4 ms·

The Unusual Evolutionary Journey of the Baobab Tree

38 points by Petiver 2y ago

mkl 2y ago
https://web.archive.org/web/20240516020104/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/science/baobab-trees-evolution.html https://web.archive.org/web/20240516020104/https://www.nytim... https://archive.ph/mY00A https://archive.ph/mY00A
- tomrod 2y ago
  Thanks. Pay walls are annoying.
Cyphase 2y ago
This is always what I think of when I see "baobab": https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/DiskUsageAnalyzer https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/DiskUsageAnalyzer https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29425665 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29425665
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
every 2y ago
The Little Prince was not a fan of baobabs... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Prince https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Prince
Yenrabbit 2y ago
There is some contention around this. For a while it seemed like there could be two species on mainland Africa (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adansonia_kilima https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adansonia_kilima) and while most happily accepted the return of the status quo with the paper that decided they were all the same, I'm not entirely convinced (source: I collected location and morphology info from lots of these trees a decade ago and a number of traits were very distinctly bi-modal, although this is of course not proof that they're actually separate species). The Australian author who described A. kilima thought it was the diploid ancestor of the Australian species, rather than A. digitata or any of the Madagascan species...
banish-m4 2y ago
Definitely a special survivor. Reminds me of the alien-like dripping slime aerial roots of Sierra Mixe maize. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landrace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landrace Other interesting endangered trees: https://www.treehugger.com/worlds-most-endangered-trees-also-look-strangest-4869735 https://www.treehugger.com/worlds-most-endangered-trees-also... More: https://www.iucnredlist.org/search/grid https://www.iucnredlist.org/search/grid

38 points by Petiver 2y ago

mkl 2y ago

https://web.archive.org/web/20240516020104/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/science/baobab-trees-evolution.html https://web.archive.org/web/20240516020104/https://www.nytim... https://archive.ph/mY00A https://archive.ph/mY00A

tomrod 2y ago
Thanks. Pay walls are annoying.

Cyphase 2y ago

This is always what I think of when I see "baobab": https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/DiskUsageAnalyzer https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/DiskUsageAnalyzer https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29425665 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29425665

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

every 2y ago

The Little Prince was not a fan of baobabs... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Prince https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Prince

Yenrabbit 2y ago

There is some contention around this. For a while it seemed like there could be two species on mainland Africa (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adansonia_kilima https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adansonia_kilima) and while most happily accepted the return of the status quo with the paper that decided they were all the same, I'm not entirely convinced (source: I collected location and morphology info from lots of these trees a decade ago and a number of traits were very distinctly bi-modal, although this is of course not proof that they're actually separate species). The Australian author who described A. kilima thought it was the diploid ancestor of the Australian species, rather than A. digitata or any of the Madagascan species...

banish-m4 2y ago

Definitely a special survivor. Reminds me of the alien-like dripping slime aerial roots of Sierra Mixe maize. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landrace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landrace Other interesting endangered trees: https://www.treehugger.com/worlds-most-endangered-trees-also-look-strangest-4869735 https://www.treehugger.com/worlds-most-endangered-trees-also... More: https://www.iucnredlist.org/search/grid https://www.iucnredlist.org/search/grid