Cedar’s tiny seeds virtually never establish amid dense forest growth.

Evidence

This last question is especially critical for the regeneration of “Maker of Rich Women.” Despite its huge stature, cedar has tiny seeds, flakes wafted on the wind from delicate cones not more than half an inch long. Four hundred thousand cedar seeds add up to a single pound. It’s a good thing that the adults have a whole millennium to reseed themselves. In the profusion of growth in these forests, such a speck of life has almost no chance at all to establish a new tree. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1062

Categorization

• SHARE: A specific-person fact: 400,000 cedar seeds per pound — the inverse of the tree’s enormous scale — is a striking tidbit for a botanist friend.