Happy Thought for 9 February 2024

Have a Happy Thought:

 Trees are awesome. They take up carbon, give us shade, sometimes give us food, and are there for hugs even if they’re tough and usually a bit prickly.

Also, they do definitely make a sound if they fall, but even if you’re in the same forest, you might not hear it:

Image: this tree fell across our track last weekend. It was not there on Sunday when we walked in, but it was definitely there on Tuesday when we walked out! And no, we didn’t hear it fall.

 Trees also take all sorts of shapes and sizes, in fact some would say that there is no such thing as a tree, the way there is no such thing as a fish. Meaning there is no way to genetically (or plant-relationally) draw a circle around everything that we call ‘tree’ without including so many other things that it’s meaningless.

Or, as one arborist put it: tree is a strategy.

 Tree has been a strategy, as it turns out, for a very, very long time. But what that looks like has changed a lot over that very long time. For example, the most recent contribution from science to the annals of “Dr Seuss plants probably really did exist at one point” is the Sanfordiacaulis. Shown below in relation both in time and size to other trees, this one is weird.

 

Image: Actual and reconstructed tree heights and biostratigraphic ranges of Middle Devonian to Pennsylvanian trees. From Enigmatic fossil plants with three-dimensional, arborescent-growth architecture from the earliest Carboniferous of New Brunswick, Canada by Gastaldo et al., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.01.011

A closer look gives us a better idea of just how tall, spindly, and then suddenly poof this tree was:

 Image: Sanfordiacaulis densifolia reconstruction. Ibid.

 

A good imagination would easily put a dragon into trees like those.

Why bring dragons into this, you ask? Because we’re entering the Year of the Dragon for many of the countries and cultures that celebrate Lunar New Year. Unlike last year’s complications with multiple names, most of the cultures agree that this year is the dragon. (Except for the Malay and Thai zodiacs which instead of the dragon have a snake-person semi-divine creature called a nāga. Nāgini for the female of the species, and for you Harry Potter fans.)

 

One final point: Valentine’s Day is coming up next week, and for those of you who are… anti-Valentines… you may find solace at your nearest animal shelter. Many of these (like this one, and this one, and this one) will, for a small donation, name a stray cat or dog after your ex-.

And then spay or neuter this newly-named-after-your-ex animal.

It’s a win-win!

 

Happy Lunar New Year, may your year be filled with an abundance of smiles and laughter (笑口常开 (xiào kǒu cháng kāi)).

Happy Valentines, or anti-Valentines, however you celebrate

And I hope you get to enjoy the shade and comfort of a friendly tree this weekend.