Wednesday 14 September 2011

The Loneliest Plant In The World

image credit

One day in 1895, while walking through the Ngoya Forest in Zululand, southern Africa, botanist John Medley Wood caught sight of a tree. It sat on a steep slope at the edge of the woods and looked different from the other trees, with its thick multiple trunks and what seemed like a splay of palm fronds on top. Dr. Wood had some of the stems pulled up, removed, and sent one of them to London.

That little tree stem was then put in a box and left in the Palm House at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. It sat there, alone, for the next 98 years.

(via Dark Roasted Blend)

3 comment(s):

Anonymous said...

Not true, but that is not the fault of The Presurfer. There is an abundance of E. Woodii plants. You could probably buy one too if you wanted.

The Wikipedia article is quite informative. Look for Encephalartos_woodii

Gerard said...

I think with loneliest plant in the world they mean the plant that was in a box at the Royal Botanical Gardens for 98 years.

Anonymous said...

You have to wonder if anyone ever reads the article.

It's lonely because there are only male specimens (and they're clones).

No female plant has ever been found.