Today I am taking a gander at my Strange Nature scrapbook to present a few unusual stories from the world of vegetation, trees and moulds.
The Salisbury Journal, July 1839: A thistle near Shrewton. Stalk measuring 7 ¼ inches in circumference and a head 10 inches in diameter (1)
Beijing Review, April 30th 1984 Queer Date Tree (let`s not get homobotanicophobic now, friends!)
From “Gongren Ribao” (Workers` Daily)
Cylinders, eggs, cubes, spindles, balls, gourds, oblateness, kidneys and the like – one date tree, planted in Xiajin County, Shandong Province, during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), bears fruit which differs in all these shapes but not in kind. Once in a while it bears different differently shaped dates on one branch. An average harvest is 500-600 kilogrammes of dates a year. The largest crop was 850 kilogrammes. (2)
Now one of my favourites:
The Guardian August 11th 1986 Infant Dr Noi`s `magic` tree bark draws crowds in Thailand. Bangkok: Thai police used roadblocks, health warnings and arrest threats at the weekend to stop a three-year-old faith healer using “magic” tree bark to draw thousands of peasants to his village.
Prasit Cherdchu, the child known across Thailand as “Doctor Noi”, was resting yesterday after turning rain into “holy water” at his final healing session, on Saturday near Korat in north-east Thailand, police said…His parents, interviewed in the Ban Muang daily, said the boy could heal people because a divine doctor had possessed him. Belief in spirits is widespread in Thailand.
Police became suspicious as his family began raking in money daily. Food vendors arrived with the crowds and sharp landowners reaped fees from fields turned into car parks.
A senior ministry official warned the public their illnesses might worsenif they chose superstition over proper treatment.
A doctor at a hospital near Wang Rongoi announced that a villager who had drunk tea made from Doctor Noi`s bark had died anyway of a long-standing kidney ailment . (3)
The Guardian, October 14th 1992 Epic blob delights world.
It`s slimy, it`s mysterious, it`s Richard Muirhead, oops! It`s slimy, it`s mysterious, it moves towards food and consumes it, fruits and moves on. It`s not exactly an animal and it`s not exactly a plant and normally it weighs a few grams. It sounds like a science fiction monster and it has been puzzling scientists for decades. It`s a slime mould.
Yesterday the Chinese official news agency announced the discovery of a 35 kilogram slime mould. The almost epic blob was spotted in a river in Shaanxi province in August. It put on 10kg in three days
'Specialists at the biology department of Northwest University in Xian have determined that it is related to fungus and is still alive,” the agency said…Professor John Bonner, of Princeton University, confirmed yesterday that there were slime moulds that lived in water. A 35kg mould would be the size of a small donkey or a large dog, trailing spaghetti-like tendrils. “ I can`t imagine a slime mould the size of a big dog,he added.”
Slime moulds surge backwards and forwards like waves at the shoreline. In laboratory tests, they surge towards food.” They are the physiological equivalent of a wolf pack.” Said Professor Bonner.' (4)
1 The Salisbury Journal July 1839
2 Beijing Review April 30th 1984
3 The Guardian August 11th 1986
4 The Guardian October 14th 1992
Talking Heads - Paper
Hold the paper up to the light
(some rays pass right through)
Expose yourself out there for a minute
(some rays pass right through)
Take a little rest when the rays pass through
Take a little time off when the rays pass through
Go ahead and mis it up..Go ahead and tie it up
In a long distance telephone call..
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