Wow, this is the fastest moving plant in the world!!!

Vbort44 · Jun 6, 2007

You guys recently helped me ID this flower. Right here in my own backyard, I love it!

Nature's own power launcher

The trebuchet, that terrible weapon of ancient sieges, is thought to have been invented in China in the first half of the first millennium. It reached Europe shortly thereafter, and if you were looking to launch a rotting animal carcass over ramparts from a quarter-mile away, there was nothing better.

But there's little that's new under the sun, so it shouldn't be surprising to learn that nature developed the trebuchet long before all that. Scientists at Williams College discovered that a common forest flower, the bunchberry dogwood, launches its pollen into the air with trebuchet-like lever arms.
Click to expand...

http://www.universityscience.ie/pages/scimat_Natures_power_launcher.php

Log in or Sign up

Wow, this is the fastest moving plant in the world!!!

Vbort44 Active Member

Attached Files:

Bunchberry (Cornus Canadensis).JPG

Share This Page