Prometheus

[Richard Zander]

I was told or read somewhere that the oldest tree was cut down inadvertently
because a less-older tree was officially identified as the oldest in order
to protect the oldest. A grad student then cut down a different tree, which
was the oldest, thinking he was doing right.

Well, what tree is now the oldest? This problem is not exactly fail-safe but
there is always an oldest among the population of very old trees. Perhaps
the lesson learned is more important than the existence of that particular
oldest tree.

---------
From:
Richard H. Zander
Emeritus Curator of Botany
Clinton Herbarium
FNA Editorial Center at Buffalo

The Buffalo Museum of Science
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Jerry Bricker" <jeraldbr at CAMERON.EDU>
To: <TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG>
Sent: Friday, March 01, 2002 4:27 PM
Subject: Re: Prometheus


> Please reread my e-mail message again.  At no time did I accuse
> anyone of a "dirty deed."  Look up the word deed in your dictionary
> and you will see it defined as "something done."  That's how I used
> the word (although I spelled it incorrectly) and that was how I
> intended my message to be read.
>
> On the other hand, no matter what the circumstances of the events
> leading up to the cutting of Prometheus, the outcome was the same.
> In the morning the oldest living vascular plant was alive and well
> and by nightfall it was dead.  I define that as a sad day in the
> history of botany.
>
> JB
>
> >At 01:51 PM 3/1/02 -0600, you wrote:
> >>I have a copy of the Ecology paper and the 1964 year is correct.  I'm
> >>actually looking for the day of the month (I assume it was August of
> >>1964) that the dead was done.  I'm covering the Pinophyta in my
> >>botany class next week and I was going to talk about the saddest day
> >>in the history of botany.
> >>
> >>JB
> >>
> >>
> >>>Jerry,
> >>
> >    A little caution is due on this case. I was told by my major
professor
> >that they were studying the bristlecone pines and coring to get the age.
> >The borrer got stuck in the tree and was very expensive so they cut down
> >the tree to get it out. Then they found that it was the oldest tree.
Don't
> >accuse someone of doing a "dirty deed" unless you know the facts.
> >
> >C. Wetmore
> >Univ. of Minnesota
>
>
> --
>
> _______________________________________
>
> Jerry Bricker
> Department of Biological Sciences
> Cameron University
> 2800 W. Gore Blvd.
> Lawton, OK 73505
> Phone: 580-581-2374
> FAX: 580-591-8004
> E-mail: jeraldbr at cameron.edu
> Website: cameron.edu/~jeraldbr
>
> "If it disagrees with experiment, it  s wrong. In that simple
> statement is the key to science. It doesn  t matter how beautiful the
> theory is, how smart you are, or what your name is - if it disagrees
> with experiment, it  s wrong."
>
> Richard P. Feyman
>