Rare Trees Pennantia Baylisiana

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 236-365

Humans have clearcut 80% of the planet's ancient forests, destroying the habitats of countless plants and animals, removing potential life-saving medicinal compounds and contributing greatly to global warming.

Common Name

Three Kings Kaikomako

Class: Magnoliopsida

The solitary tree was discovered by Professor Geoff Baylis on the Three Kings Islands in 1945. 

How Rare?

There is apparently only 1 tree in the wild, located on one of the Three Kinds Islands, off the coast of New Zealand.  It is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as one of the world’s rarest plant. It is threatened by habitat loss.

It wasn't always that way. But non-native goats brought to the island by humans ate all the others.

This species grows in coastal forest. It is a rare, multi-trunked small tree bearing very large broad glossy curled leaves. The leaves are 120-160 mm long and widest towards the tip. The flowers are small, green and in clusters along branches. Flowering is from October to November. The fruit is purple, 10 mm long and contains a single seed. Fruiting occurs between January and April in cultivated material. Ripe fruit has been seen in the wild during February and March.  

Conservation Action

In 2012, this species was classified as 'Threatened - Nationally Critical' based on the New Zealand Threat Classification System with the qualifiers Conservation Dependent (CD), Island Endemic (IE) and One Location (OL). This is based on criterion A(1) which is met when there are under 250 mature individuals in the population (Townsend et al. 2008, de Lange et al. 2013).

It took 20 years to get cuttings to grow and plants established in cultivation. Another 20 years passed before Dr Ross Beever at Landcare Research, Mt Albert, was able to induce the functionally female flowers to set seed by selectively treating them with plant hormones.
 
This enabled the scant residual pollen to pollinate the female ovaries and he obtained a handful of viable seed which he proceeded to germinate. From these plants, one (nicknamed Martha) has proved to be particularly fertile and although still positively a female she also has adequate virile pollen to self-fertilise her flowers.

The search is now for a fully functional male with heaps of viable pollen. If we can find one he will be the saviour of this species which can then rise again from near extinction.

Description
 
Hardy, tolerates wind & dry spells, not frost. Fantastic glossy,leathery,wavy foliage. Purple fruit. All stock comes from a sole tree discovery. Dioecious. Still rare.

The problem with there being only one known specimen and reproducing it from cutting is that no matter how many plants you distribute, they are all identical clones so lacking any genetic variation. However, the original plant finally set viable seed in 1989 and there are now seedling grown plants in existence which should strengthen the genetic base. Penanntias are dioecious which means there are male plants and female plants. Fortunately the last known plant on the planet was female and occasionally, female dioecious plants can produce a little pollen and therefore self pollinate and produce seed.

Trees in New Zealand

by Liliana Usvat
Blog 235-365

These trees on Slope Point, the southern tip of New Zealand, grow at an angle because they’re constantly buffeted by extreme antarctic winds.

It lies 4800 km (2982 mi) from the South Pole and 5100 km (3168 mi) from the equator, so it’s regularly exposed to unimaginable weather conditions. The air stream loops that travel over the Southern Ocean uninterrupted for 3200 km (2000 mi) make landfall at Slope Point, making for consistently extreme winds. And yet, even in this uniquely harsh environment, extraordinary beauty can be found.

 

Why do trees grow vertically instead of horizontally?

 
When seeds germinate they are under the ground and as such are not able to detect any light source to grow towards however they are able detect the force of gravity just like humans do. No matter which way round you plant a seed the roots always grow down and the shoot grows up, the roots show positive geotropism (this means they grow in the same direction as the pull of gravity i.e. down) and the shoots show negative geotropism which is against gravity i.e. upwards. As soon as the shoot emerges above the soil it will then grow towards a source of light so that it can convert the suns energy into usable energy through photosynthesis. It is in the plants best interest to grow straight upwards so that it get as much light as it can and not be out competed by other plants. 

Could a tree grow in zero-G? If so what would it look like?

The complication that needs to be overcome is that plants make use of gravity when planted to orient themselves (as they can't rely on being planted the right way up), so that their roots go down and their sprouts go up. Without gravity, they will tend to just stay at around the same depth and not sprout.

One astronaut reported that this was simple enough to fix, however, just by plucking the ends out of the soil, pulling them to the surface, when they first sprout. From this point, the plant can orient itself using light and will continue to grow. Roots don't suffer as much, as they just grow away from the seed and avoid light (the surface), so develop relatively normally.
After this, growth is mostly normal The resulting plants can look a little unusual because they don't have the usual drooping from gravity, so will tend to be more upright.

How Do Trees On a Hillside or Slope Grow Straight Up?

Trees grow vertically because of two things: gravity and light.
Geotropism, in which microscopic particles in plant cells react to gravity, tends to make the roots grow straight down, which means that the stems grow straight up.

Phototropism tends to make plants grow vertically as well, following the direction from which light comes. Phototropism was originally called heliotropism, or bending toward the sun, until scientists found out that plants would bend toward light in general, not just sunlight.

The phenomenon was studied by Charles Darwin and his son Francis, who recognized that the bending started just below the tip. But they did not discover the mechanism that caused the bending.

Subsequent researchers found that a class of plant hormone called auxins can regulate the growth of plant cells, interacting with other plant substances to direct and control the plant’s final shape, both above and below the ground.

