The Pandanus candelabrum is now one of the most sought-after plants
Pandanus candelabrum (Photo: gizmodo.in)
Diamonds you’re familiar with. Pandanus candelabrum, not so much. And until recently, botanists didn’t pay much attention to this rare, palm-like plant from West Africa either. But the discovery that P. candelabrum grows only over rock that may harbour diamonds has vaulted the plant out of obscurity. Diamond hunters are going to “jump on it like crazy”, one geologist told Science.
Formed by intense heat and pressure deep underground, diamonds are brought to the surface via the crust inside intrusions of kimberlite, a type of igneous rock. Where there is kimberlite, there may be diamonds.
That’s where P. candelabrum comes in. The plant seems to grow only in soil over kimberlite. Stephen Haggerty, a mineralogist at Florida International University in Miami and the chief exploration officer of Youssef Diamond Mining Company, describes his discovery in an Economic Geology paper. P. candelabrum could make it much easier to find kimberlite pipes usually hidden under the thick African bush.
( Source : www.gizmodo.in )
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