| Amazing Facts on Plants |
By Prof. Fabio Cupul - July 2005
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One of those events happened when a 3,400 years old seed was discovered inside the tomb of the famous Egyptian king Tutankhamen. It was not finding the seed that was the event; rather the marvelous thing was that after such a long period of waiting the seed germinated
However this is not a record of waiting compared to the 10,000 years that the seeds of a leguminous plant, found frozen in the Artic in 1954 by a Canadian miner, waited in order to germinate. Once the seeds were defrosted they produced perfect adult plants.
One fascinating aspect about some plant species is their weakness for devouring animals. It is not correct to think that they consume large pieces of meat in order to appease their voracious appetite; as a matter of fact they do not have teeth to bite and chew or a stomach where to digest the food. What they do is capturing the animals alive with elaborated and astute traps in order to later absorb the vitamins and mineral nutrients of their bodies.
 One of the "carnivorous plants" is the Nepenthes, elaborating developed jars on the tips of the leaves which are full of a sweet smelling liquid. Attracted by the smell, the insects sit down on the edge of the plant where they can find small drops of a liquid similar to honey produced by the plant so that the animals stay there. Once the insect starts to explore in search of more food, it quickly looses its balance and falls into the liquid. The steep and slippery walls of the leaves guarantee that the prey does not escape. The insect drowns and is digested by the liquid in the jars.
The "carnivorous plants" use the nutrients extracted from the animals only as a nutritional supplement since they continue to carry out their labors of normal photosynthesis in order to synthesize their food beginning with the sun. Likewise the traps used by these plants are tiny, of very little centimeters, therefore the prey generally found on their menu are small insects
But not everything in the plant kingdom is conceived on a small scale, since there are real giants existing in it or better said there are real heavy weights. Amongst these giants we have the Sequoias that weight around 5000 tons and they grow until reaching a height of more than 300 feet. They are probably the biggest and heaviest living beings that ever existed on the earth. Some are more than 3000 years old and their trunks can reach a base diameter measurement of 40 feet while their roots take up more space than a football field.
At the present time these conifers are reduced to 75 trees subsisting in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, in the northern part of California. During the time of colonization of western North America a team of 4 woodcutters working for 22 days was necessary in order to cut one of these trees, capable of providing enough wood to build a small village. Today the gigantic sequoias are protected in the national parks and forests of the areas they live in.
 Finally it would seem as if the plants find themselves unprotected on the face of the earth without any weapon that would allow them to protect themselves against predators or dangers. But the former is far from the truth, since in the case of the nopal cactus, its fleshy stems are covered with sharp thorns preventing hungry animals to come near.
In addition the plant has also some locks of hair of a brown golden color at the base of the thorns. This hair has sharp ends that fall off easily when touched lightly and it slowly penetrates the skin of the animal, causing a very unpleasant sensation which lasts for several days. After having been confronted with these thorns and hair, mammals (like deer) looking for food, refrain from approaching its fruits.
Prof. Fabio German Cupul Magaña
Email: fcupul@pv.udg.mx
The publication of this article is possible thanks to the authorization of Prof. Fabio German Cupul Magaña, author of the books "Tales of natural history in Vallarta - University of Guadalajara" (Relatos de la historia natural vallartense - Universidad de Guadalajara) and "Natural environment: Selection of essays of scientific disclosure - Coastal University Center of the University of Guadalajara". (Ambiente natural: Selección de ensayos de divulgación científica - Centro Universitario de La Costa Universidad de Guadalajara.
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