Why is everything an orchid?

https://worldsensorium.com/why-is-everything-an-orchid/

by dnetesn • 3 years ago

94 43 3 years ago

worldsensorium.com

4ggr0• 3 years ago

Sounds like Orchids are the Crabs of the plant word.

sand500• 3 years ago

To add context, animals across the world have evolved independently to resemble crabs.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcinisation

moron4hire2• 3 years ago

Crustaceans, not animals in general, and there are also examples of crab-like species that have evolved away from crab features. This is one of those popsci memes that is wrong and just won't die.

marcosdumay2• 3 years ago

It's exactly the other way around.

While every animal seems to eventually become like a crab, orchids seem to eventually become like every plant and then some more.

lisper• 3 years ago

every animal seems to eventually become like a crab

Say what??? Reference needed. I can think of plenty of animals that are nothing like crabs.

cmrx64• 3 years ago

If crabs are the terminal object in the category of evolvable animals, orchids are an initial object in the category of evolvable plants?

Clamchop• 3 years ago

Article doesn't appear to be presenting a similar thesis at all, nearly the opposite. It doesn't have much to say about non-orchid plants, certainly not that they evolve to be orchid-like. Orchids are famous for being unusual and unusually diverse, that's what the article lingers on.

k__• 3 years ago

Yes, sounds more like Brassica oleracea to me, lol.

Aunche• 3 years ago

A better example of crabs in the plant world are trees.

There’s no such thing as a tree (phylogenetically) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29621646

theandrewbailey• 3 years ago

I thought everything was Brassica oleracea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassica_oleracea

\s: https://xkcd.com/2827/

nathancahill• 3 years ago

https://twitter.com/faineg/status/1386522223901618177/photo/...

hinkley4• 3 years ago

Everything is a:

  - broccoli
  - pea
  - rose
  - asparagus
  - crab

_a_a_a_• 3 years ago

Oh yeah? I recently discovered that the Teak tree is of the Mint family (Lamiales) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teak (take that, redwoods).

bane• 3 years ago

Wait until the article comes out that most of the vegetables we eat are cabbages.

- kale

- cauliflower

- broccoli

- turnips

- bok choy

- horseradish

- rapeseed

- mustard

and on and on and on it's wild

TheRealPomax• 3 years ago

It's cultivated, so literally the opposite of wild ;)

sophacles• 3 years ago

My favorite part of this fact, is that a surprising number of different brassica family vegetables are just one species: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassica_oleracea#Cultivars

hinkley4• 3 years ago

I planted some turnips as a cover crop a couple years ago, and one morning we looked out to find an Asian lady with her kid out there just nonchalantly cutting leaves along the sidewalk.

Which is how I learned that big chunks of the south and of Asia eat turnip greens.

(also you forgot collard, and brussel sprouts, but I'll give you a pass on the latter)

porkbeer• 3 years ago

Do most pepople not? Greens are a staple in the southern usa.

the-mitr• 3 years ago

you might find this interesting

https://www.khaydock.com/evolving.php

gcanyon• 3 years ago

I know it’s a fine point, but I think it’s important: the title is “ON The Origin of Species…” Omitting the “On” gives it a different sense that I think contributes to the mistaken belief the book is about convincing us that evolution happens, rather than describing how it happens.

calibas• 3 years ago

I used to think of orchids as something exotic, then I realized there's over 20 species of orchids native to where I live in Northern California. Bog orchids, Lady's Slippers, Coralroots, Twayblades, Fairy Slippers, and the Phantom orchid, among others.

ioseph• 3 years ago

Absolutely love orchids, they're pretty abundant where I live and even within the region the variety is huge! They make fantastic house plants, very low maintenance assuming your climate is appropriate, but please source them ethically.

Why is everything an orchid?

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