Scientists confirm that it is possible for a person to eat a seed and then die, the seed germinates and grows into a tree from the dead person’s stomach.
Professor Jay Noller, a soil scientist at Oregon State University (USA), has just analyzed on Live Science the myth that when humans have just eaten an intact tree seed and died, it is buried in the ground. , that seed can sprout from the stomach and borrow the dead body to grow the way the cordyceps parasitic plant did.
The body of one of the three people was found under a mysterious fig tree in Cyprus – (photo: CYPRUS MAIL).
The tree growing from the dead body is a hot story in many European and American newspapers. Over the weekend, the remains of a Turkish man mysteriously missing since 1974 were discovered in the island nation of Cyprus thanks to a fig tree growing directly above. The family believes that he ate figs before and that after his death, a fig tree grew from his stomach, as a way of calling for help from deep underground, hoping his relatives would find him.
The tree grows in a cave. Recently, a botanist tried to dig around it out of curiosity, not understanding why a fig tree chose to grow in that dark cave. The researcher was shocked when he found a lot of human bones.
Police received the scene and identified a total of 3 remains, including the man mentioned above and 2 unidentified people, scattered in the cave. Tests showed that three people had been cornered in the cave and had explosives thrown at them. The dynamite created another hole on the other side of the cave, allowing sunlight to enter, from which the fig tree grew. But scientists did not find human remains inside the mysterious fig tree.
However, Professor Jay Noller confirmed that a plant seed sprouting from the stomach of a dead person is entirely possible, although the case above cannot be confirmed. “Not just the stomach, but it can be from anywhere in the digestive system of a dead person or animal,” he said.
While indigestible seeds are often expelled in the feces of living animals, the seeds eaten by the dead end up stuck in their bodies, when life activities suddenly stop. Jay Noller said cases of plants growing from the carcasses of other animals are not uncommon, so there is no reason why it cannot grow from humans. In addition to the seeds that are eaten, seeds that the dead person accidentally carried or dropped nearby can also use nutrients from the human corpse to grow into a tree.
Using dead animal meat to fertilize plants is quite common in many cultures. In the United States, the Wampanoag natives taught immigrants to use leftover fish to fertilize corn.
Also, in 2015, the remains of a medieval skeleton were actually found entwined by the roots of an old oak tree.
Scientists and authorities did not delve further into the Cyprus fig tree case because, real or not, the dead family’s belief that he had transformed into a lush tree can be a source of peace. ironing for them.