#cryptobotany

Everyone - meet Earl! He’s a rescue from some irresponsible cryptobotanists who did not treat him very well. Absolutely no enrichment in his enclosure. Poor guy!

A remarkable example of such plants is the haunted willow, salix maledictum. The haunted willow is a large, deciduous tree that grows up to 28 meters tall. Young specimens are very similar in appearance to weeping willows (salix babylonica), while older specimens are easily recognizable due to their thick, gnarly trunks and almost entirely grey bark. A reliable distinction between the two species are the haunted willow’s thick, coriaceous leaves. 

The haunted willow is native to most of northern Eurasia. They are highly shade tolerant, and deal well with temperatures below freezing. They grow slowly, but have an average lifespan of 300 years, much longer than most willow species.

What truly makes the haunted willow unique (and gave it its name) is its way of deterring predators. It combines two approaches:

The leaves and bark of the haunted willow contain high concentrations of the potent hallucinogen and oneirogen harmaline. Harmaline induces vivid hallucinations and a dream-like state that has been described as highly unpleasant. 

Additionally, the outer layers of the haunted willow’s trunk contain long, thin air pockets. When the tree moves even slightly, be it because of wind or because of contact with foreign bodies, these air pockets produce infrasonic clicks and creaks. Infrasound has been shown to induce fatigue, drowsiness, and even hallucinations. 

This combination allows the willow to cause altered states, seemingly paranormal encounters, and severe fatigue in people in the close vicinity of the tree. Ingesting even a handful of leaves or getting small amounts of its sap into an open wound can produce very intense effects for more than five hours. 

It is easy to see how this led to salix maledictum to become considered haunted. Attestations of ghosts, spirits, and gods appearing around trees are recorded throughout the species’ entire range, with some speculations even suggesting that the tree the Norse God Odin supposedly hanged himself on to learn the secrets of the runes might not have been the ash tree Yggdrasil, but indeed a haunted willow. 

Today, although removed from many densely populated areas, the haunted willow is still considered least concern. It flourishes in the less populated regions of Scandinavian and Baltic countries, as well as in Russia and Northern China. 

Despite its hallucinogenic effects, harmaline extracted from the leaves, sap, and bark of the haunted willow is only rarely used as a recreational drug. While its additional function as a monoamine oxidase inhibitor makes it attractive as a way of activating orally ingested DMT, it is unattractive on its own due to the overwhelmingly negative sensations it produces. 

These are reproduced photographs showing the incredible growth of the Schuss-Yucca tree. The German word Schuss means to shoot up, which leads to its nickname: Jumpin’ Yucca. These mysterious plants are said to grow in the southwestern United States. Their name comes from their unique ability to grow up to twenty feet tall, bloom, and die, all in a matter of minutes. The photographs were supposedly taken by a botanist named Gustav Albrecht. Each image was taken only seconds after the previous one. It is said to show the entire life cycle of the schuss-yucca.

In his 1952 article in Scientific Monthly, Albrecht stated: “Scientists today realize that anything is possible, whether Schuss-yuccas or extra-terrestrial flying saucers—particularly when reported by trained and reliable observers and accompanied by good photographs.”

Brazilian devil tree : É uma espécie especulada de planta com ramos espinhosos retráteis que utiliza para sugar o sangue dos seres vivos. Seu habitat são supostamente as profundezas escuras da selva amazônica, compartilhando semelhanças com a planta vampira do México e a árvore carnívora de Madagascar.

Title:

Examine the root cause

Origin:

Image from dream

Description:

I was on a train to Philadelphia. We were stopped at Penn Station in NY when a train ahead of us derailed or something and all Southbound trains were held for an unknown amount of time until engineers could arrive to inspect the tracks for damage and determine if it was safe to proceed.