Nature and Gardening

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All things green, outdoors, and nature-y. Whether it's animals in their natural habitat, hiking trails and mountains, or planting a little garden for yourself (and everything in between), you can talk about it here.

See also our Environment community, which is focused on weather, climate, climate change, and stuff like that.

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Some tropical trees act as lightning rods to fend off rivals (www.sciencenews.org)

submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/20552909

The fruit is edible, but there's not much food on it, so probably not worth planting outside of its native range.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

but there's not much food on it, so probably not worth planting outside of its native range.

It is important to not plant things outside of their native range. However, plants and animals do not exist only for food. They exist so they should continue to and should be helped, not as something useful for creatures but because they should and because they help life no matter whether they are seemingly immediately useful for creatures or not.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Hello and thank you for your thoughtful comment. In general, I agree. I was not insinuating that Dipteryx oleifera trees (or plants in general) are only valuable as a source of food. They provide a myriad of ecosystem services, and all life in the forest is connected and interdependent. I simply meant that while some fruit-bearing plants are widely planted outside of their native range for food (durians, mangos, peaches, and probably most things that we both eat), this particular tree is probably not worth planting for its fruit alone (especially considering its size), and therefore it doesn't make sense to grow it outside of its native range as one might do with some other fruit trees. Within its native range, it could be worth planting for the sake of restoring the forest, in which case eating the fruit would be a bonus.

Of course, no animal is food.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

Thanks for your reply and further clarifying your point. 🙂