Re: Something scandalous...?
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Re: Something scandalous...?
- From: H* R* <h*@netcom.com>
- Date: Wed, 9 Dec 1998 10:50:40 -0800 (PST)
_Lygodium_microphyllum_! -- having grown up south of the Mason-Dixon Line,
where the softly rolling green hills of kudzu vine ripple softly in the
breeze and creep slowly and implacably over anything moving slower than
a box turtle on a warm day, I found this California landscape far, far
too complicated. Species after species, I mean, *dozens* of them!
But, ah, the Mediterranean answer to the problem seems to have arrived:
Old world climbing fern, Lygodium microphyllum. According to a brochure
I picked up at the UC Davis herbarium last month (put out by the South
Florida Water Management District), this exotic twining fern spreads
faster (by spores), and will make a soft spongy carpet up to four feet
thick atop anything.
I'm looking forward to the Plant Olympics -- I understand that an abandoned
football field is going to be dedicated for the purpose of declaring a
winner in the South, by planting kudzu and fern face to face across the
50-yard line and turning on the sprinklers, winner to be determined the
following day by aerial photographs of the field to estimate total ground
covered by each species; the tie-breaker, if the game goes into overtime,
will be to test survival under a napalm strike by the national guard.
Tongue firmly in cheek :^J
