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drichard's picture

Upon return from our

Upon return from our harrowing journey to the distant and recently charted planet Nearer, we cataloged our highly varied samples and recorded our observations. Our discoveries are listed below:

Employing our knowledge of earthly plant-life, we made observations about the growths covering planet Nearer. We looked at the texture, colour, size, and general position. We found that many of the growths resembled the plants we know here on earth. In the following list quotations mark temporary names for the growths based on their convenient similarities to earth-dwelling plants.

We observed three "trees," two "shrubs," three forms of "moss," "clovers," and several types of grass-like "weeds."

"Trees" All trees were rooted in the floor of planet Nearer. It appears that plant life unconnected to soil of some sort will eventually perish on planet Nearer, pointing to the need for soil-based resources. All trees had leaves. It can be implied that Nearer's trees also need water-like fluids (the function of leaves is to catch fluids). All trees appear to be deciduous growths, changing composition and colour based on a shift in environment (i.e. seasons). Leaves that fell from the trees met their demise on Nearer's floor. All trees exhibited a certain tropism; the branches of each seemed to grow in a similar direction towards the light source over planet Nearer. This points to the need of light.

"Moss" We observed three forms of moss that grew along the floor of planet Nearer: some growing on the trees, mainly towards the bottom of the trees, closer to the soil; some along the floor meshing with the grass but closer to the bottom of the trees. Utilizing our knowledge of substances on Earth and applying it to the observations that we made on planet Nearer, and taking into account the notion of "location" through our observations, we concluded that the moss that grew on and near the trees had access to a source of "water." Mosses on Earth are found in areas of dampness and low light and when applying our knowledge of the moss on Earth for planet Nearer, we made the implication that the moss on planet Nearer must be similar, which makes sense based on our observation of the moss that grows along the bottom of the trees and on the floor near the bottom of the tree. The location of the moss on planet Nearer is one that is away from sunlight. And since water is absorbed into the ground, the "soil", the moss seems to behave like the moss that is found on planet Earth.

"Shrubs" During our stay on the planet we observed two different types of shurbs.  We gave them names that reflected the physical nature of their leaves.  One shrub had needle-like leaves and was therefore called the 'porcupine shrub"; the second shrub had thin leaves which reminded us of fingerprints.  This second shurb was named the 'pinky shurb'.  Using the shurbs as tools of observations, we were able to observe that there were less plants under both shurbs, but there were a large amount of plants around the shurbs.  From this we were able to observe the importance of sunlight to these plants.  Without sunlight, plants will not be able to grow and survive.  

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