List of twenty one plants with their attractive features:- 1. Oldest Living Plant 2. Oldest Living Fossil 3. World’s most Massive Living, Things 4. World’s Largest Tree Crown 5. World’s Largest Living Organisms 6. World’s Tallest Tree 7. World’s Heaviest and Hardest Wood 8. World’s Softest and Lightest Wood 9. World’s Smallest Flowering Plant 10. Smallest Fruit 11. Largest Fruit 12. Largest Tree-Bearing Fruit and Others.
1. Oldest Living Plant:
This was thought to be bristlecone pines (Pinus longaeva/P. aristata), living for nearly 5,600 years, high in the White Mountains of California and the Snake Range of eastern Nevada.
2. Oldest Living Fossil:
Oldest living fossil or the plant genera that lived during ancient times and still survives on earth today is maiden hair tree (Ginkgo biloba). Leaf imprints of an ancestral species of Ginkgo resembling the present- day Ginkgo biloba (Fig. 4.174) have been found abundantly in sedimentary rocks of the Jurassic and Triassic Periods (135-210 million years ago) when Dinosaurs roamed the earth.
3. World’s most Massive Living, Things:
Ancient bristlecone pines and creosote bush rings, the world’s record for longevity went to the magnificent giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) of the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. The greatest authenticated age of a giant sequoia, derived from counting annual rings on a cut stump, was nearly 3,200 years.
The largest tree, named General Sherman, is 272 feet (83 m) tall with a massive trunk 35 feet (11 m) in diameter and 109 feet (33 m) in circumference at the base. Even more remarkable is the fact that at a point 120 feet (36 m) in the air the trunk of General Sherman is still 17 feet (5 m) in diameter. It has been estimated to contain over 600,000 board feet of timber, enough to build 120 average-sized houses.
In fact, a single giant sequoia may contain more wood than is found on several acres of some of the finest virgin timberland in the Pacific Northwest. The trunk of General Sherman alone weighs nearly 1,400 tons. By way of comparison, this is roughly equivalent to 15 adult blue whales, 10 diesel-electric train locomotives, or 25 average-sized military battle tanks.
Another conifer species called the Montezuma bald cypress (Taxodium mucronatum) occasionally grows into a huge tree. One enormous specimen of this tree grows in the Churchyard of Santa Maria de Tule near Oaxaca, Mexico, called “El Gigante” by the locals. It is one of the most massive of all living things with a trunk circumference of 140 feet (43 m), larger than the General Sherman giant sequoia.
With a diameter of 50 feet (15 m), the trunk of this spectacular tree is literally the size of a house. This gigantic tree was once thought to be 10,000 years old, but botanists now consider it to be a youngster of only 1,500 to 2,000 years old.
4. World’s Largest Tree Crown:
The Indian banyan (Ficus benghalensis) has enormous trunks up to 100 feet (30 m) or more in circumference, but do not grow as tall. It also has the record for the world’s largest (spreading) tree crown, with 1,000, pillar-like prop roots supporting massive limbs that cover four acres of land.
5. World’s Largest Living Organisms:
Many species of soil fungi have their hyphae intimately attached to the roots of forest trees in a symbiotic association called mycorrhizae (“fungus-roots”). Some mycorrhizal associations can be enormous. A single individual of Armillaria bulbosa has been discovered that spreads over more than 30 acres of forest soil in northern Michigan and may be one of the world’s largest living organisms.
Some scientists speculate that it was spawned by a single spore thousands of years ago. Another Armillaria in Washington was recently found to consist of a subterranean mycelial network with erect, above-ground mushrooms covering more than a thousand acres of forest soil.
6. World’s Tallest Tree:
The world’s record for the tallest tree goes to another cone-bearing tree native to California, the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens). In fact, the tallest living redwood on record stands 367 feet (112 m), 62 feet (19 m) taller than the Statue of Liberty.
7. World’s Heaviest and Hardest Wood:
Certainly one of the world’s heaviest and hardest iron-woods is the Caribbean tree called lignum vitae (Guaiacum officinale), with a specific gravity of 1.37. The name lignum vitae means “wood of life,” owing to the medicinal properties of the sweet-smelling resin.
The density and high resin content of the wood make it extremely resistant to friction and abrasion and account for its remarkable self-lubrication properties. Under certain conditions it actually wears better than iron.
In fact, the highly- prized wood was used for end grain thrust blocks which lined the propeller shafts of steamships.
[Note: The Guinness Book of World Records lists the South African black ironwood (Olea laurifolia) as the heaviest wood with a specific gravity of 1.49. This is rather doubtful since the specific gravity of pure cell wall material is 1.5 (i.e., without any cellular structure), and samples of Olea lauri- folia tested only weighed in at about 1.11.]
8. World’s Softest and Lightest Wood:
The tropical American balsawood tree (Ochroma pyramidale) is one of the world’s softest and lightest woods with a specific gravity of only 0.19. The wood is used in making models of aircraft, dolls etc.
