Friday 18 January 2008

A Nice Green Leaf: Palm Tree So Big It's Visible From Space (And On Ceefax)

Palmclose200_01









It reads like the beginning of an article in The Onion, but I am actually reporting on new scientific research, published this week in the journal of the Linnean Society. It's not often major botanical discoveries are reported on Ceefax, but there it was:  "Giant Self-Destructing Palm is Discovered", see Ceefax page 124 for more details.

The palm is almost 20 metres tall, and was discovered by Xavier
Metz, the manager of a nearby cashew plantation. Anyway, here's my
favourite bit: "The palm is so massive that it can even be seen in
Google Earth." Area man says wow.

But why haven't the Linnean Society posted Google Earth coordinates then? So unfair.

Actually, it's probably because we'd all be out
trying to dig up one of less than 100 known trees to sell
to unscrupulous collectors. Sigh. 

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