In a growing tree, auxins, produced at the growth tip, promote the elongation of plant cells. Auxins are present in greater concentrations on the darker side of the plant shaft, so those cells grow longer than the cells exposed to light.

Thus, the tree bends toward the light. inner needles senesce, or grow old, turning yellow or brown, and drop from the tree after one to several years, depending on the species. By November of most years, for example, white pines may have only a year’s worth of needles attached to the tree.

Cedar Trees Stories and Medicinal Uses

By Liliana Usvat

Blog 234-365

Indigenous to the Lebanese mountains, the southwest of Turkey, Cyprus, the Atlas Mountains, and the Himalayas, the cedar tree is also found in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. It is a majestic, flat-topped tree, growing to 130 feet, having dark green, needlelike leaves, and oval cones.

The Lebanon cedar

The Lebanon cedar (Cedrus libani) is a conifer that originates from, as its name might suggest, Lebanon and surrounding areas in the Middle East. Original old growth groves of this tree, that is mentioned in the Bible, are now very rare. This tree can live for thousands of years and became a popular exotic specimen tree in European landscape gardens in the 18th, 19th century. 

The oldest Cedar Trees

The oldest Cedar Trees are in a grove in Becharri, Northern Lebanon. These
trees are between 1000 and 2000 years old, making them some of the oldest trees on earth

The Cedars of God 

The Cedars of God is a small forest of about 400 Lebanon Cedar trees in the mountains of northern Lebanon. They are among the last survivors of the extensive forests of the Cedars of Lebanon that thrived in this region in ancient times. The Cedars of Lebanon are mentioned in the Bible over 70 times. The ancient Egyptians used its resin in mummification and King Solomon used the famous trees in the construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem.

History

It is said that the cedar was used to build the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and Solomon's Temple.

Since ancient times, the oil has been used in incense, perfumes, and embalming.

Few people know why our planet is called the Earth. The origin of the name actually lies in the ancient city of Eridu, where the archaeologists found the earliest evidence of the Sumerian civilization.  

 

However, Eridu was not only the first city of the Sumerians, but also the first settlement of the Gods. Its name E.RI.DU echoed its earlier history, for it literally meant “Home in the Faraway Built”. a most appropriate name for the visitors from the planet Nibiru. 

In 1976, Zecharia Sitchin published a remarkable study, corroborating Sumerian claims that their cities had been built upon “the everlasting ground plan” of the Gods.’  

In one of his books " Memories and prophecies of and Extraterrestrial God The Lost Book of Enky"  Zecharia Sitchin translates the Sumerian tablets writing about Enlil an extraterrestrial being coming to Earth.

" Enlil by the heat of the Sun afflicted for a place of coolness and shade was searching."

"The show covered mountains valley on the Edin's north side he took  liking..

The tallest trees he ever saw grew there in a cedar forest. 

There above a mountain valley wit power beams the surface he flattened."

" On Earth was summer; to his abode in the cedar Forest Enlil retreated."

" In the cedar forest was Enlil walking in the cool of the day. " 

So the Sumerian  tablets written over 5000 years ago acknowledge the existence of Cedar Forests.

Cedar Tree Canada

 

 

Many big cedar trees can be seen on a walk through the rainforest of Vancouver Island in Pacific Rim National Park near Tofino, British Columbia, Canada.

Moss covered base of a large western red cedar tree (western red cedar), Thuja plicata, along the Rainforest Trail in the coastal rainforest of Pacific Rim National Park, Long Beach Unit, Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, West Coast, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata)

Medicinal uses: collect in summer/fall from young trees—highest oil content, antifungal, antibacterial—stimulates phagocytosis, helps athlete's foot, ringworm, jock itch, nail fungus, chronic vaginitis, stimulates smooth muscle—helps with respiratory, urinary tract, and reproductive system problems, can make tea, tincture, cold infusion, steam

Internal uses include: boiling limbs to make a tuberculosis treatment, chewing leaf buds for sore lungs, boiling leaves to make a cough remedy, making a decoction of leaves to treat colds, chewing leaf buds to relieve toothache pain, making an infusion to treat stomach pain and diarrhea, chewing the inner bark of a small tree to bring about delayed menstruation, making a bark infusion to treat kidney complaints, making an infusion of the seeds to treat fever using a weak infusion internally to treat rheumatism and arthritis

External uses include: making a decoction of leaves to treat rheumatism, washing with an infusion of twigs to treat venereal disease, including the human papilloma virus and other sexually transmitted diseases, making a poultice of boughs or oil to treat rheumatism, making a poultice of boughs or oil to threat bronchitis, making a poultice or oil from inner bark to treat skin diseases, including topical fungal infections and warts, using shredded bark to cauterize and bind wounds. Extracts of red cedar have been shown to have antibacterial properties against common bacteria. Compounds with antifungal properties have also been isolated.

Preparations:Most preparations of red cedar call for boiling the medicinal parts to make a decoction or for making a tea or infusion. Little information exists on dosages. An essential oil can be prepared from red cedar. This oil is meant to be used topically. It is toxic if taken internally, and has the ability to produce convulsions or even death if taken in even small quantities. A 1999 study done in Switzerland noted an increase in poisoning deaths from plant products, including Thuja, due possibly to an increase in people practicing herbal healing and aromatherapy.