Gary, those organisms that form the basis for the ecosystem at deep sea trenches are sulfate reducing bacteria. The bacteria derive thier energy from sulfate compounds in the sea water released at the geothermal vents. This heat and energy source forms the basis for that food chain. Those worms have symbiotic bacteria which provide the worm with energy via this inorganic energy source. Other "regular" animals go up from there, detritivores, true predators, etc. I hope this confuses (does not confuse?) the issue further. Also, plant is a common name, mostly, and as such you can call anything you want a plant, but if you want to be more accurate one needs to refer to its most accepted and widely used name, if in turmoil, or a cladistically valid name if further work has been done to elucidate that organism's relationships. Barring a well defined and agreed upon definition it's all a matter of just making sure other people know what you mean. Know what I mean? Alan

"Flowering" is probably not the correct technical term, "coning" is probably more appropriate...but "ready for sexual activity" will work for angiosperms and gymnosperms alike :-) I have the stem exposed mainly because that's the way it has grown its whole life and I was a little hesitant to bury it completely. When I repotted it, I did position it deeper. With some gravel top dressing it is almost completely buried. One of the other challenges in a pot is how to position the leaves as they get longer and overflow. I already lost almost a foot of length when the dried up ends snapped off unintentionally while I was moving the pot around. In coastal Namibia where they are native, the temps are moderate all year - never too hot or too cold. And there are regular, dense, heavy fogs that soak the soil. Bay area weather is probably very similar to habitat. x

Evergreen is merely a plant characteristic, not a botanical classification. An evergreen plant is any plant which has leaves present on the branches all year round; many (but not all) conifers are evergreen; many broadleaf plants are also evergreen. The converse of evergreen is deciduous (shedding all the leaves for part of the year). Conifer is a botanical classification: all conifers bear specialised seed-producing structures called cones. They don't have flowers, and flowering plants don't have cones (though some flowering plants have seedheads that look superficially like cones). Not all conifer cones look like the 'traditional' cone; junipers (unlike what was said above) actually do have cones, but their cones have soft, fleshy cone scales which resemble berries. The scales on juniper cones are often visible as fine lines, as in these . Even these are actually highly modified cones. On the pine/fir question, this needs a little explanation of plant classification. Similar, related plant species are grouped together in a genus (plural: genera), and similar, related plant genera are grouped together in a family. Further, similar, related plant families are grouped together in an order, and related plant orders are grouped together in a class. Thus for example, all pines are in the genus Pinus, all firs are grouped in the genus Abies, and all douglas-firs in the genus Pseudotsuga. These genera are all related to each other, and placed in the pine family Pinaceae. That firs are in the same family means that firs are not pines, but are fairly closely related to pines. For a different example which might be more familiar . . . the same is done with animals; thus e.g. foxes (genus Vulpes) are not dogs (genus Canis), but are related (both are in the dog family Canidae). The conifers comprise an order (Pinales) which includes seven families, each family including several genera: Pinaceae (pine family). Includes pines (Pinus), spruces (Picea), larches (Larix), douglas-firs (Pseudotsuga), cedars (Cedrus), firs (Abies), hemlocks (Tsuga), and a few others (too rare to be familiar). Cupressaceae (cypress family). Includes cypresses (Cupressus, Chamaecyparis), junipers (Juniperus), sequoias (Sequoia, Sequoiadendron, Metasequoia), baldcypresses (Taxodium), arborvitae (Thuja), and several others (too rare to be familiar). Taxaceae (yew family). Includes yews (Taxus). Cephalotaxaceae (plum-yew family). Includes plum-yews (Cephalotaxus) and torreyas (Torreya) (some botanists include this family in the family Taxaceae). Sciadopityaceae (sciadopitys family). Includes the genus Sciadopitys. Araucariaceae (monkey-puzzle family). Includes monkey-puzzles (Araucaria), wollemia (Wollemia), and kauris (Agathis) (all subtropical/warm temperate, not hardy in RI). Podocarpaceae (podocarp family). Includes podocarps (several mainly tropical and subtropical genera). Hope this helps and isn't too complicated! Resin

Something I find tiresome and illogical is the scientist who tries to interpret every phenomenon he/she may spend a career studying (in this case Sperry and cavitation, or what happens with water bubbles in the pipeline)in the context of competition between gymnosperms (not conifers, Cycads should also fit the generalization) and angiosperms. Reminds me of a forestry student who told Prof. S.S. Pauley at the Univ. of Minnesota many years ago, that he was quitting forestry. Why? Because he heard in class that angiosperms had successfully outcompeted conifers over the ages, and he was worried forestry would not be profitable without conifers. When a pine is growing cheek to jowl with an oak, are they re-enacting imagined Jurassic competitions -- or are they just a couple of organisms whose diverse needs are both being filled WELL ENOUGH for them to survive where they have randomly arrived? It seems to me that viewing evolution as having pitted one group of plants against another almost in a zero sum game is akin to (un?) intelligent design.