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Are Plants Telepathic?
In the 1960s, scientist Cleve Backster attached a plant to a polygraph machine. When he threatened to hurt the plant, the polygraph went practically crazy. Another experiment had two plants placed in the same room, with only one connected to a polygraph machine. A group of men entered the room, and one man was tasked to harm the unconnected plant. The polygraphed plant began to display movement on the instrument’s readout. The men then left the room and returned sometime later. When the man who had harmed the other plant entered, without touching the plants, the polygraph plant again began to show activity, as if it had a memory. Although these “experiments” are generally debunked as pseudoscience, Backster’s instinct might have been heading in the right direction. The Society for Plant Neurobiology recently endorsed a study that examined the extent of plant intelligence. We know plants react to changing environmental factors, such as variations in light, and produce toxins to detract herbivores, and they receive chemical signals from other plants. It was previously believed plants did so via genetically entrenched biochemical mechanisms. New research suggests that the system plants use to respond to stimuli is similar in many ways to animal nervous systems. In any case, George Washington Carver, the famous American horticulturist, always talked to his plants.
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MISTLETOE
Viscum album
Kissing, Dracula-Style
Mistletoe is a group of semiparasitic plants belonging to the order Santanales. While the name mistletoe has unknown origins, it possibly derives from the German mist or the Old English mistil, though this word was used to describe basil. The plant originated in Eurasia, and humans subsequently introduced it in North America and Australia. The plant grows by attaching its viney branches to trees and shrubs. But it doesn’t do this just to gain sunlight; it also penetrates the host with its haustorium, a rootlike outgrowth that allows it to absorb and rob the other plant of its nutrients and water, ultimately killing the other plant—Dracula-style.
Mistletoe isn’t all bad, though. Many animals use its leaves and young shoots for food. More than 240 species of birds build their nests inside mistletoe plants, whose shape is very suitable for support. Juniper trees entwined with mistletoe have even been known to produce more juniper berries than normal. Areas with a higher density of mistletoe foliage tend to play host to broader animal populations, so it might not be fair to categorically write these plants off as pests. They do contribute to biodiversity.
A Plant with History
Mistletoe is the subject of numerous myths and legends and folklore. The only species native to Europe, Viscum album, was honored as the Golden Bough of Aeneas in Greco-Roman mythology. According to some Norse legends, the god Hoor killed his brother Bald with a mistletoe “projectile.” In another version, Hoor performed the murder with a sword named Mistilteinn. Some European pre-Christian cultures considered these plants a sign of male vitality, and the plant has come to be associated with romance.
As Christianity continued to influence pagan cultures, it began to rewrite the significance and symbolism of the plant. Some argue Jesus’s cross was made from a mistletoe tree (others say cypress), but according to one legend, from the crucifixion on the plant became parasitic. This belief boosted the plant’s initial popularity as a hanging ornament in homes; a tradition formed that people should kiss beneath boughs made from mistletoe that were seen as a symbol of the crucifixion. Thus they humbled themselves before the cross and kissed it to receive blessings. Though reports of this practice date back to the sixteenth century in England, it spread as mistletoe grew in popularity as a Christmas decoration in the Victorian era. Since the plant retained its pagan association with fertility, the tradition continued to oblige a woman to kiss a man when standing with him beneath a decorative wreath, bough, or branch. With each kiss, one of the mistletoe’s berries was plucked by the female. When all the berries were gone—and the berries are poisonous, by the way—the plant lost its romantic sway, and kissing beneath it was no longer required.
Botanically, mistletoe’s evergreen leaves perform photosynthesis, so it can survive without a host. However, its seeds usually germinate on the branches of the host trees or shrubs that the mistletoe entwines with while the plant is young and not yet dependent on its host. After bearing seeds, the older plant, having spent its vital energy on the seeds, only then begins to rob nutrients from the host tree, drawing from it water to keep itself alive. Some mistletoe species give small flowers, which are pollinated by insects, and others have very showy, large flowers, pollinated by birds.
