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Bizarre Self-Destructing Palm Tree Found
Smivs writes "A giant self-destructing palm tree has been discovered in Madagascar. The palm is 20m (60ft) high with leaves 5m (16ft) long, the tallest tree of its type in the country, but for most of its life — around 100 years — it appears fairly unremarkable apart from its size. However, when it flowers, it puts so much energy into an impressive flower-spike, that it eventually collapses and dies.
Dr John Dransfield, who announced the tree in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, is baffled as to how it came to be in the country.
It bears a resemblance to a species of palm found in regions of Asia; 6,000km away. It is thought that the palm has gone through a remarkable evolution since Madagascar split with India some 80m years ago."
if it is a coconut palm, it was probably carried there two african swallows and a piece of string.
This isn't the first germinate-then-die species.
It may, however, be among the largest and the first to use gravity to kill itself.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
The tree lives 100 years and then gives a last hurrah with a magnificant burst of flowers and dies. Not a bad way to go at all, eh?
"is baffled as to how the it came to be in the country"
Looks like they left out fsck in the middle.No wonder this is a Slashdot story pick. People around here are very familiar with palms and reproductive spikes.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
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Then they die, because they had nothing left.
Of course, middle management and morons live on. This is why humanity is doomed. Actually I think that's just the artsy ones. To the best of my knowledge top scientists don't really have particularly different life expectancies than average people, and while most of them tend to make their major contributions while relatively young a lot of that probably has to do with changing life/work balances and older brains as opposed to burnout. Famous creative people on the other hand probably do tend to die younger. This is likely due to the fact that people find crazy interesting, so crazy people tend to be more artistically famous, when coupled with the kind of attention artistic fame brings it's not surprising their mortality tends to kicks in a fair bit sooner.
I stole this Sig
With fronds like that, who needs enemies?