世界上最大的种子
The world's biggest seed
世界上最大的种子
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.
世界上最大的种子生成的秘密在于这种植物的叶子在下雨时候变为运输管道将大量水分及营养运送到植物饥渴的根部。
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.)
海椰子树上会长出这种硕大坚果，实际上这是一种种子。最大的可重达18公斤（约40磅重），约为一个四岁男孩的体重。此外这种棕榈树胜过其他一切树种，最起码它能以很少的补给孕育出来相对较大的种子。这些树只生长在非洲塞舌尔群岛中的两个小岛上，虽然其扎根生长的土质是岩石类营养贫乏土质，但他们还是疯狂的生长着。（这些树也是非洲东海岸印度洋上由115个岛屿组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在塞舌尔群岛基地工作。尽管供其生长的营养缺乏，但这些棕榈树森林长势依旧壮观。"就像不知从哪会冒出来一只恐龙一样"，他这样形容道。当有风掠过这些树的树叶时，他会听见噼里啪啦的响声。
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.
氮磷是富含营养物质的两大天然肥料，正为这些树所需（其他树种也同样需要）。然而在这些树生长的地方恰恰缺少这两种肥料。因此这种植物在营养使用方面很节约。比如发芽长叶时，他们仅仅消耗1/3的营养，为周围56种树木和灌木的叶子生长所需。此外，海椰子棕榈树还可利用即将掉落的树叶上的营养物质，重复使用90%落叶上的磷。这是植物界中的一项纪录。
