for now" as you will not see any saplings from it. You are least likely to see the grove itself in a few hundred years either (it is awesome).
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
Bonsai is a technique not a species. Literally in Japanese, it means "tree in pot". You can take any number of species of tree, and "bonsai" them. This involves restricting the roots, reducing the leaf size, and pruning it in such a manor that the small tree appears like a miniature version of the larger tree (as opposed to just a young tree).
So you could actually get one of these trees, and turn it into a "bonsai tree" (which is what I considered doing when I read the article)
---Lane
Take a look at this site:
/ wollemi_pine
:).
http://www.rbgsyd.gov.au/information_about_plants
It briefly explains how they came to the conclusion that this was a living fossil. Myself, I'm willing to take their word for it, because they've been in the field _much_ longer than I have
Uh-oh.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
The Jurassic Period was 206 to 144 Million Years Ago the coelacanth is 400 million years old!
Doesn't this debunk the theory that Australia is a moon that fell from the sky and became a continent?
:-)
According to the most common theories...
Australia was part of Pangea just like all other continents. Unless you mean something happened even before that, but then basically all continents were as one supercontinent anyway and I don't see how a moon (!) impact would form Australia in specific.
Pangea later split to form Laurasia and Gondwanaland. Australia should be from the latter.
The theory you mention sounds like the work of someone who has no insight into continental drifts at all, thinking that "hmm, Australia is a fuckin' big island, perhaps it's from a moon??"
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
That line wasn't in the BBC article. It seems very unlikely. A cursory Google search turns up Jurassic Plants which says
Several of the trees listed are still around. No need to be over-dramatic. It's a plant that was thought extinct for millions of years; that's a distinction enough.There are other plant species that are older e.g. Cycads.
siener's youtube channel
Well, I'd call almost 40 m big. Certainly bigger than moss. :-)
From the Royal Botanical Gardens site: Tallest tree is 38.5 m
Apparently ginkos are also extremely old and resemeble a Jurassic variety. And Cycads, which are woody plants that create seeds. They also seem to be quite poisonous although they are eaten as "beach tucker" after processing in the jungle. (link) Anyway here are some links.
Finally I there are also the extremely visually (and biochemically?) wierd Gymnopsperms like Welwitschia And Ephedra, which seem ancient, maybe same era..
All this because I was trying to figure out if the inch-long stem/leaf in my pocket which I snapped off a huge pencil plant was one of those. Not sure yet.. I remember my mother also has some kind of ancient plant which looks like a gray rock and does nothing, but then one day suddenly splits in half, and then each half will continue to split in the same way recursively. A very cool plant if anyone can figure out what it is!
Molds aren't plants, they're fungi.
New Zealand is perfectly awash in the flora of Jurassic age plant life. Ever hear of Gondwanaland? It was the southern continent that broke from Pangea. NZ is a remnant. NZ never got flowering plants (until man brought them in.) Also, the ginko was very common in the Jurassic age. My hometown has the Morton Arboretum, which cultivates ginkos.
So long and thanks for all the fish . . . !!!
Want to see a creature whose roots date back to the beginning of life on earth, but whose physical appearane has changed very little in that time? Go to a beach and find a horseshoe crab. They've been around for millions of years, and looked pretty much the way they do now. They've also got blue blood, which any true geek would find interesting.
There is no sig, there is only Zuul.
One interesting thing about the Wollemi (apart from the fact that close-up it looks cool and wierd - more fern-like than tree-like), is that the group that were discovered are all genetically identical - they spread by shooting rather than sexually, so their DNA may in fact be very close to that of the Jurassic era fossilized examples.
...and to be needlessly pedantic, the Jurassic was a period in the Mesozoic era, in the presently ongoing Phanerozoic eon. The Jurassic was, strictly speaking, not an "age." Ages aren't part of the relative geologic time scale that defines the Jurassic period.
The Jurassic lasted from a little more than 206 million years ago, on up through about 145 million years ago. The answer to the question of when the Jurassic began and ended will vary depending on who you ask...this is just the sort of thing that geologists and paleontologists might argue about while they're waiting for the coffee to brew.
It is obvious even to a lay person like myself that it is a simpler, more primitive plant than modern trees.
It's not a misnomer, it's just a little culture shock for our humble editors :) But when I saw the headline on the BBC front page the other day, I'll admit I also "fell for it" at first. But seriously, since these "Jurassic Pines" are being marketed as house plants, rather than something to put in your yard, they'll be spending their lives in big pots--hence, "pot plants".
I'm sure the British have been calling plants in pots "pot plants" long before the slang usage of "pot" as a word for dope came into common use.
A few years ago, while walking in London, I saw a sidewalk sandwich-board advertising "Sale! Pot plants L2.50" and you can bet I wish I'd had my camera with me so I could have titillated my Yankee friends back home.
Anyway, I'm sure the Brits in our audience see such things every day and make nothing of it. Do you guys over there even call marijuana "pot"? The BBC normally refers to it as "cannabis".
-gnunick
They use different words for things in America. For instance they say elevator and we say lift. They say drapes and we say curtains. They say president and we say brain damaged git. -- Alexei Sayle
I have no special gift, I am only passionately curious. --Albert Einstein