Botany of Desire
I read a great book that I want to recommend to those who love plants and find them interesting. The book is "Botany Of Desire" by Michael Pollan. His book explores the way plants compete to entice animals (man especially) to assist them in the continuation of their species. Some plants give us what we need and want and that forces us to gather seed, plant, nurture, protect, harvest, then gather more seed etc. Those plants flourish because they benefit man. Pollan, writes about tulips, potatoes, apples and marijuana. His insights about plants relationship to man are amazing.
Everyone knows the story about Johnny Appleseed. In school I read about how John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) went West and planted apple seeds so apple trees would grow for the frontier folks to enjoy. When I was a kid I thought they were enjoying eating fresh apples. Michael Pollan explains that this was not what they were enjoying. The apple trees that Johnny Appleseed planted from seed were not trees that would produce a tasty fruit. They were only going to produce a small, hard, sour apple. The reason the frontier folks were thrilled to see Johnny's trees growing and producing was because the fruit was used to make hard apple cider. Johnny Appleseed got to be a legend because he grew the best source of alcohol in the early days of our country.
The book is a great read. Enjoy
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