AP: Caffeine in coffee vs. tea and chocolate - Page 2
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Alan Frew
- Posts: 661
- Joined: 16 years ago
[quoteAlso, coffee plants are evergreens, so healthy plants are not suposed to shed their leaves to any significant extent.][/quote]
Perhaps he was thinking of Eucalypts, which are evergreen but shed leaves like crazy. Eucalypt leaf ground litter does seem to inhibit competing plant species, for whatever reason. I've never checked out the understory litter quantities in coffee plantations or talked to the farmers about leaf shedding. Something to look for in future.
Alan
Perhaps he was thinking of Eucalypts, which are evergreen but shed leaves like crazy. Eucalypt leaf ground litter does seem to inhibit competing plant species, for whatever reason. I've never checked out the understory litter quantities in coffee plantations or talked to the farmers about leaf shedding. Something to look for in future.
Alan
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entropyembrace
- Posts: 330
- Joined: 13 years ago
Wow, that's harsh and unfair.BuckleyT wrote:Ewen Callaway, the author of the above statement, is bringing shame and disrepute to both UC Santa Cruz and the University of Washington (my alma mater). That is, unless his resume is a total fabrication.
Caffeine is an adenosine antagonist neurotoxin. The last time I checked, I failed to find any rooted plant with an adenosine transmitter nervous system*. Also, coffee plants are evergreens, so healthy plants are not suposed to shed their leaves to any significant extent. Perhaps he misspoke; perhaps he meant that there is a small but advantageous (?) tendency for the plant to surround itself with the fungicidal and insecticidal properties of caffeine. Then why didn't he say so?
Caffeine inhibits cell plate formation in dividing plant cells http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01279564 , and is known to inhibit seed germination http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00982214. Also evergreens shed old leaves http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/p ... c2353.html that should be common knowledge.
Also, funny you're not skeptical of the fungicidal effects of caffeine based on the objection you have against claiming phytotoxic effects, fungi don't have nervous systems either.
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BuckleyT
- Posts: 201
- Joined: 10 years ago
Keep editing your post to add the additioal things that you do not like about my post. You are on a roll - why stop now?
BuckleyT
"Never underestimate the ability of Internet users to ignore relevant information in their quest for answers." --Dan Kehn
BuckleyT
"Never underestimate the ability of Internet users to ignore relevant information in their quest for answers." --Dan Kehn
