Complexity Digest 2010.09 - 12

2010/04/23

Editor-in-Chief: Carlos Gershenson
Founding Editor: Gottfried Mayer

Besting Johnny Appleseed, Science Bookmark and Share

Excerpt: Even though all these trees are the same species, Malus x domestica, the apple, there's no end to the variety of shapes and postures they assume. Glenn, trim, white-haired, points out that some trees grow vertically like elms, while some droop like willows. Some have branches with elbows and right angles, still others lack a central trunk and sprout stalks like bamboo. And that's only part of the variety he'll see when their fruit arrives in late April. Cross two adult fruit treesâ€"a wild variety resistant to disease, say, and a domesticated one with sweet fruitâ€"and there's almost no telling what you'll get.