Subject: Re: Silver Sword
From: [email-masked] (James Buonocore)
Date: 1 May 1994 11:15:24 -0400
Newsgroups: bionet.plants

In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (R.S. Wallace) writes:

>You should contact Dr. Bruce Baldwin (Duke Univ. Dept. Botany) or
>Dr. Robert Robichaud (Univ. Arizona, Dept. of Ecology and
>Evolutionary Biology) who are experts on the silverswords
>(Asteraceae: Secneionieae: Madiinae) in Hawaii.  You should think
>again, and perhaps sober-up with respect ot silverswords on the
>moon! Whatever moon angle (night-time equatorial tilt analog?), Dr.
>Robichaud might be helpful (or at least amused).

>     Greetings...

>     Rob Wallace
>     Dept. of Botany
>     Iowa State Univ.

Thank you.  In fact we got Dr. Baldwin's name from another respondent.  We
were quite sober I assure you.  That's why we are trying to get to the
bottom of this.  We were also quite amused.  One of our dinner guests saw
the plant in Hawaii and next to it a sign saying that it grew on the moon.
We spent the better part of the remaining evening trying to convince her
that nothing grew natively on the moon and that it wasn't made if bleu
cheese either, but she saw it on the sign and was convinced.  She
suggested we get on my computer and ask Prodigy, but I am not a member
there, so I had to settle for you folks.  Our guess was that it was either
legend, or that one of the moon missions brought it up there as part of a
test.  There was also the possibility that there is some arcane scientific
condition that would cause the Hawaii tourist board to claim that the
plant grows on the moon, and you have hinted at such.  We will get to the
bottom of this eventually and post the answer.  In the meanwhile, we got
another reply telling us of the Golden Scimitar which also supposedly
grows on the moon as well as at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, which I
suppose would be somewhat easier.  Finally, I did find something in print
suggesting that certain lichens to exceedingly well in weightless
environments, but still require oxygen. 

Thanks for you help,
 
Jim and Rachel Buonocore [email-masked]}