Medicinal Value
Some claim mistletoe extract has cancer-fighting properties, although there have not been any substantive clinical trials to prove this. However, European herbalists use the plant’s young twigs to aid respiratory and circulatory problems. You can find mistletoe extract sold as Helixor and Iscador. Although it’s been the culprit behind many an unwanted kiss, mistletoe has no known aphrodisiacal effects. Celts used it as a poison antidote.
MONKEY PUZZLE TREE
Araucaria araucana
A Majestic Sight
The monkey puzzle tree, also called the monkey tail tree or Chilean pine, is an evergreen conifer native to Chile and Argentina. Spanish explorers first discovered the plant in 1780, and Archibald Menzies, a naval surgeon and plant collector during Captain George Vancouver’s circumnavigation of the globe (traveling in Captain James Cook’s old ship Discovery), introduced it to England fifteen years later. Menzies used the seeds as a dessert while dining with the governor of Chile, but he later sewed them in a frame on the quarterdeck, which, by the time he reached back home, had produced five healthy young plants. The “monkey” name dates to 1850, when a proud owner of a tree showed it to his friends, one of whom remarked that a tree with branches so tightly clothed with spiny leaves would “puzzle even a monkey” if climbed.
In addition to its jigsaw-puzzle branch configuration, another distinguishing element of the monkey puzzle tree is its green, glossy leaves, which bear sharp tops and edges; they are thick and triangular, about an inch long and half as wide, but don’t fall off for an amazing ten to fifteen years or even more, when the leaves finally lose the ability to photosynthesize. The tree is dioecious, bearing either male or female cones on different trees, and is pollinated usually by the wind. The cones are cucumber-shaped and oblong, about 3 inches in length. After the cones have reached maturity, they simply crumble and disintegrate, releasing 1-inch-long edible seeds that are similar to nuts. The tree can grow up to 150 feet tall, with a trunk circumference of about 6 feet. The whole visual effect of the monkey puzzle tree is quite unusual, even mystical; it certainly looks like a majestic hiding place for an entire troop of monkeys.
The natural habitat of the monkey puzzle tree is primarily the south-central Andes, where it usually flourishes at altitudes above 3,000 feet, and it can withstand temperatures as low as -4 degrees Fahrenheit. The tree has now taken to climates of northern Europe and grows in the Faroe Islands as well. Some specimens can also be found in North America, New Zealand, and Western Australia. The tree prefers slightly acidic, well-drained, volcanic soil, but it is also tolerant of other well-drained types. Its cones drop by themselves, so the harvest is very easy, but as an economical crop, it takes a long wait for a profitable return, thirty to forty years to produce its first seeds. But the tree is patient, and can live to one thousand years. In most European countries the tree is such a rarity, it has enjoyed the protection of law since 1971.
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Uses and Benefits
The Latin name Araucaria araucana derives from Araucanos, a name for the tribes of the Araucana linguistic family, living in Argentina and Chile. They considered the tree to be sacred and harvested its seeds, which taste bitter raw and more palatable if roasted. The natives of the Andes also used the seeds to make flour and for a fermented beverage, muday. They even fed the seeds to livestock, especially during the w
inter. Since its sacredness has dwindled, locals now cut the trees for construction and fuel. The Spaniards considered the monkey puzzle tree one of the Andes’ most precious and strong lumbers and often sought it for ship masts, to use as pit props in mines, for railway sleeper cars, and for paper pulp. In the 1940s it was even used to make a few airplanes, since the wood was believed to be good for enduring crashes, but it was ultimately judged too much of a puzzle to shape for stable aerodynamics.
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MUSTARD
Brassica
Vigor and Tenacity
Mustard is considered an ancient plant still very suitable for contemporary gardeners. It is easy to grow and can produce seeds in as few as sixty days after planting. Most use the plant as a spice, while a mixture of its seeds, in addition to water, vinegar, and a few other ingredients, create the well-known yellow condiment also named mustard. Some versions of the condiment also utilize the seeds, and even the leaves are edible (known colloquially as “mustard greens”). Mustard plants are several of the known plant species in the genera Sinapis and Brassica.
