
A single wild tree on a New Zealand island could soon get some neighbors - bryanrasmussen
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/12/story-of-worlds-loneliest-tree/
======
Ericson2314
So were all the new seeds male, or does it just take a long time for this tree
to sexually mature?

~~~
pchristensen
Basically, they figured out how to trick the female tree into producing fruit
with viable seeds:

"Beever attempted to focus the tree’s attention—water and nutrients—on a
single bunch of flowers.

After several trials, Beever found a way: a herbicide that mimics natural
plant growth hormones. The solution, weak enough to avoid harming the prized
plant, could help dissolve the hard exteriors of pollen grains to aid
fertilization. Then, the hormones could amplify early signals transmitted by
fertilized fruits back to the tree —think of tiny radio pings that say, hey,
send more attention our way.

Such abundant indicators convinced the kaikōmako to unleash enough
reproductive energy to develop mature purple fruits, less than a half-inch
long, each containing a viable seed."

~~~
_asummers
Is this tree special in being receptive to this technique, or is this broadly
applicable to other trees/plants that are having trouble fertilizing for
whatever reason?

~~~
wollstonecraft
It is pretty common to induce flowering of plants with gibberellin, for
example cannabis.

