世界上最大的種子
The world's biggest seed
世界上最大的種子
The secret behind the world's largest seed is leaves that serve as good gutters. During rains, they channel lots of water and nutrients right to the plant's thirsty roots.
世界上最大的種子生成的祕密在於這種植物的葉子在下雨時候變爲運輸管道將大量水分及營養運送到植物飢渴的根部。
Coco-de-mer palms (Lodoicea maldivica) produce these monster nuts, which are a type of seed. The biggest can tip the scales at up to 18 kilograms (roughly 40 pounds). That's about as much as a 4-year-old boy. Yet the palm outperforms all other plants - at least in seed heft - with a below-poverty diet. These plants grow wild on nutrient-starved, rocky soil on just two islands in the Seychelles. (They're part of an arc of some 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, off of the East Coast of Africa.)
海椰子樹上會長出這種碩大堅果，實際上這是一種種子。最大的可重達18公斤（約40磅重），約爲一個四歲男孩的體重。此外這種棕櫚樹勝過其他一切樹種，最起碼它能以很少的補給孕育出來相對較大的種子。這些樹只生長在非洲塞舌爾羣島中的兩個小島上，雖然其紮根生長的土質是岩石類營養貧乏土質，但他們還是瘋狂的生長着。（這些樹也是非洲東海岸印度洋上由115個島嶼組成的弧形中重要的一部分。）
Christopher Kaiser-Bunbury works for the Seychelles Islands Foundation. Despite a scarcity of nutrients to fuel its growth, a palm forest is "magnificent - it's like a dinosaur could come around the corner," he says. Winds can jostle hectares (acres) of stiff leaves. This makes a sound he describes as "crackling."
Christopher Kaiser-Bunbury在塞舌爾羣島基地工作。儘管供其生長的營養缺乏，但這些棕櫚樹森林長勢依舊壯觀。"就像不知從哪會冒出來一隻恐龍一樣"，他這樣形容道。當有風掠過這些樹的樹葉時，他會聽見噼裏啪啦的響聲。
Nitrogen and phosphorus are two natural fertilizers - nutrients - that these (and other plants) need. There isn't much of either on the islands where these palms grow. So the plants are frugal. They sprout fronds using only about one-third the nutrients needed by leaves of 56 neighboring species of trees and shrubs. What's more, coco-de-mer palms scavenge a lot of the nutrients shed in their own dying leaves. These trees can reuse 90 percent of that prized phosphorus from the fronds it's about to drop. That's a record for the plant world.
氮磷是富含營養物質的兩大天然肥料，正爲這些樹所需（其他樹種也同樣需要）。然而在這些樹生長的地方恰恰缺少這兩種肥料。因此這種植物在營養使用方面很節約。比如發芽長葉時，他們僅僅消耗1/3的營養，爲周圍56種樹木和灌木的葉子生長所需。此外，海椰子棕櫚樹還可利用即將掉落的樹葉上的營養物質，重複使用90%落葉上的磷。這是植物界中的一項紀錄。
