<
https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/sao-paulo-nurseries-bring-the-citys-rare-and-forgotten-trees-back-to-life/>
"“One of the greatest pleasures I had when I came here was telling my friends,
‘Today I planted 5,000 fig tree seeds,'” says Yacov Kilsztajn. “Planting seeds
here at the nursery is one of the actions that has the greatest impact when we
think about urban afforestation. We’re working with seeds that are very small,
but each one that germinates can become a huge tree.”
Kilsztajn is a biology student and intern at the Harry Blossfeld municipal
nursery, in the São Paulo metropolitan region. He holds out a pot with seeds so
small they look like grains of sand, and asks me how many seeds there are. Six
hundred, I guess; he says there are 60,000. Not all of them will grow into
trees.
“Species with lots of small seeds tend to have a lower germination rate than
species with larger seeds,” he says. Each one that germinates, however, will
have the potential to become a fig tree (
Ficus organensis) up to 25 meters
(82 feet) tall.
São Paulo’s municipal nurseries produce a combined 1.5 million seedlings a
year; the Harry Blossfeld facility has been in operation since 1969.
Specializing in the native flora of the city of São Paulo, including trees from
the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes, the nursery cultivates an “Orchard of
Delights,” featuring 39 species of fruit trees that produce cambuci
(
Campomanesia phaea), guabiju (
Myrcianthes pungens) and other fruits that
rarely make it onto the dessert platters of São Paulo residents.
Rare trees such as
jacarandá-da-Bahia (
Dalbergia nigra),
Euplassa
cantareirae and
cambucá (
Plinia edulis) — not to be confused with cambuci
— are also a favorite of the nursery, which cultivates 22 species that are at
threat of extinction.
With 190,000 seedlings available and a further 86,000 seedlings in tubes
(smaller seedlings in the development phase), the nursery produces more than
200 species of trees that endure in the squares and streets of Brazil’s most
urbanized city."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-women-rights-france-ntds-africa-bears-europe/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
