The Triumph of Seeds (36 page)

88  
example of a naturally germinating seed:
Elaine presoaked the seed with plant hormones and enzymatic fertilizers—standard techniques for germinating fragile samples—but the impetus to sprout was Methuselah’s alone.

88  
flourish in the Jordan Valley:
Modern Israeli date stocks descend from standard cultivars imported in the twentieth century. Genetic testing shows that Methuselah is not related to any of these—he most closely resembles an old Egyptian variety called
hayani
. Though probably coincidental, this fits nicely with the traditional story that the Jews brought dates with them during the Exodus.

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100  
extracted from rice and nuts:
Working with a $20 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a team led by Dr. Robert Sievers has developed live measles vaccines that remain viable for up to four years suspended in a “bioglass” of myo-insitol.

103  
“. . . going to survive.”
Cary Fowler, quoted on
60 Minutes
(archived at “A Visit to the Doomsday Vault,” March 20, 2008, CBS News,
www.cbsnews.com/8301–18560_162–3954557.html
).

104  
managed by Kew Gardens:
The Millennium Seed Bank currently houses more than 2 billion seeds from over 34,000 different species, including more than 90 percent of the United Kingdom’s native seed plant species. By 2025, the project aims to preserve seeds from 25 percent of the world’s flora, with a focus on rare and threatened plants. Already, at least twelve species housed in the collection have gone extinct in the wild.

104  
“. . . time to begin is now.”
As quoted in Dunn 1944.

104  
resisting pests and disease:
Vavilov not only understood variety in cultivars, but also identified what he called “centers of origin,” eight regions in the world where important crops were originally domesticated, where they remain most diverse, and where their wild relatives can still be found. The idea remains an important principle in plant breeding and botanical research.

105  
promised quicker results:
Led by Trofim Lysenko, this notorious movement countered Mendelian genetics with a half-baked theory of environmentally acquired inheritance, setting back Soviet agriculture—and biology in general—for a generation.

105  
precious grains in their care:
Though Vavilov’s collections survived Lysenkoism and the destruction of World War II, the institute that houses them has suffered funding setbacks and a long decline in the modern era. Its irreplaceable orchard—with more than 5,000 fruit and berry varieties—was recently slated to be cleared for a housing development.

106  
grown on a massive scale:
Similarly, the crisis in wild plant diversity is also a result of human activities, from habitat loss to climate change to the introduction of invasive species.

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114  
gnawing seeds:
While the modern rodent diet includes a wide range of plant matter (and occasionally insects or meat), rodents’ distinctive teeth evolved for gnawing seeds, which remain the most common food throughout the group.

117  
nut tucked safely inside:
Functionally, the pits of these species are seeds, but technically the shell is made up of a hardened fruit layer called an
endocarp
.

121  
shade of their parents:
There is a whole branch of dispersal ecology devoted to this idea. Getting away helps the young plant
avoid predation, competition with its parent and siblings, and the host of species-specific viruses and other pathogens that lurk in the vicinity of adult trees.

124  
changes in the finches:
Now entering its fifth decade, the Galapagos finch study is the most in-depth examination of evolution ever undertaken in the field. Led by Princeton biologists Peter and Rosemary Grant, the research has helped reveal how natural selection and other factors (genetic, behavioral, and environmental) work together to create and maintain species. Weiner’s
Beak of the Finch
(1995) and the Grants’ own
How and Why Species Multiply
(2008) are both highly recommended.

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128  
“. . . All Hot! Pepper Pot!”:
This rhyme traces its origins to Philadelphia, where soup sellers in the eighteenth century sang it out while hawking their distinctive, spicy stew. Traditional recipes for Philadelphia pepper-pot soup call for various meat scraps, from tripe to turtle, but they all agree on the seasoning—a large dose of black peppercorns.

132  
$2.5 billion over that time:
Total average annual return includes all cash and spice dividends, plus the appreciation in stock from the company’s founding to its high of 539 guilders in 1648. For more about the extraordinary history of this company, see de Vries and van der Woude 1997.

133  
“. . . impostor or a fool”:
Young 1906, 206.

133  
turn up in time:
Though it seems preposterous in hindsight, Columbus can’t be faulted for thinking the “Spice Islands” might be hard to pinpoint. Until well into the eighteenth century, nutmeg trees grew on fewer than ten of Southeast Asia’s 25,000 islands. Cloves were found on only five.

136  
tissue that surrounds the seeds:
The white tissue, called
placenta
, manufactures capsaicin and retains about 80 percent of it. Approximately 12 percent is transferred to the seeds, and the remainder goes into the fruit tissue, mostly at the tip, where a nibbling animal might encounter it before doing too much damage.

139  
Plants
. . .
are stationary:
This kind of blanket statement invites exceptions, and the plant kingdom has been happy to oblige with various examples of plant motion, from the snapping of
Venus flytraps to the cringing leaves of sensitive plants to the imperceptible amble of a walking fig. Still, after seeds disperse and sprout, the overwhelming pattern for plant life is to remain rooted and still.

