The Incredible Journey of Plants by Stefano Mancuso

Book Summary

This is a comprehensive summary of “The Incredible Journey of Plants” by Stefano Mancuso. The book explores a fascinating account of natural history.

what’s in it for me? a whole new crop of fascinating plant facts.#

Introduction

stefano mancuso the incredible journey of plants narrated by arian stanley and maurax sims from the mighty oaks dotting your local park to the fragrant flowers growing on your kitchen windowsill, plants are all around us.

but without legs, wings or fins, how did our green friends get to where they're growing now?

it's a long story, and one that these chapters will cover.

in them, you'll find a fascinating account of natural history that shows how the herbs, trees and grasses that make up our gardens and side salads have made their way around the globe over the millennia.

you'll learn how evolution, human migration and pure coincidence tangled and entwined to spread certain species far and wide, from coconuts to spruce trees and avocados.

you will digress into biology, genetics and economics, and find out that our photosynthesising friends are never quite as rooted as they seem.

plants and vegetables have evolved to survive in almost every environment.#

chapter 1 of 6 november 1963 sixty miles south of iceland, the earth is rumbling.

deep at the bottom of the atlantic, a volcano erupts.

the mounting magma reaches the surface, and suddenly iceland has a new island.

it's named surtsey, and it's completely barren.

but not for long.

within weeks, there is life.

pale green sprouts of cichlid, an arctic flower genus, emerge from the soil.

these pioneering plants arrive on the island thanks to their specialised seeds, which have evolved to float on ocean currents.

kikili isn't the only vegetation either.

black sedge starts growing too.

its seeds are carried in the stomachs of migrating seabirds.

soon, the entire island is lush with green life.

it just goes to show how plants are able to colonise even the remotest patches of the globe.

the key message here is, plants and vegetables have evolved to survive in almost every environment.

plants and vegetables is shorthand for all photosynthesising organisms that belong to the kingdom, plantae.

you may not know it, but these are some of the most successful species on earth.

plants can be found thriving in almost every ecological niche on the planet, from the highest mountains to the deepest oceans and the driest deserts.

this is partly thanks to the incredible range of adaptations found within the group.

millions of years of evolution have equipped each species with just the right abilities to survive in their given environment, no matter how harsh.

the kikili, for example, is a halophyte, which means it's particularly robust and has developed to thrive on saltwater.

plants can even survive the ravages of radiation.

consider the zone of alienation, the vast swathe of europe evacuated in the wake of the chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986.

while the initial catastrophe killed almost everything in the area, plant life has since returned, and even flourished.

scientists attribute this remarkable comeback to phytoremediation, a special process some plants use to absorb dangerous particles called radionuclides.

an equally impressive act of survival is seen in japan's hibakujumoku.

this is the term given to the trees that withstood the nuclear detonations in hiroshima and nagasaki.

one of these hibakujumoku is a weeping willow that still grows just 1200 feet from where the bomb landed in hiroshima.

the roots of this tree were so robust that they lived to produce a new trunk even after the bomb blasted the entire area with temperatures of more than 10,000 degrees fahrenheit.

plants will invade any new habitat they can.#

chapter 2 of 6 imagine sitting down to a classic italian meal.

what dishes are on the table?

maybe some pasta smothered in a rich ragu or a piping hot margherita pizza.

surely nothing could be more authentically italian.

but that feast is actually more foreign than it appears.

the basil on the pizza isn't native to italy.

it originally grew only in central india.

that is, until alexander the great brought it back to what's now italy sometime in the 350s bc.

the tomato arrived even later.

explorer hernan cortes imported it from the americas in 1540.

in fact, most plants we think of as native were once invasive outsiders.

thanks to human action, as well as plants' amazing ability to adapt and survive, many vegetable species have ventured way beyond their so-called natural range.

the key message here is, plants will invade any new habitat they can.

while plants are usually perfectly adapted to their original habitat, they're not as sedentary as they seem.

actually, the opposite is true.

just like humans and animals, plants are always on the lookout for new territories, as they have been for all of history.

the massive migrations of modern humans, though, have accelerated the process considerably.

a great example of this is the senecio squalidus, sometimes called the oxford ragwort.

this tiny yellow flower is not native to oxford at all.

it originally grew on the rocky slopes of mount etna in sicily.

in the 1700s, botanist francesco cuppani gifted a few specimens to fellow botanists in england.

the plant was grown in oxford university's botanical gardens, but eventually it spread outside these confines.

within a few years, it had taken root all over the city.

and senecio squalidus wasn't even done expanding.

soon, it found a whole new way to spread.

during the industrial revolution, great britain went into a railroad building frenzy.

it just so happened that the rocky gravel used beneath train tracks had similar qualities to the plant's original habitat on mount etna.

as trains spread across the land, so did the yellow flower.

but trains don't get all the credit.

biology was also at play.

