(no subject)

[ru]

I came to a conclusion yesterday about gymnosperms (the group in the plant kingdom that includes pines, firs, and other like-minded sorts): They are the crotchety old geezers of the vascular plant world (nonvascular things being stuff like moss and pond scum). They're older than the much more prevalent flowering plants, and more importantly, they're prickly bastards. Getting them into jars for class yesterday was an exercise in touching them without really touching them, as doing so resulted in being attacked by needle-y leaves and spiky cones and prickly stems and other things that do their darndest to draw blood. It was almost like they were saying, "You damn kid! Leave me the hell alone before I find some way to cause you to trip and fall on me and stab you several times through the chestular region! No, don't put me near the orchids! Argh, damn you flowers--in my day we didn't have fancy stuff like petals and fruit! We had it HARD. We had to WORK to climb up the evolutionary chain, and we did it. Uphill. Both ways. In the snow. AND WE LIKED IT."

While ginkgos qualify as gymnosperms, they're obviously not prickly. They don't need to be. They're secure in knowing they'll eventually take over the world.

Comments

[peppermintberry.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's pretty amazing that they've survived for as long as they have, especially when the rest of the family has gone extinct. I seem to recall reading/hearing somewhere that they were first rediscovered in some temples in China. And I would love to see some more fully-grown ones; the only one I've seen was one I saw when we visited DC last year, and it was *gorgeous*.