9. World’s Smallest Flowering Plant:
Each plant is shaped like a microscopic green football with a flat top. An average individual plant of the Asian species Wolffia globosa, or the equally minute Australian species W. angusta, is small enough to pass through the eye of an ordinary sewing needle, and 5,000 plants could easily fit into a thimble (Fig. 4.175).
It is difficult to say which is the smaller of the two, but perhaps W. globosa may be slightly smaller. An average individual plant is 0.6 mm long (1/42 of an inch) and 0.3 mm wide (1/85th of an inch). It weighs about 150 micrograms (1/190,000 of an ounce), or the approximate weight of 2-3 grains of table salt. One plant is 165,000 times shorter than the tallest Australian eucalyptus (Eucalyptus regnans) and seven trillion times lighter than the most massive giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum).
Another mind-boggling comparison is the size or volume of a single Wolffia plant: roughly intermediate between a water molecule and the planet earth. Arceuthobium minutissimum, a stem parasite on Pinus, is the most minute dicot plant which is endemic in India.
10. Smallest Fruit:
Wolffia also produces the world’s smallest fruit, although this record is not as yet recognised in the Guinness Book. Each one-seeded fruit is about the size of a cuboidal grain of ordinary table salt (0.3 mm long) and weighs about 70 micrograms (1/400,000 of an ounce). It is roughly five billion times lighter than a 900 pound squash.
11. Largest Fruit:
According to ‘Cucurbits’, the official newsletter of the World Pumpkin Confederation, a 1993 record-breaking pumpkin weighed in at 836 pounds and a giant squash tipped the scales at just over 700 pounds. One year later at the “gourd lumose” in Port Elgin, Ontario, the reign of the pumpkin was broken by a 900 pound squash. There have been other unofficial records for pumpkins exceeding 900 pounds.
As per the official World Pumpkin Confederation, the pumpkin must be cream-yellow to orange; if it is green to grey or mottled in color it must be a squash. Many pumpkins are varieties of Cucurbita pepo, although the largest pumpkins probably come from C. maxima.
12. Largest Tree-Bearing Fruit:
The jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) produces massive seed-bearing fruits on its branches (Fig. 4.176). Native to the Indo-Malaysian region, this tree is grown throughout the tropics for its pulpy, edible fruit. It belongs to the same genus as the famous breadfruit (A. altilis).
According to Charles Heiser (Seed to Civilisation, 1973), jackfruits may reach nearly three feet (0.9 m) and weigh up to 75 pounds (34 kg), thus making them the largest tree-bearing fruit on earth. Of course, the undisputed record for the world’s largest fruit is a 1,337 pound pumpkin, a member of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae).
13. Largest Sperms:
Cycads also have the record for the world’s largest sperm. A single sperm cell from Zamia roezlii, an interesting cycad endemic to rain forests of Colombia, is about 0.4 mm in length and is visible to the unaided eye.
In fact, it is almost as large as one entire Wolffia plant. It consists of several spiral bands of 20,000 to 40,000 cilia at one end (Fig. 4.177). The pulsating beat of these cilia may help to propel the sperm through the pollen tube on its journey to fertilise the egg.
14. Largest Vegetable:
You define a botanical vegetable as an edible part of a plant that clearly excludes seed-bearing fruits, and then there’ are a number of possible contenders for this coveted record.
Some of the top contenders for this record are the blades of large brown algae called kelp, and the tender leaves of the horseradish tree (Moringa oleifera), not to be confused with the true horseradish of the mustard family (Armoracia lapathifolia). Perhaps a more logical contender for this record is the massive subterranean yams of the genus Dioscorea, some of which may weigh over 120 pounds (54 kg).
15. Smallest Seed:
Certain epiphytic orchids of the tropical rain forest produce the world’s smallest seeds weighing only 35 millionths of an ounce. They are dispersed into the air like minute dust particles or single-celled spores, eventually coming to rest in the upper canopy of rain forest trees.
16. Largest Seed:
The world’s largest seed comes from the coco-de-mer palm (Lodoicea maldivica), native to the Seychelles Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. Although it belongs to a different genus from true coconut palms (Cocos), this enormous seed is often called the “double coconut.” (Fig. 4.179 and 4.180) A single seed may be 12 inches (30 cm) long, nearly three feet (0.9 m) in circumference and weigh 40 pounds (18 kg).
It should be noted here that the largest seed does not have the largest embryo. In fact, palm seeds are mostly composed of endosperm tissue and generally have relatively small embryos.
17. Largest Seed Embryo:
According to C. R. Cunn (World Guide To Tropical Drift Seeds and Fruits, 1976), the record for the largest seed embryo goes to Mora oleifera (Fabaceae), a large tree that grows in tidal marshlands and estuaries along the Pacific coast of tropical America. In Costa Rica, this tree often forms nearly pure stands just behind the mangrove swamps.
Seeds of M. oleifera may be up to 7 inches (18 cm) long and up to 5 inches (12.5 cm) wide (Fig. 4.178). Another species (M. excelsa) has slightly smaller seeds. Like other exalbuminous legume seeds, the two cotyledons comprise most of the seed.