through natural crossbreeding, the foreign squalidus managed to hybridise with local flowers, gaining some of their ability to withstand the north's more temperate climate.

several generations later, the pale yellow of this invader's petals is considered the quintessential colour of the english countryside.

coconut species demonstrate the amazing adaptability of plants.#

in the early 1900s, august engelhardt discovered the key to eternal life.

at least, he thought he did.

the eccentric german nudist believed a diet consisting solely of coconuts would grant him perfect health.

to test this theory, he moved to the south pacific, where he set up a colony dedicated to this vision.

unfortunately for engelhardt and the dozens of disciples who followed his teachings, the hard-shelled tropical delicacy didn't deliver immortality.

those who attempted the all-coconut diet soon died of malnutrition.

but engelhardt was right about one thing.

the coconut palm and the various species of related plants are incredible organisms.

they may not help humanity escape death, but they are certainly extraordinary at staying alive themselves.

the key message here is, coconut species demonstrate the amazing adaptability of plants.

so why did engelhardt fall so hard for the coconut?

well, for starters, to his european eyes, the coconut palm tree, or coccus nusifera, is an incredibly unusual plant.

to someone used to seeing only common crops like wheat, cabbage or apples, the nusifera's large, bristly fruit stands out as something truly special.

of course, the fruit looks this way for a reason.

the coconut's heavy, hollow husks allow it to float on ocean currents for up to four months.

this adaptation has allowed the plant to spread far and wide across the globe.

in fact, the palm is so successful in travelling the seas that botanists had to rely on advanced dna tracing techniques to prove that it's native to asia.

contrasting with the roaming coccus nusifera is lodoica maldivica, or the sea coconut palm tree.

this unusual species only grows on a few islands in the indian ocean.

it also produces hard-shelled fruit, but its coconuts are much larger, weighing up to 90 pounds.

these fruits are so large, they can barely travel at all.

at first, this confused scientists as most plants try to spread their seeds as far as possible.

but there is a reason for this weight.

maldivica's native islands have low-quality soil.

the plant's enormous seeds are part of its unique strategy to overcome this survival challenge.

what exactly is this strategy?

well, first, the plant's large leaves collect nutrient sources like animal dung and pollen.

rain diverts this to the soil directly around the trunk.

when the plant's large, heavy coconuts drop onto this more fertile ground, their size and weight keep them from rolling away or being moved by animals.

and so, the next generation can benefit from their parents' regular nutrient showers.

what an amazing coconut!

a plant’s seeds can survive and grow after centuries of waiting.#

it's the turn of the 20th century.

auguste renoir, the famed impressionist painter, is spending his last years in provence, france.

here, he passes his days lolling in the shade and painting the local olive trees.

today, renoir is long gone, but the very trees he painted are still alive and thriving.

that's impressive.

but these olive trees are just babies compared to old tico, a norway spruce growing in sweden.

this tree began its life more than 9,000 years ago, when humans were just discovering agriculture.

and tico itself is just a baby compared to pando, a colony of genetically identical poplar trees in utah.

this organism can trace its roots back some 80,000 years.

clearly, living plants have awe-inspiring longevity.

and actually, the same can be said about their seeds.

the key message here is, a plant's seeds can survive and grow after centuries of waiting.

plants have a different relationship to time than animals.

while surviving a century is a feat for most mammals, birds or reptiles, making it past 100 is common in the plant kingdom, kingdom plantae.

and a plant's seeds, under the right conditions, can be just as durable.

these perfectly designed capsules keep the life within them dormant until the environment is just right for germination.

just how long can seeds remain dormant?

well, consider this example.

in 2005, two israeli scientists successfully germinated a date palm seed that had been discovered in a clay pot at the ruins of masada, a former fortress from antiquity.

experts estimate the seed existed as early as 155 bce, making it more than 2,000 years old.

but this seed is more than just an impressive curiosity.

it could actually help revive a lost culinary treasure.

as it turns out, the region around masada used to be known for its exquisite tasting dates.

but the local species died out due to climate change around 1100 ce.

by searching historic sites for more seeds that predate this extinction, scientists hope to revive the species and once again cultivate the famously tasty fruit.

one group of russian scientists have already succeeded in a similar goal.

in 2010, they found seeds of the ancient grass silene stenophylla frozen in the siberian permafrost.

using modern cloning techniques, they were able to regenerate the plant, bringing to life an organism that died 39,000 years ago.

solitary trees are evidence of the anthropocene.#

picture a vast and barren desert.

a dry, sun-soaked panorama with nothing but sand as far as the horizon.

now, imagine that among the dunes stands a single, solitary tree.

this is the tree of teneri, once known as the loneliest tree in the world.

for centuries, the tree of teneri eked out an existence in an isolated corner of the sahara, the only plant for hundreds of miles.

its unusual isolation lent it a poetic presence, and it served as a landmark for lonesome camel caravans crossing the area.

