BILD 3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 19: Lotus Seed, Taproot, Paper Clip
26 Dec 2018
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Excerpts from lab girl (2017) by paleobotanist hope jahren. Seed waits for optimal conditions to grow: ex: good temperature, moisture, and light, seed is alive while it waits. More than half die before they feel the trigger to grow with optimal conditions: single grown tree produces quarter of a million new seeds every year. Seeds differ in size and morphology: coconut is seed that can float to different continents, orchid seeds are tiny. 1 million seeds = weight of paper clip: seeds are food to sustain waiting embryo. Growth of embryo: when embryo grows, stretched and elongates, hard coat on seeds prevent expansion until conditions are optimal, found lotus seed and radiocarbon-dated outer shell -> 2,000-year-old. Roots: first job: anchor an embryo. After anchoring, faces frost, drought, or predators without any possibility of flight: gamble to root is everything, losing means death. Odds are a million to one against success.
