The secret violence of the Black Walnut tree

Since my father-in-law's surgery went better (and faster) than expected, we had a bit of extra time to kick around in Cambridge last week. Paid a visit to the Cambridge University Botanic Garden, which was established in the 1800s by Charles Darwin's professor John Stevens Henslow.

Sure you can have a good look at the history of plant genetics, but I was more fascinated with the violence in the plant kingdom, like this:

Just before the Lynch Walk on your left is a fine, mature Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) the canopy of which forms a dense tracery against the sky. Black Walnuts are competitive plants and can poison neighbours that grow too close by releasing the chemical juglone from their leaves. ...

Less dramatically, also learned there's a little section of South Africa that has more varied plant life than even the Amazon rainforests.

The picture, by the way, is a seed pod of sorts that's shaped like a rose. Unfortunately the plant wasn't labeled, so I couldn't tell you what it was.

Labels: cambridge

- posted by Amy @ 2/19/2007 10:43:00 AM