Text and photos by KenNeth Setzer Planting the Primitive Garden We Plant edible gardens, rose gardens, cactus gardens—so why fall 2016 55 not a primitive garden? Consider primitive plants as those whose lineages can be traced back into the deep past, whose anatomy hasn’t changed all that much in millions of years, or that retain some ancient, relict features. But remember, primitive in no way means inferior— often, it’s quite the opposite. Primitive plants are survivors, their forms and functions well-adapted for their environment. They’re a little lucky, too. A catastrophe can change the environment in a flash, and plants can’t pick up and run, fly or swim to a better location. Here are just a few we can grow and contemplate: Conifer means “cone bearing,” as in the pine cone, but there are plenty of non-pine conifers. Araucarias are conifers now native only to the southern hemisphere, but they were widespread in the Jurassic Period. Forests of them are sometimes filmed as backgrounds for dinosaur documentaries. The surviving populations of them are relicts, having made it through the massive extinction that took the dinosaurs. The wonderfully primitive-looking monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana), with its overlapping, scalelike leaves, sadly won’t grow in South Florida, but the Cook pine (Araucaria columnaris) and Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria heterophylla)—both of which are not pines, but araucarias—are common here. Their ancestry stretches back to the early Cretaceous. But beware: They can become massive! In temperate areas, plant a Metasequoia, aka dawn redwood, once thought long-extinct but rediscovered in 1941. This deciduous conifer resembles our own cypress, another primitive. Cycads are often called “living fossils.” With their pinnate fronds and colorful cones, they lend an otherworldy air to any landscape. Though recent LEFT: 1. Encephalartos sp. 2. Selaginella willdenowii 3. Equisetum hyemale 4. Nymphaea sp. ABOVE: Cone of the cycad Encephalartos ferox
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