unfortunately, in 1973, a drunk trucker struck the tree and uprooted it, an ironic fate in an area so far from traffic.

but there's more to lonely trees than tragic endings.

in fact, they can help explain the impact we humans have on the world.

the key message here is, solitary trees are evidence of the anthropocene.

earth has existed for billions of years.

scientists divide that long stretch of time into different segments called geochronological units.

each unit is a distinct period when conditions on earth changed significantly.

currently, we live in the anthropocene, named because humankind, or anthropos in greek, is the main driver of global change.

the tree of life, or shajarat al-hayat, is one example of our role in this age.

this lonely tree grows in bahrain, a small island nation in the persian gulf.

but the tree doesn't belong there.

it's a procipis uleiflora, a plant native to mexico.

it only arrived in bahrain because portuguese colonists had been active in both regions in the 1500s.

this out-of-place plant demonstrates the extent to which human activity has rearranged life on the planet.

its unlikely presence is a key indicator of the anthropocene.

another stunning example of humanity's impact can be found on campbell island, a tiny patch of land 375 miles south of new zealand.

this island hosts a single, solitary pine tree.

it was planted by european colonists sometime around 1900.

the tree's existence alone is stunning enough.

what's inside its trunk is even more important.

within the tree's rings are bands of carbon-14.

this radioactive isotope is rarely found in nature, but it is produced in copious amounts by atomic blasts.

the fact that concentrated spikes of this rare element are detectable in the trunk of this isolated tree is significant.

it proves that humanity, and our technology, is making noticeable changes to even the farthest corners of the globe.

the lives of plants and animals are intimately connected.#

chapter 6 of 6 the amazon is one of the most biodiverse habitats on the planet, but all that life means fierce competition for space and resources.

so when it's time for plants to propagate their next generation, they must spread their seeds as far away as possible.

this pressure results in some astounding strategies.

consider the ouracrepitans, sometimes called a dynamite tree.

it takes matters into its own hands.

this unusual organism has evolved specialized fruit that burst when ripe.

these biological bombs launch the tree's seeds at more than 200 feet per second.

the seeds sometimes land more than 120 feet away.

not all plants can rely on bursting fruit to spread their seeds.

many turn instead to the animals that share their living space.

but this brings its own strategic trade-offs.

the key message here is, the lives of plants and animals are intimately connected.

a popular strategy for plants relying on animals to spread their seeds is the hitchhiking technique.

plants grow seeds with bristles and burrs that hook onto the fur of passing mammals.

others grow tasty fruit with seeds designed to be eaten and deposited elsewhere in animal droppings.

the tasty fruit strategy is effective, but only as long as there are animals with an appetite for what the plants are offering.

and if your primary consumer goes extinct, they're in real danger.

this actually happened to persia americana, more commonly known as the avocado tree.

while native to south america, this plant produces a single large seed too big for any local fauna to swallow whole.

that's because it evolved to entice animals that no longer exist, like giant sloths and massive mammoths.

when these mammals went extinct 13,000 years ago, there was no one left to distribute the avocado seeds.

the avocado tree began dwindling in number and range.

luckily, a different animal arrived on the scene.

humans.

with our taste for avocados, we picked up where the giant sloths left off and began cultivating the fruit for our own purposes.

now, avocado trees occupy more than a million acres spread across multiple continents.

that's a pretty impressive distribution.

yet, there are downsides to relying on humans.

with modern agricultural techniques, we're breeding avocado varieties with no seeds at all.

these are more enticing to consumers, but biologically, they're completely sterile.

all new plants are just clones of the original.

so, while there are more avocados in total, they're less and less able to reproduce on their own.

an unusual fate, and the latest twist in the long, intricate story of plant evolution.

you've just listened to our chapters to the incredible journey of plants by stefano mancuso.

final summary#

Conclusion

the key message in these chapters is that there's more to plants than meets the eye.

this incredibly diverse group of organisms includes some of the most successful species on earth.

thanks to astounding adaptations, clever partnerships with animals, and ingenious propagating strategies, plants have branched out to nearly every corner of the globe.

where they are now, how they got there, and ultimately where they will end up, depends in large part on our activity as humans.

do you have some feedback for us?

because if you do, then we would love to hear what you think about our content.

so just drop us an email to remember at summarybook.org with the incredible journey of plants as the subject line.

and share your thoughts with us.

The Incredible Journey of Plants

Table of Contents

Book Summary

what’s in it for me? a whole new crop of fascinating plant facts.#

plants and vegetables have evolved to survive in almost every environment.#

plants will invade any new habitat they can.#

coconut species demonstrate the amazing adaptability of plants.#

a plant’s seeds can survive and grow after centuries of waiting.#

solitary trees are evidence of the anthropocene.#

the lives of plants and animals are intimately connected.#

final summary#

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