An exotic plant has produced male and female cones outdoors in Britain for what is believed to be the first time in 60 million years. Botanists say the event is a sign of global heating.
Two cycads (Cycad revoluta), a type of primitive tree that dominated the planet 280 million years ago, have produced cones on the shleterned undercliffs of Ventnor Botanic Garden on the Isle of Wight.
The species is native to Japan and usually only found indoors as an ornamental plant in Britain, but one of the garden's plants has produced what is believed to be the first outdoor female cone on record in the UK.
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~ Patrick Barkham, The Guardian
Date:
Friday, August 23, 2019