140  
“. . . burning and inflammation”:
Appendino 2008, 90.

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144  
“. . . slip of a pink”:
This phrase, from the translation in Ukers (1922), refers to a common method for propagating carnations and other members of the pink family. Vegetative shoots can be “slipped” easily from the main stem just above the leaf nodes.

145  
impossible to unravel:
Most modern accounts of de Clieu’s story derive from the version in William Ukers’s 1922 classic,
All About Coffee
. I had some of de Clieu’s original correspondence and part of a nineteenth-century French history retranslated, and many of Ukers’s details checked out. But I couldn’t find confirmation of the pirate attack!

146  
“. . . Martinico’s shore”:
This poem first appeared in the volume
Poems for Children
, coauthored by Charles Lamb and his sister Mary. Based on differences in style, as well as various notes and letters, scholars attribute this particular verse to Charles.

146  
Martinique to Mexico to Brazil:
The descendants of de Clieu’s seedling provided founding stock for plantations throughout the French West Indies, and probably in Central and South America, too. How far they spread remains unclear, but a popular story in Brazil traces at least part of that country’s coffee stock to French Guiana—and to another tale of theft and seduction. According to legend, romance between a visiting Portuguese officer and the governor’s wife resulted in an unusual parting gift. When he left for Brazil, she presented him with a fragrant bouquet of flowers. Sprigs and seeds of the colony’s closely guarded coffee plants were tucked away inside.

146  
“uncoordinated writhing”:
See Hollingsworth et al. 2002.

147  
original versions of Coke and Pepsi:
Though their formulas are tightly held trade secrets, both Coke and Pepsi entered the soda market at a time when “colas” inherently included kola nut extract. Whether the modern versions still do remains a matter of debate, but a recent chemical analysis found no trace of kola-nut proteins in a can of regular Coke (D’Amato et al. 2011).

147  
the hardiest attackers:
Caffeine is considered an excellent all-around pesticide, but specialist insects like the coffee-borer beetle have developed an immunity. They have no trouble chomping their way through coffee beans and can cause extensive crop damage.

148  
other seeds from germinating:
Exactly how caffeine gets from the seed to the soil remains unclear—it may diffuse directly, or even pass through the root. And in a practical last stage of the plant’s alkaloid recycling program, some caffeine moves from the endosperm to the seed leaves, protecting them from attackers and starting the whole process over again.

149  
dosed with caffeine:
The amount of caffeine in coffee nectar strongly suggests coevolution with honeybees. Too much is a bitter, even toxic deterrent, but coffee flowers provide just the right dose to stimulate memory and keep the bees coming back for more.

149  
“. . . expression rules for a short time”:
from the
British Homeopathic Review
, as quoted in Ukers 1922, 175.

150  
Industrial Revolution that followed:
Experts have a charming name for this period of rapidly evolving work habits: the Industrious Revolution.

151  
300 to 400 liters considered average:
Annual totals as high as 1,095 liters per person have been reported from hospitals, where presumably beer was a cost-effective way of feeding the patients. See Unger 2004 for an excellent account of beer habits from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance.

152  
“. . . spiritually and ideologically”:
Schivelbusch 1992, 39.

153  
“. . . goods of pirates”:
The British Admiralty confiscated a trove of jewels, precious metals, and trade goods with the capture of Captain William Kidd in 1699. These items were later auctioned at London’s Marine Coffee House, raising enough capital to establish a retirement facility for destitute sailors (see Zacks 2002, 399–401).

153  
Newton dissecting a dolphin:
It’s an extremely appealing image, but this often-repeated yarn can be easily debunked by Ralph Thoresby’s eyewitness account, which tells of retiring to The Grecian
after
the dissection (Thoresby 1830, vol. 2, 117). What is perhaps more interesting is that the dolphin was caught nearby in the River Thames!

154  
Franklin dropped by:
Perhaps nothing demonstrates Franklin’s legendary popularity in France better than the reaction at Café
Procope upon news of his death. For three days of mourning the inner room was hung with black fabric. Memorial speeches were read, and patrons decorated a bust of Franklin with a crown of oak leaves, cypress boughs, celestial charts, globes, and a serpent biting its tail—a sign of immortality.

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164  
arrested for the crime:
Documentarian Richard Cummings believes that Markov’s murder involved a team of assassins, including a getaway driver at the wheel of a taxi cab. In this version of the story, the dropped umbrella was meant only as a distraction, while a small, pen-sized object actually delivered the deadly pellet.

165  
cell’s genetic code into action:
The chain released inside a cell interferes with RNA transcription, essentially stopping the cell’s ability to synthesize the proteins that make it function. On its own, unable to penetrate cells, this chain is quite harmless and closely resembles the storage proteins in a range of commonly eaten seeds, including barley.

167  
description of the symptoms:
Final confirmation of ricin as the poison came from the failed assassination attempt in Paris. Because the full dose failed to disperse, the intended victim survived. His body did, however, produce antibodies to the trace amount of ricin that entered his bloodstream.

167  
put the plan into action:
Kalugin 2009, 207.