h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

For a moment, I thought the rose in the picture might be a Jubilee Rose.


So I looked up the Jubilee Rose, and saw mostly reddish blossoms, not the lovely yellow in he photo.

Without the hand of man being involved, there would probably not be many roses with double petals. Like one of these, which are native to North America, and heaven knows how long they've been around:
http://www.prairiemoon.com/rosa-carolina-pasture-rose-prairie-moon-nursery.html

And, for Europeans, here';s a single-petal rose:
http://www.highcountrygardens.com/perennial-plants/rose/rosa-eglanteria
(This was Shakespeare's favorite rose.)

Native plums and apples are apt to be smaller and not as sweet as the varieties we are familiar with, but this has not stopped birds and mammals from eating the fruit and spreading the seeds.

Sorry, I can't help trying to show my knowledge of the natural world. Blueberries and strawberries exist as native forms, and are sweet and delicious. Man didn't lift a finger in designing clover and dandelions.

So, yes, without Man there would be wonderful plant life, cooperating with animals in their joint quest for survival.

Nice poem.

But man *can* take credit for corn, and annual wheat. some of us are trying to reinvent wheat as a perennial (see Kernzle). It's not going as well as hoped.