The Rainbow Eucalyptus

Rainbow Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus trees are often most notably remembered as the tree that cute cuddly koalas hang from all day in Australia. However, there is another species of eucalyptus that has historically been overlooked despite it's victories origin story. Long ago Demeter, goddess of the harvest, had a terrible spat with a eucalyptus tree nymph. Demeter decided to punish the nymph by never allowing her seeds to take root in their native soil. For years and years the tree nymph watched her seeds be taken away to the northern hemisphere where they had no hope of surviving. The eucalyptus tree nymph went to the Iris, goddess of the rainbow, and begged her to help protect at least one of her seeds the following year from the harsh temperatures and soil of other lands. In exchange the nymph swore her loyalty to Iris. And so that following year a single seed, blessed by the goddess Iris, did in fact take root in the Philippines. However, this Eucalyptus was unique from all the rest no just in terms of it's location but also by virtue of it's vibrant rainbow bark. The nymph was so glad to see one her seeds finally take root and go to be such a beautiful tree. To this day the Rainbow Eucalyptus is a tree that can link the mortal realm to the of the immortal. The tree has magical properties that show through it's bark linking it to the goddess of the rainbow and it can be treated as a place to connect and worship the goddess who blessed the survival of the original Rainbow Eucalyptus seed.

Is this all there is to the Rainbow Eucalyptus?

What's real
  §Eucalyptus deglupta 

  §Also known as the Rainbow Eucalyptus, Rainbow bark, and Rainbow gum

  §Originated in the Philippines

  §Only species of eucalyptus that is native to the northern hemisphere

§Does not grow in Australia

  §The wood is commonly used to manufacture paper

              The Trunk

          §Bark= Smooth and flaky

          §Unlike trees such as oaks

          §Sheds old layers at varying times

          §The youngest layer is a bright green which changes to purple, red, orange, and a brownish maroon as it is exposed to air

          §Never has the same pattern twice= Living work of art

             Further information on what causes          the color

          §The thin bark of the tree is made up of dividing cambium cells,      which is similar to stem cell sin animals and common in woody plants.

          §Each layer of bark has a transparent surface just one cell thick and the tissue underneath is packed with bright green chlorophyll.

§          As time goes on and the clear surface is exposed to the sun it becomes flush with the reddish brown color of tannins.

          •Tannins: organic substance present in bark consisting of derivatives of gallic acid, used in leather production and ink manufacture

§The accumulation of tannins and depletion in chlorophyll in the underlying tissue results in the apparent change in color of each bark layer

Did Humans and Unicorns coexist?

Fossilized skull reveals that a Siberian "unicorn" roamed the Earth 29,000 years ago: https://t.co/a2hXW2NmG3 pic.twitter.com/gdZcJqC05w

— CA AcademyOfSciences (@calacademy) March 28, 2016

Specimen: Rendering of Siberian unicorn (Elasmotherium sibiricum)
Description: An extinct species of rhinoceros that is verified to have lived in the region of Kozhamzhar in modern Kazakhstan until at least 300,000 years ago. Its large size and distinct horn made its appearance like unicorns of human legend.


Specimen: Fossilized skull resembling Siberian unicorn
Description: This skull fragment has traits that suggest it could belong to a Siberian unicorn. However, carbon dating suggests that it is only 29,000 years old.

Publication issues: One issue with the study of this fossil is that it was published in the American Journal of Applied Sciences, an online open access journal published by the company Science Publications (http://thescipub.com/). Open access journals have been criticized in academia for often accepting articles with little or no formal peer review. They have a reputation for charging their writers large amounts of money in order to publish in them, and tend to use a sham peer review process if one even exists. They are often used by academics who lack other outlets for publishing their work, typically because it is of poor quality to merit publication in a serious academic journal. These academics can then claim that they have been published, which is vital for getting tenure and promotion. Science Publications was listed on the most recent edition of the now deleted "Beall's List" of potential, possible, or probable predatory scholarly open access publishers. However, disreputable academic journals have influence on the media and even some institutions. Besides the above Tweet, this article was picked up by something even better than the royal society: news sources such as CNN, Huffington Post, The Guardian, and Fox News.
Did humans and unicorns really live together?: It is certainly possible, but without further verification and study of the results and publication in more reputable journals, it is difficult to say whether the Siberian unicorn had not already been extinct 30,000 years ago. However, in the meantime we can speculate about what other species the skull might belong to. Perhaps unicorns whose horns had magical powers really did roam Siberia.

Goose Barnacle Goose

Specimen: Goose Barnacle

Description: Discovered attached to flotsam floating off the coast of England. This is a mollusk thought to be the watery origin of the Barnacle Goose (see next specimen).

Specimen: Barnacle Goose

Description: A species of goose first classified taxonomically by Johann Mathäus Bechstein in 1803. Thought to originate from the Goose Barnacle. Before the migration of birds was understood, the origin of these birds presented a mystery. They had no nests nor were they observed laying eggs. The supposition was that they originated from the water (some catholics even considered them exceptions to the meatless restrictions of Lent, considering them to be more like fish), specifically as a case of heterogenesis from the Goose Barnacle. 

Spontaneous generation: Spontaneous generation is the idea that new organisms can arise from nonliving matter. While science has debunked this view, ruling out spontaneous generation proved to be a difficult undertaking. Louis Pasteur is credited with proving spontaneous generation wrong in 1859.

Heterogenesis: The case of the Goose Barnacle and the Barnacle Goose exemplifies a related idea that organisms can be generated from completely unrelated organisms; in this case, a goose can arise from a barnacle.