40 Comments

'like' doesn't cover it. I'm only part easy through and loving it, immersing in the joy and the echoing relationships. I'm savouring more for later.

I also have a book I think you'd love. If I can find it I'll take some photos.

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Couldn’t agree more.

Have a couple of Laotian Tree of Life pictures which we picked up in Luang Prabang which are treasured possessions

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I would love to see them! I think a post purely about Tree of Life art would be 👌

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Will send you pics

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Okay. Finished. Loved it. Disappointed there wasn't more.

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So glad to hear this Peter! I certainly will be writing more :) Stay tuned!

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Anne,

I'm wondering if you've seen this? It mentions Haekel's tree.

https://orionmagazine.org/article/what-slime-knows/

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That’s delightful, thanks so much for sharing!

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It's a good one. Glad you enjoyed it.

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Oh. My. Goodness.

This is just fabulous. I love seeing how "life" has been represented, explained using tree-like structures over the centuries. What an amazing set of stories, Anne. I will need to re-read this. Saved.

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So glad you share my fascination Debs! Thank you!

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Of course once we can really get around we may find another completely unique tree or two. For myself I believe our tree is but a single tree in an immense forest of them.

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An enthralling thought!

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This is fascinating, and as a non-scientist, a real education. The diversity of what's in a plant family is amazing. Now I've run out of superlatives!

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Thank you Linda!

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Late to the party here — but this one is a keeper. Thanks, Anne!

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Thank you Bryan!!

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Ah, so it wasn't needed — but one never knows, and it always seems better to make links just in case useful. Posted a comment there about a time when the original tree of life sketch was on display in Boston, and that made me think of this excellent essay.

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Of course, thanks for sharing—others may stumble on it here too.

Ooh very cool about the tree of life sketch in Boston!

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Ah yes, a nice historical crossover—have been meaning to read since I subscribe to Ann! Thanks for the reminder :)

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Fascinating I also liked Twelve Trees by Daniel Lewis Thanks for a great read.

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I felt the same kind of enthusiasm the day I saw a pair of illuminated lungs and neurons- tees of life within me. And then there was the ancient persons view of trees- kingdoms as trees and family tribes as branches and then the reproduced leaves and the grafting and pruning effects. The ancients didn’t need Darwin or X-rays to tell them these things

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Beautiful 🌳

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In case you haven’t read it yet, I loved Jude Piesse’s book ‘The Ghost in the Garden: In Search of Darwin’s Lost Garden’. It’s completely unique, and a wonderful blend of biography, nature-writing, local history, and memoir.

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I haven’t, thanks for the recommendation! Going on the list :)

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Saw this just after posting below, so will post again here — there's a nice discussion of that (or something similar) here: https://open.substack.com/pub/akennedysmith/p/susannah-wedgwood-darwin-1765-1817?r=2u2cxe&utm_medium=ios

(Not my newsletter; just that reading it reminded me of this essay)

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Fun coincidence!

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Anne, this is masterful, stupendously good. I love it so very much, thank you.

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Alex! This warms my soul! Thank you!

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Thank YOU for writing and sharing such an excellent piece. It really hit the spot and has stayed in my head since reading. Wonderful!

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And I’m excited for you to experience the street art story, when you have time! And to get your thoughts on it too.

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The best encouragement I could receive!

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PS I WILL catch up with your other posts too, especially the graffiti one, very much looking forward to wrangling a bit of time to do so!

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The memory palace! Wonderful.

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Love this. Yes! I would love to read profiles of plant families. My brain hungers for categories, organizing principles, the connections between all sorts of families of things. I love to discover same in language/cognates, too, just fascinating.

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Hooray! And yes me too, it’s somehow so deeply satisfying to gradually fill out these networks of connections and logic in my brain!

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A lovely and informative post!

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I love this! “Schrodinger’s bryophytes” . . . 💚

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Totally agree

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