Although many believe some varieties of the mustard plant were already established in Roman times, the plant that today forms the key ingredient in the mustard condiment has no wild origins. There is a white mustard that grows wild in Africa and the Mediterranean region, and some theorize it was from this type that the domesticated version evolved. The plant is also related to radishes and turnips, and may derive from cultivated crossbreeding of these plants as well.
It is easy to grow mustard. It thrives in different soils, but does best in well-drained, rich ones. The plant likes constant moisture and cold water, while a light frost even improves its flavor. Farmers sow seeds in the springtime, inch deep, 15 inches apart. In the southern regions of the United States, mustard will even grow during September and October, so the harvest occurs in late fall or early winter. Mustard species are practically free of disease or insect problems, and larger critters also don’t like their taste. The hotter the weather is, the faster the plants give seeds; they need only thirty to sixty days to mature.
It is astonishing how such an ordinary little plant has such a great reputation. You can find its name everywhere, from the Bible to Shakespeare. So, how does it attract such attention? There can be no other reason but its vigor and tenacity. As proof of its popularity, an excerpt from the Bible praises the plant: “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds come and lodge in the branches thereof” (Matthew 13:31–32). Yes, the mustard species known as Brassica nigra and Brassica hirta can in fact grow as tall as trees in Mediterranean climates.
Health and Nutrition
Some mustard species of the Cruciferae family contain significant doses of vitamin C and beta-carotene, both very strong antioxidants. Despite a current lack of scientific proof verifying such an application, many use mustard plants as a traditional method of cancer prevention. Its greens are also a rich source of calcium, besides supplying a satisfying amount of iron. The nutrients of ½ cup of cooked mustard greens practically speak for themselves:
Protein: 1.6 grams
Carbohydrates: 1.5 grams
Dietary fiber: 1.4 grams
Vitamin C: 18 milligrams
Vitamin A: 2,121 International Units
Folic acid: 130 micrograms
Calcium: 52 milligrams
Potassium: 140 milligrams
Iron: 0.5 milligrams
Calories: 11
NEPENTHES
Nepenthaceae
Monkey’s Luxury
According to Homer’s Odyssey, the beautiful Helen of Troy (“the face that launched a thousand ships”), responsible for the ten-year war between Mycenae and Troy that resulted in Prince Hector being slain by Achilles, was also a healer. During these years she gave soldiers and their families a drink made of the nepenthes plant, aimed to “relieve their sorrow and grief.” Helen supposedly learned the recipe for the potion of “Nepenthes pharmakon” from an Egyptian queen. The Greek word nepenthe means “without grief,” while pharmakon is Egyptian for any “magician’s remedy” and, incidentally, is the root word of pharmacology.
The plant, which today is used in all sorts of narcotics, goes by the common names pitcher plant and monkey cups. It grows naturally and mostly thrives in Borneo and Sumatra, but it is also found in India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Seychelles, Madagascar, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and China. It belongs to a carnivorous genus of the Nepenthaceae family, consisting of about 140 species and many hybrids. Some species contain a narcotic-like substance in their fluid.
Nepenthes has a climbing stem that stretches more than 50 feet, with a shallow root system. Its leaves are sword shaped, with tips or tendrils that help them to climb such heights. It forms a pitcher shape that starts as a small bud but gradually grows into a mug-size cup that monkeys have been known to drink from. A little water from a puddle, along with fluid produced by the plants (a syrupy or watery liquid containing viscoelastic biopolymers), forms what some primates consider a delicacy. The syrupy fluid actually evolved as an attractant for insects. If not plucked by a monkey, the beautifully colored lime-green pitcher with its ring of red at the top is a very efficient trap for all kinds of insects, which the plant eats. Beauty, like Helen’s, is sometimes dangerous.
