Tamarind Bonsai

Abe V Rotor

View of the Grand Palace from beneath a bonsai
tamarind tree. Bangkok, Thailand

Bonsai tamarind trees in conical shape line the main
avenue to the Grand Palace.

Closeup of the fruiting bonsai tree.

When I saw the tamarind bonsai, it flashed into my mind the story of a wise man from the Orient who was asked, "What tree lives the longest?" to which he confidently answered, "The bonsai."

About the same time a scientist from California was asked of the same question. To which he replied with scientific authority, "The Sequoia."

For a long time the world debated about the issue. I found myself a fence sitter in my college days. Until I became a biologist.

Centuries old bonsai trees grace many parks and homes in China, Japan and Korea, the origin of the art of dwarfing plants into what we know today as bonsai. They are of course minuscule to the giant Sequoia or redwoods in western United States which stand twenty to thirty storeys high.

Some of these trees were already bearing cones at the time of Christ. That's more than 2000 years ago. So these trees held the record for a long time. Until...

The record gave way to gnarled dwarf trees, among them the Bristlecone, living on windswept rocky shores in the Mediterranean and other parts of the world where conditions of survival are extremely difficult.

Which brings about the puzzle - what really is the key to longevity?

I examined the tamarind bonsai in Thailand. Why they are pampered with care! By man, under the rule of monarchy.

I read extensively about the redwoods. Why they are pampered by nature! They dominate the ground, space and sky. They are the monarchs of the forest.

And neither gives the convincing answer to the puzzle.

It is because the longest living tree, the Bristlecone, is left all by itself to fend itself against the extreme conditions of the environment.

This strengthened by belief that natural resistance is the key to survival and longevity. It is natural resistance that enables the organism to survive and to live long. And here are the premises.

1. Controlled growth reduces need for food, water, space and nutrients.

2. Metabolism is slowed down when these requirements for growth and development are placed under restrictive control.

3. Extreme conditions "temper" organisms. Tempering is hardening of cells, tissues and organs, basically the protoplasm.

4. Tropisms are likewise honed under extreme conditions. Roots penetrate deeper to reach the source of water. Phototropism encourages the plant to reach out for the sun, chemotropism triggers survival tools such as chemical secretion. Latex and resin are protective substances.

5. On the cell level, slower cell division lengthens life. Fast multiplying cells are shorter lived than slow multiplying ones. Chromosomes get shorter every time the cell multiplies, their telomeres shrink every time the cell divides. This leads to faster senility and early demise of the cell. These premises I believe, hold the key to the so-called "green thumb" in the bonsai expert.

These premises are found in the giant Sequoia, although its size is deceiving. The truth is that the old Sequoia, like the bonsai, has reached virtual dormancy. Any organism in a state of dormancy or torpor undergoes very slow metabolism, which contributes to long life.

Beside, the Sequoia has other advantages in its natural habitat. It produces resin as a survival tool sealing off its attackers and healing the wound that they inflict. Here too, the Sequoia exhibits natural rejuvenation. It can recover from injuries to a point that a new tree may grow from the trunk and roots of a fallen one, like a tiller arising from its parent. It is natural tissue culture. Which leads us to the question, When does longevity end, when does it start?

I examined the bonsai tamarind trees and made reference to these factors. Well, I estimated their age to be about two centuries or so. Which is confirmed by the history of the Grand Palace. I compared them with the two bonsai tamarind trees at home which have shrunk into two-foot shrubs. An kindly old lady entrusted them under my care fifty years ago. Under natural condition tamarind grows into a very large tree.

This comparison points out that organisms of the same species don't only grow into different sizes in nature - they are actually controlled. More food and they grow fast and big, probably lanky and weak. On the other hand, starved them and they will become dwarf. Hardened and tough, and they live long.

On hind sight, does this hypothesis apply to animals? To humans? If so, then deprivation and exposure to adverse conditions - and not a bountiful life - is the key to long life.

Indeed, longevity is a mystery. ~

Living with Nature 3, AVR (All Rights Reserved)