February 25, 2009  

It takes about eight minutes for sunbeams to reach the earth's surface. As sunlight strikes leaves, they create sugars, starches and carbohydrates at the astounding rate of 150 billion tons per year. Much of this is stored as solid tissue for the plant's structure. Organisms consume the remainder as food. Green plants are solar energy converters. They manufacture enough food for themselves and the rest of the planet using carbon dioxide from the air and water from the earth. The by-product is life-giving oxygen for all to breathe. 

The miracle of photosynthesis is single-handedly responsible for feeding every living thing on planet earth. I wrote in 2005, "I am convinced that from the beginning of human life on this planet, an accurate record of a person's life could be expressed in terms of plants. People not only depend on plants, they are plants, the nature of which has been altered by substances which themselves derive from plants. We are plant stuff. Every molecule we consume to sustain our life is plant stuff or plant stuff transformed." 

An accompanying miracle of evolution resides in the distribution of leaves about a plant to provide the greatest economy of efficiency. Leaves are arranged in such a way that each receives the maximum amount of light and rainfall without being denied by or denying another leaf. A near infinite variety of leaf arrangements is possible, each best suited to the particular plant's way of growing. 

This is how plants have evolved. This is why the water lily is designed the way it is: for maximum efficiency and functionality. There are counterclockwise turns and visible spirals as well, each following the Golden number. In many plants we can observe spirals in both directions, all for the most compact arrangement. There is another series having a close relationship with Fibonacci numbers known as Lucas numbers. These spirals are also observable and steer growth to the optimum design. 

Still another miracle of design is the evolution of leaf shapes and how they are best suited to the plant they occupy. Leaf shapes may be needle- like, scale-like, simple or compound. Their arrangement on a plant might be opposite, alternate, whorled or in clusters. Some climbers have stems that twine around other stems in their ascension to the canopy for more light. Leaves of many succulents have evolved as extra thick and fleshy to store water that they might survive drought or water loss through transpiration. 

Wide spreading shade trees, usually shallow rooted, attract animals to shelter beneath their limbs and thus garner the rewards for nutrient rich droppings. An ordinary mature sugar maple tree may have a quarter million leaves, all arranged by the invisible hand of nature. 

Each fall, leaf peepers arrive here in the Catskills and other areas of the country and depart leaving behind a sizeable contribution to the local economies. The colors of autumn are one of several magic keyholes that provide a glimpse into the hidden lives of plants. This colorful period is a sign that the plants are beginning the process of shutting down so they won't die of thirst over the coming winter. 

The photosynthesis performing chlorophyll found in chloroplasts undergoes a profound change. The leaves will soon fall from the trees. These leaves become food for organisms that become food for other organisms that become food for other organisms, and so on. Plant stuff we are. It's my abbreviated course in miracles. 

From The Garden of Ed. Submitted for publication in The Towne Crier on February 25, 2009

© 2009 Ed Mues. All Rights Reserved.

eMail:  eGarden@MountainAir.us