Botany

Two big petrified tree trunks, lying one on top of one another, were discovered during salvage excavations conducted by the Petrified Forest Natural History Museum of Lesvos in cooperation with PPC Renewables.

No, this not a phrase made up just for the sake of a catchy title! This must have been the perception of the plant Borago officinalis in 16th and 17th century England. In his colossal work Herball-Generall Historie of Plantes, first published in 1597, English botanist and herbalist John Gerard wrote:

Scientists have created bacteria covered in tiny semiconductors that generate a potential fuel source from sunlight, carbon dioxide and water, reported BBC.

The so-called "cyborg" bugs produce acetic acid, a chemical that can then be turned into fuel and plastic.

In lab experiments, the bacteria proved much more efficient at harvesting sunlight than plants.

The coniferous forests in Bulgaria are dying because of a bark beetle invasion. Therefore, more and more forests are drying out in the mountains around Sofia, Pernik, Kyustendil and other parts of the country. Reports Novini. 

The Chios Mastic Museum reveals how cultivation of the Pistacia lentiscus chia tree has shaped the island's economy, architecture and customs while also showcasing its different uses. Unique to Chios, the tree is the source of gum mastic, a key source of wealth for the island since Byzantine times, when the trees were owned exclusively by the emperor.

A 7,300-square-meter "Lotus Flower and Bonsai Art Park," which will be home to Turkey's biggest lotus breeding pond with 200 different types of endemic lotus flowers, plants and trees indigenous to the city and a bonsai greenhouse, will be opened by the end of this summer to nature enthusiasts on the northwestern province of Bolu's Alpağutbey neighborhood. 

I grew old while constantly writing on this topic for many long years and signing one campaign after another, but somehow, the enthusiasm of those who revive and submit the bill to cut down olive trees has not petered out. 

A parliament commission, founded to discuss the contentious "Production Reform Draft Law," has decided to establish an "Olive Grove Preservation Board" following the removal of a controversial article that would ease the path to industrial activities on protected olive groves. 

There is a giant olive tree right at the roundabout leading to Yalıkavak approaching from Torba or Konacık in southwestern Turkey. I never passed it without saying, "Thanks for your presence." 

I can never go past an olive tree - actually all trees - without showing some respect in anyway. But olive trees are different. 

The tree was planted by the Yamaki family in 1625. When the USAF dropped the Bomb on Hiroshima, the Yamaki family lived just two miles from ground zero. Miraculously both the family and the tree survived the explosion that killed around 140.000 people.