Nomad
Posts: 311
Joined: July 2007
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| Quote (Wesley R. Elsberry @ Jan. 22 2008,06:47) | | Like Larry Niven's "stage trees"? |
Yeah, exactly. I was initially thinking of the types of fungus that launch their spores away from the site that the fungus is growing using little water cannon structures. I think the idea is that they grow on dung and have to get the spores away from the dung so they'll get eaten and end up in more dung.
I was hoping for something bigger, some sort of chemical reaction that disperses the seeds.
Don't get me wrong, it's a neat story.. I'm always fascinated when a species comes up with a radically different way to survive. Like the periodic cicadas that emerge in unison, flooding the ecosystem with cicadas so that nothing can eat all of them.
I just wanted a palm tree that exploded and seeded the surrounding area with shrapnel seeds. It could be named the fragmentation palm.
Actually I think that's an April Fools story right there. It could include details about a botanist studying the plant who had to spend hours in surgery after being too close when a tree detonated.
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