Since the cotyledons are part of the embryo, this species is certainly a strong contender for the record of world’s largest seed. The seeds float in ocean current with their two large cotyledons connected or separated. Dried cotyledons washed up on beaches superficially resemble the shells of a bivalve mollusc.
18. Largest Leaves:
In addition to the largest seeds, palms also have the record for the largest leaves. The raffia palm (Raphia regalis) of tropical Africa has huge pinnate leaves up to 80 feet (24 m) long.
The leaves of the Amazonian palm [Manicaria saccifera) are nearly 30 feet (9 m) long, and have been listed by some authors as the longest undivided leaf of any plant. However, according to Chuck Hubbuch of Fairchild Tropical Garden, Coral Gables, Florida, the leaf is typically divided shallowly at the tip and is not truly entire.
The golf ball-sized fruits of Manicaria palms, called “sea coconuts,” commonly wash ashore on beaches throughout the Caribbean and southern Florida. There are two additional candidates for the record of longest undivided leaf: Marojejya darianii, a palm native to Madagascar with a leaf up to 5 meters (16.5 ft) in length that is divided only once at the tip; and Johannesteijs- mannia altifrons, a palm native to Thailand with a leaf up to 4 meters (13 ft) long that is completely undivided.
19. Largest Flower:
The flower with the world’s largest bloom is the Rafflesia arnoldii. This rare flower is found in the rainforests of Indonesia (Fig. 4.181). It can grow to be 3 feet (0.9 m) across and weigh up to 15 pounds (7 kg).
It is a parasitic plant, with no visible leaves, roots, or stem. It attaches itself to a host plant to obtain water and nutrients. When in bloom, the Rafflesia emits a repulsive odour, similar to that of rotting meat. This odour attracts insects that pollinate the plant.
20. Largest Inflorescence:
Another enormous flower found in Indonesia is the Amorphophallus titanum, or Titan arum. It is also known as the “corpse flower” for its unpleasant odour. Like the Rafflesia, the Titan emits the smell of rotting flesh to attract pollinators.
Technically, the Titan arum is not a single flower. It is a cluster of many tiny flowers, called an inflorescence. The Titan arum has the largest unbranched inflorescence of all flowering plants. The inflorescence can reach heights of 7-12 feet(2-4 m) and weigh as much as 170 pounds (77 kg).
But, according to Charles E. Hubbuch, Director of Plant Collections at the Fairchild Tropical Garden in Coral Gables, Florida, the talipot palm (Corypha umbraculifera) of India has the largest inflorescence of any plant. The huge inflorescence may be 10 meters (33 feet) tall with millions of flowers.
21. Largest Hitchhiking Fruit:
Seed-bearing fruits that cling to the bodies of animals are very effective methods of seed dispersal in the plant kingdom. There are literally hundreds of plant species with hitchhiking seed pods, but some of the largest are from the North American devil’s claw (Proboscidea). The devil’s claw fruit is technically a drupaceous capsule with a woody inner part surrounded by a fleshy layer.
The rather sinister common name of “devil’s claw” refers to the inner woody capsule which splits open at one end into two curved horns or claws (Fig. 4.182). Each capsule contains about 40 black seeds which are gradually released when the claws split apart.
They are also called “elephant tusks” and readily cling to the hooves of grazing animals or your shoes if you happen to step on them. In some areas of the southwestern United States they are a nuisance to sheep ranchers because they get entangled in the fleece.
In his fascinating book, Plants and Planet (1974), Anthony Huxley (son of Julian Huxley) eloquently describes the hitchhiking pods as “hookers.” The fresh green pods (and dried black seed capsules) were important items in the cultures of many Red Indian tribes of the southwestern United States, and are still used for food and in basketry. The striking seed pods of the domesticated, white-seeded cultivar P. parviflora var. hohokamiana have claws up to 15 inches (38 cm) long.
Multiclawed forms have also been selected by native Americans because the horns split into 3-4 claws. The long claws are soaked in water and split into leathery strands. They provide durability and intricate black designs in tightly woven baskets made from sun-bleached yucca leaves (often Yucca elata). The devil’s claw is also known as “unicorn plant” — referring to the large, hornlike fruit before is has split open.
The seed capsules of devil’s claws are clearly adapted for hitchhiking on the hooves of large grazing animals; however, with the exception of introduced livestock and people (and possibly desert bighorn sheep), there are few native North American animals living within the present range of devil’s claws that are capable of dispersing these large hitchhikers.
It is possible that the range of some large North American grazers, such as antelope, bison, deer and elk once overlapped the range of devil’s claws thousands of years ago. It is also possible that devil’s claw dispersal by grazing mammals may be a North and South American anachronism, or an occurrence that is out of its proper time in history.
During the past one million years of the Pleistocene Epoch, the Americas were rich in large mammals (such as giant ground sloths) which are now extinct. Assuming devil’s claw plants existed over 600,000 years ago, were some of these ancient mammals the true carriers of these hitchhiker pods? A similar anachronism occurs in the New World tropics of Central and South America, where the natural dispersal agent for some large seed pods are unknown.