[HN Gopher] Gold Grows On Eucalyptus Trees (2013)
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Gold Grows On Eucalyptus Trees (2013)
Author : library
Score : 49 points
Date : 2022-04-23 19:29 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.nationalgeographic.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.nationalgeographic.com)
| MrBuddyCasino wrote:
| > Gold is probably toxic to plants
|
| How so? It doesn't react with anything.
| sjmm1989 wrote:
| I'd hazard a guess that that is precisely why it's toxic to
| plants. It brings to mind things like Lead poisoning for us,
| because it takes the place of calcium in the body to horrific
| effect. And it just never really goes away. Meaning it doesn't
| really react with anything much, since that would reduce it
| over time. IIUC of course.
|
| That said, I'm sure lead isn't the best example, since I am
| merely hazarding a guess right now.
|
| For the Eucalyptus plant, sending the gold to the leaves is
| probably a good way to get the gold out of the way for more
| important nutrients to get where they need to go. Worst case
| scenario for the plant, it loses a few leaves. Which is
| something it already had to deal with before through Koala
| bears.
| [deleted]
| noughtme wrote:
| Roots obviously don't pick up solid gold. Gold salts are toxic
| to biological systems.
| el_oni wrote:
| Thats not true. Gold won't patina but it can react with things.
| It can replace other metals in key enzymes which will inhibit
| their function. You can also use it as a catalyst both
| heterogeneous (as nanoparticles) and homogeneous (as an
| organometalic complex).
| ncmncm wrote:
| Yes, you don't want stray catalysts running around loose,
| catalyzing things you didn't want catalyzed, willy-nilly.
| el_oni wrote:
| Well thats just the thing, if a gold atom were to replace
| say a copper atom in the active site of an enzyme, it would
| behave differently and more than likely in a deleterious
| manner.
| AnotherGoodName wrote:
| Totally a tangent but as an Australian I'm amazed at how common
| eucalyptus trees are in California. They were introduced just 150
| years ago and parts of California have denser eucalypt forest
| than Australia now. Which isn't good for California's bio
| diversity and given the flammability of eucalyptus is bad from a
| safety point of view too. There should be more of an effort to
| remove them.
| tomcam wrote:
| Useless anecdata: I grew up in Southern California and
| absolutely adore eucalyptus trees. The smell is wondrous.
| elboru wrote:
| They are also great against mosquitoes
| contingencies wrote:
| They're also all over China. My late head of department (ex
| cultural attache) once told me he helped introduce some
| relevant government organs and it seems Aussie trees were then
| quickly appreciated in China for their drought resistance.
| https://www.fao.org/3/AC772E/ac772e04.htm suggests there's now
| over 1.5 billion in China. As well as eucalypts there are
| really a huge amount of street plantings of Aussie _Myrtaceae_
| , such as bottlebrush and paperbark. All are deep rooted trees,
| they will seek water to impressive depths. _Casuarina_ as well,
| although the predominant species is endemic to much of Asia and
| apparently Gondwanan.
| elboru wrote:
| We used to have tons of eucalyptus trees in my hometown in
| northern Mexico. Then an unusual winter arrived 10 years ago,
| temperatures dropped to -24 Celsius. All the eucalyptuses died
| and with them a big percentage of our vegetation and shade. I
| don't know why we are so obsessed with foreign flora in our
| cities.
| jet_32951 wrote:
| Unlike eucalypts in Australia, in California and Hawai'i
| nothing eats them. Tasmanian bluegum is the most common
| eucalypt in that range [0]. Therefore a) they grow very
| rapidly, and b) are useless as structural or furniture woods.
| The Berkeley Hills "Tunnel" fire of 1991 [1] was driven in
| large measure by the presence of eucalypts. In much of northern
| California today, eucalypts are seen as large flammable weeds.
|
| [0]
| https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/eucglo/all.h...
|
| [1] https://www.caloes.ca.gov/FireRescueSite/Documents/CFIW-
| Oakl...
| ncmncm wrote:
| We would do better to grow _Acacia acuminata_ , Raspberry Jam
| Tree, in SoCal. It grows fast, and smells like raspberry jam
| when sawed. Australia has millions of century-old _A. acu._
| fenceposts, 'cause they last forever. Carbon capture! The
| wood (like most acacia) is excellent for furniture.
|
| https://www.australianplants.com/about.aspx
|
| (It is not on her price list, but I know she has it.)
|
| It is also easy to refine DMT from the fallen leaves. Or
| sawdust.
| andrew_ wrote:
| https://archive.ph/XV5eR
| bradrn wrote:
| Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms3614. The underlying
| reason for this seems to be that _Eucalyptus_ roots are unusually
| deep and aggressive (something I have personally witnessed), and
| any gold they pick up is toxic and gets transported to the
| leaves, where it can't do as much harm.
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