‘In Botanical Time’ explores the ways Earth’s oldest plants cheat death

In Botanical Time
Christopher Woods
Chelsea Green, $40.00

On a talus-strewn slope in eastern California’s mountains, a gnarled tree twists toward the sky. It is Methuselah, a Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) and one of the world’s oldest trees. At over 4,800 years old, Methuselah germinated several hundred years before Imhotep began constructing ancient Egypt’s first pyramid.

It’s difficult to fathom such a long life span when humans live mere decades. But author and garden expert Christopher Woods’ new book In Botanical Time helps readers do just that, telling the life stories of millennia-old plants and unpacking the science behind their longevity along the way.

#newsletter-helper

→ Continue reading at Science News

More from author

Related posts

Advertisment

Latest posts

There’s life beneath the snow, but it’s at risk of melting away

A soft, thick coat of snow makes a lot of the world seem to slow down or even stop — at least temporarily. The fluffy piles...

This detached hand robot has a thing for skittering on its fingertips

If The Addams Family was a science fiction show, “Thing” might look something like this. Researchers have developed a robotic hand that can not...

He Went to Prison for Gene-Editing Babies. Now He’s Planning to Do It Again

In 2018, a nervous-looking He Jiankui took the stage at a scientific conference in Hong Kong. A hush settled over the packed auditorium as...