the.com/creosote
a desert shrub that cloned itself into the planet's oldest living thing, and just kept going
means A pungent, oily substance distilled from wood tar or coal tar, used to preserve wood and once to treat ailments — and also the common name for a hardy desert shrub whose resinous leaves carry that same sharp, tarry smell.
from Coined in the 1830s from Greek roots: kreas, 'flesh,' plus the stem of sozein, 'to save' or 'preserve' — literally 'flesh-preserver,' named for the chemical's antiseptic power to keep meat from rotting. The desert shrub borrowed the name later, purely because its oily, medicinal leaves smell uncannily like the real thing.
- oldest clone
- King Clone in Mojave is roughly 11,700 years old
- rain smell
- that desert petrichor scent is largely creosote resin
- chemical warfare
- poisons soil to keep rivals from growing nearby
- two meanings
- also a tar-based wood preservative, totally unrelated plant
- survival mode
- can drop leaves and survive years of total drought
creosote bush — larrea tridentata, dominates 90 million acres of the sonoran and chihuahuan deserts
creosote wood preservative — coal tar derivative used to treat railroad ties since the 1800s, still covers thousands of miles of track
creosote buildup hazard — chimney deposits that caused the great chimney fire of london, 1666, contributing to the great fire's spread