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The article is drawing a distinction between a general theory of pollination as it pertains to flowering plants, vs. knowing only that you take date palm boy du
by monknomo 3y ago
The article is drawing a distinction between a general theory of pollination as it pertains to flowering plants, vs. knowing only that you take date palm boy dust and put it on date palm girl flowers and then you get dates.
- RetroTechie 3y agoA common way to do this would be to take a branch with the male pollen-producing parts, and 'dust' the flowers on a female specimen with that. Doesn't seem far-fetched the ancients knew this helped to produce a rich harvest. And- from the article: "As palm trees can be extremely high, this was a very perilous enterprise. Why did this worker even attempt this in a deserted garden will remain a mystery." One possibility: some plants can be quite selective on when / under what conditions pollination is most likely to succeed. Probably because fruit (+ seeds) follows, and a plant 'wants' those seeds to be distributed at the right time to maximize chance of offspring success. Again: maybe such conditions were known, and gardener climbed the tree when the time was right. Which happened to be when no-one else was around. Of course that's just 1 theory. Maybe gardener just didn't perceive it as dangerous.