Amazing Nature Contest: FREE TOPIC - #4/6/23

almost 2 years ago (Edited)

I am a participant in this great competition hosted by @bucipuci🤗

Tulipanovac, Lily tree (Liriodendron tulipifera L.)

I did a little research on this unusual tree..

The tree belongs to the Magnolia family..... In addition to its decorative purpose, its flowers are honey-bearing, in the eastern USA, it is grown to obtain honey, which is reddish in color. It is not used that much in food, it is more used by bakers for their pastries....

The root of this plant is also important, it is used to obtain spruce beer. As with any lemon-flavored beer, to soften the bitterness.

The wood gives good pulp, so it is used to make musical instruments, pencils and matches.

It is also used in medicine...

Here, for the first time, I met such a tree in bloom in my village. I have never seen such flowers... I was enchanted, the delicate petals reminded me of tulips in shape.
It was planted in front of a house, and the owner mentioned to me that she calls it the rose tree, maybe because of the flowers?!, and that it is very difficult to develop successfully when planted.

I came across some interesting facts about this tree and I had to quote it to you.

"A study was conducted on the American tulip tree that established an extraordinary level of protection of genetic data that has remained largely unchanged from the time of the dinosaurs to the present day. Genomic change is about 2,000 times slower than in humans, which makes it a molecular fossil, the team of American researchers concluded. The new information has influenced our understanding of the evolution of flowering plants, and the results are published in the journal BMC Biology. A team from the universities of Indiana and Arkansas sequenced the mitochondrial genome of Liriodendron tulipifera to discover one of the slowest silent mutations (a process that does not affect gene function). They added that sequencing showed that many genes that were lost over 200 million years in flowering plants have remained preserved in this plant."

My source

https://www.agroklub.com/sumarstvo/znate-li-zasto-tulipanovac-zovu-i-molekularnim-fosilom/42672/