"There's no such thing as a tree, phylogenetically"
https://eukaryotewritesblog.com/2021/05/02/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-tree/
@earthtopus I had a suspicion this was true but never looked it up
what a nice thing to hear it confirmed
@earthtopus here's my question: is there a brassica tree
@earthtopus The answer (thanks internet) seems to be "kind of" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_cabbage
@cwebber I have a packet of seeds for those under the name "walking-stick kale" but never had the courage or space to plant them
bug
@earthtopus could you make it a home for a walking-stick bug where you live?
@cwebber I hope so; it would be delicious
@earthtopus But would it be deciduous???
@cwebber https://eukaryotewritesblog.files.wordpress.com/2021/05/whatareplants-1.jpg the very top of this indicates no cabbage trees, at any rate.
For now!
@earthtopus We had a bunch of weeds that kept grabbing onto and strangling other plants in our yard
"What could they be", I thought
... wild grapes! Who knew grapes were so *vicious*
@cwebber nature green in thorn and tendrl
@cwebber @earthtopus a cabbage tree: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_cabbage
used as livestock fodder, so presumably edible for humans as well, tho possibly less tasty than some other brassicas
@Satsuma @earthtopus I would kind of like to grow one in my garden, but they aren't currently grown in the area, and I guess for all I know they could become invasive. Oh well...
@earthtopus finally someone says it
@earthtopus at first I thought the headline was about phylogenetic trees and it got me confused since I'm an avid reader of John Hawks's writing about gene flow http://johnhawks.net/
Anyway this article is super interesting, thanks for sharing it!
This "why do trees keep happening" was far more interesting than what I expected!
saving this knowledge for the next person who tries to tell me that one should apply scientific distinctions to the natural-language use of "monkey" and "ape"