Both highland and lowland species of nepenthes need plenty of rainfall and some bright light, though less than full sun exposure. The plants need well-drained soil, constant air circulation, and high humidity, and can grow from cuttings, seeds, or tissue culture. Seeds usually take two months to germinate and more than two years to yield mature nepenthes, so it is not a human’s ideal method of propagating the plant. Many put root cuttings inside plastic bags or tanks with damp moss, high humidity, and moderate light; these start to root after two months, forming the pitchers after six months. Tissue culture growth is mostly used by commercial farmers. Nepenthes are considered endangered plants—endangered, of course, not by monkeys, but by humans.
The Golden Age of Nepenthes
After the discovery of the nepenthes and their introduction in Europe by Joseph Banks in 1789, interest grew rapidly. Everyone wanted to own one, such that some called the end of nineteenth century the Golden Age of Nepenthes. The craze faded until the 1960s, when the work of the Japanese botanist Shigeo Kurata rekindled interest in this ancient plant and inspired efforts to preserve the graceful, bug-eating beauty.
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Coexist or Be Eaten
Some organisms live inside the pitchers of nepenthes, most commonly mosquito larvae, spiders, ants, mites, fly and midge larvae, and even a crab species, Geosesarma malayanum. Some of them are attached to one nepenthes species and so are called nepenthebionts. Other species are associated with but not dependent on the plants and are called nepenthophiles. This complex ecological relationship, called an infaunal ecosystem, is not fully understood, but the relationship appears to be mutualistic, meaning that the infauna receives shelter, protection, or food, while the nepenthes benefits from an increasing rate of digestion, expedited breakdown of captured prey, and protection from harmful bacteria.
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NETTLE
Urtica dioica
The Little Warrior
This little warrior with many sharp weapons stands brave and strong across the globe—it’s native to practically all parts of the world, including North America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Though annoying, nettles are not all bad; they make a great nutritional tea, for example, that’s full of iron. Sure, they may first sting you badly, but don’t worry—except for a bit of flaming pain, there are no other consequences. Actually, we can even call it a pain-pleasure plant, since in some regions (southern Europe, the Balkans) an old tradition has people intentionally “flare” themselves with the nettles, as they believe doing so can strengthen immuni
ty; this is not so far off, according to some modern medical research. In the Balkans, boys purposely rub themselves with nettle, believing it makes them more attractive to girls.
Nettles’ complicated pain-pleasure paradox has inspired a number of idioms and literary references. For example, in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, the character Hotspur urges, “out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.” In German there is an idiom translating as “to sit on nettles” that means to get oneself into big trouble. Hungarians say, “No lightning strikes the nettle,” meaning that bad things never happen to bad people, while the Dutch phrase netelige situate means “predicament.” Still, it was the old, wise Aesop who was the source of the most universal nettle metaphor for facing down difficulty. In the fable “The Boy and the Nettle,” a boy is stung by the thorn and runs home to tell his mother: “Although it hurts me very much, I only touched it gently.” “That was just why it stung you,” said his mother. “The next time you touch a nettle, grasp it boldly, and it will be soft as silk to your hand.”
However, not all nettles sting; in fact, only five subspecies of the genus Urtica do. Urtica dioica is most often called common nettle or, of course, stinging nettle, but is also known as burn nettle, burn hazel, or burn weed. It grows 3 to 7 feet tall during the summer, dies in winter, and revives in the spring, which is the best time to collect young plant tops for tea and as an ingredient in soups. It is classified as a dioecious perennial, with lots of rhizomes or thinner roots quickly spreading from the main, bright yellow taproot. The plant’s beautifully shaped leaves are soft, 1 to 6 inches long, representing the plant’s first line of defense, but the most needles are on its wiry stems. Nettle produces small brownish flowers in many colors or inflorescences. Upon contact, the plant will inject you with some histamine, a bit of acetylcholine, then serotonin 5-HT, some leukotrienes, and maybe formic acid. But don’t panic; the stinging sensation is temporary and without any serious consequences.
The Big, Bad Book of Botany Page 17
