A few years ago I went to see what is probably the oldest tree in Europe, the Great Yew at Fortingall in Perthshire. Its previous immense size (20 people could have joined hands around it in the 18th century) and likely age (between 4,000 and 5,000 years) mean that it suffered in the past from souvenir hunters. The response of the authorities has been to put the hapless veteran in an iron cage, and to saw its branches back. This gives it the look of a specimen in a freak show, but has also emasculated it.
几年前,我造访了很可能是欧洲最古老的一棵树:苏格兰珀思郡(Perthshire)福廷格尔(Fortingall)的大紫杉(the Great Yew)。这棵树身巨大的古树(在18世纪需要20个人才能合抱,据估计有4000到5000岁树龄)在过去受到猎奇者的侵扰。当局的应对之法是把这棵倒霉的老树关进了铁笼子里,锯掉一些枝条。这不仅让它看起来像是怪物展上的展品,同时还让它失去了“男子气概”。
Last year, the Fortingall yew, a male tree, called on some ancient genes and transitioned, producing two female berries in the autumn.
这棵紫杉原本是一棵雄树,去年,它发动了一些古老的基因,转变了性别,在秋天长出了两个雌树才长的浆果。
We tend, trapped perhaps in the values of our own time and species, to regard trees as individuals. But they are inextricably social beings. Under the ground all trees are supported by symbiotic fungal partners. The tree supplies the fungus with sugars, the fungus extracts minerals from the soil and filters them into the trees’ roots. The complexity of this networking is only now being uncovered. It looks as if the fungal network connects all the trees in a wood regardless of species.
【我们终于知晓了树的秘密】相关文章:
★ Burberry跳槽去苹果的那个高管又跳去Airbnb了
最新
2020-09-15
2020-09-15
2020-09-15
2020-09-15
2020-09-15
2020-09-15