this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2024
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Science Memes

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You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? (mander.xyz)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 95 points 3 months ago (8 children)

There's no such thing as a tree.

And as a QI fan, I feel compelled to add there's no such thing as a fish

[–] [email protected] 35 points 3 months ago

No such thing as a tree? So you mean all those binary trees I've been inverting have been a lie? My whole world is shattered.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago

Of plants native to the Canary Islands, wood independently evolved at least 38 times!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

Except that yes there is. It's just not a scientific term. Same with fish.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

Neat read, thanks

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Indeed, it simply is not a phylogenetic categorization but a physio-ecological one. Tree, like shrub, liana, herbaceous, woody/non-woody are all terms solely used to place plants into functional groups based on how they grow. None of these has to do with their taxonomy.

So the question is, what is a tree and is having secondary growth necessary to be one? Because monocots, like palms are, don't have secondary growth, they use some workarounds. But why should that matter in the definition of a tree? I don't know. So yeah, a coconut palm should be considered a tree. But it hasn't got to do with phylogenetics (like explained in the article you linked).

Also, millennia ago there have been vast forests of lycopods!! Just imagine huge trees that are actually spikemosses. So why shouldn't a palm not be a tree?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

my definition of a tree is basically "a plant consisting of a single pillar-like robust trunk".

most plants can be trees, especially ones that generally grow as bushes, if they are prodded into doing so by pruning and whatever other pressures, and there are some plants that seem to flip a coin to decide whether they grow into bushes or trees.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

You forgot about the myth of vegetables.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

Halt! I'm here to check the expiry date of your facts!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

Typical trees belong to a group of plants called dicots

Whaaaat? Swiftly ignoring all gymnosperms? The temperate zones are full of trees that aren't dicots, or even angiosperms! Focusing on some biological traits that aren't crucial to the definition of a tree sounds like the author already likes their neat categories and wants to retroactively justify them...

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 months ago

A local park ranger I know likes to remark that our state tree is a grass. (I'm in Florida.)

But I'd say that's also inaccurate. IMO, grasses are in the family Poaceae, and palms are in the family Arecaceae. I guess one could remark that our state tree is a commelinid...but I don't think tourists would get as much of a kick out of that.