O Tannenbaum

Time to re-roast an old chestnut, a column I wrote several years that has become fresh in my mind due to the successful completion last night of Operation Dress-the-Tree (to be followed in a few weeks, of course, by Operation Curse-the-Tree as the needle-shedding skeleton is hauled out to the alley).

Is there scientific interest to be found in ol' Tannenbaum? Indeed there is!

Consider, for instance a Christmas tree's incredible capacity to "drink" water. A tree may slurp up six or seven litres ...