Triumph of Seeds

Thor Hanson begins this chapter by describing the seeds of a tree he had spent a lot of time with during his doctoral research, the almendro tree. Thor describes the almendro tree is as if it is where a mother, not only developing protection for its seed but also providing food to the rest of the forest. The almendro tree to Thor is not just a tree, but a real person. On page 117 Thor presents almendro as a conscious character, for example saying that the “almendro wants its seeds dispersed”. This reminds me of a book by Frans de Waal, Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? In this book, Frans discussed behaviorists and ethologists, the main distinction being their interpretation of an animals (or in this case a plants) actions in their environment. Based on how Thor talks about the almendro tree, I would categorize him as a behaviorist. He tends to make little distinction when describing a tree, insect, rat or human. To him they are all capable of preforming tasks and have ambition and represents them in that way. Once Thor introduced us to the spicy chili, I began to marvel at this elegant defense strategy plants (peppers) have unconsciously selected for. However, I can’t escape the irony that this “defense” is one of the main reasons they’re being used in modern times. Another defense produced by seeds is poison. The KGB developed a poison from a seed and could make it more potent than cobra venom, radioactive isotopes and even some pathogens. This is evidence of a heavy investment some plants have made in seeds, but why? Don’t tree’s in reproduction model r strategists, you don’t see salmon poisoning their eggs or insects making spicy larvae. It makes me wonder why trees have developed two strategies I’ve rarely seen together. They produce large quantities of seeds and invest in the protection of each one (dependent on species). It’s especially baffling they would make one poisonous enough to take down a fully-grown man with 450 micrograms, it just seems like overkill. That’s what I’ve enjoyed about this book, it has let me explore the complexities of seeds and truly explained their Triumph.

References

 Thor Hanson (2016). The Triumph of Seeds; How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, & Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History. New York, New York: Basic Books.