Ammi-Joan Paquette - Two Truths and a Lie: Its Alive!

For all those who love a good story but

arent afraid to seek the truth

CONTENTS

You should know something right up front: this book is sneaky.

Everybody knows the way books normally work. If you pick up a work of fiction, you know that most of what you will read in between those covers is made up. Its a delicious creation straight from the imagination of the author. If you pick up a nonfiction book, then you can count on the contents being true and factual. But this book is not all fiction nor all nonfiction. Instead, its a bit of both.

See? Sneaky.

All around us, everywhere in the world, there are lies. But there are truths, too. And sorting out one from the other is a really importantand seriously interestingpart of life.

So heres the way this book works. Each section is broken down into chapters and each chapter consists of three stories. If youve read the books title, I bet you know where were going with this. In every single chapter:

Two of the stories are 100%, cross-your-heart-and-hope-to-die TRUTHS

and one of the stories is a complete fabricationa LIE!

But which is which? Ah, thats where you come in. Even the lies might have kernels of buried truth. And some of the truths are so unbelievable, they will scramble your brain! Your mission is to separate the two.

So pull up a chair and settle in for a rocking good read. Just remember: dont take these stories at face value. Read them. Talk them over with your friends. Do your own research. Dig around online (safely, of course!). When it comes to informationand life, reallyasking good questions is a kind of superpower.

And the answers are out there, we promise.

Theyre just waiting for you to find them.

Ah, nature. A green meadow. Wind rustling through the leaves. Mushrooms growing on the side of a fallen log. What could be more peaceful, more predictable, more ordinary?

To that we say: ha! The plants and fungi we spotlight in this section are full of surprises. They completely defy those common stereotypes and misconceptions!

Intrigued? We hope so! Because once youve read these, going green will never again mean quite the same thing....

Picture this scene: Youre a farmer living in rural China, and youre out digging up medicinal herbs and roots. Most of the roots you find are skinny and stringy and wispy. But todays discovery is nothing like that. The plant thats buried deep in the moist ground in front of you is rounded and heavy. You unearth your prize, which is bigger than both your hands put together, and to your delight you see that this root is... person-shaped?!

Can you believe this grew under the ground?

Congratulations! Youve just dug up a royal fleeceflower root, known locally as he shou wu or fo ti. Mainly found in rural areas of northeastern China, this rare and highly prized root is an offshoot of the common tuber fleeceflower, a medicinal herb thats used for liver and kidney health, for better blood circulation, to remove toxins from the body, and more. This uncommon strain, the royal fleeceflower, has similar healing properties but in concentrated form: extra strong, in other words.

But what makes it really special? Its shaped like a little person. Specifically, the royal fleeceflower root is distinctive for its limb-like growths that oddly mirror the human form.

Hard to believe? Maybe not. Royal fleeceflower is found in particularly soft yet rocky soil: instead of growing into the flat, bulbous shape of the standard fleeceflower root, its royal cousin pushes around obstructions in its way, giving the fully matured root its rounded, uniquely doll-like appearance.

While royal fleeceflowers are farmed for medicinal use, a growing number of horticultural exporters are eyeing the roots not for grinding, boiling, and extracting of healing properties, but rather for decoration. After all, who wouldnt want a little root-goblin brightening up the coffee table. Er... right?

Do you see the resemblance?

Now, you should know that not every royal root dug up is going to look like your great-aunt Susan. The truth is, maybe one in four royal fleeceflowers have any human resemblance at all, says Dr. Chen Jie, associate professor of horticulture at Oregon State University, who has published several well-regarded papers on the plant. Most are closer to a lumpy ginger root. But ever since photos of a royal fleeceflower root with an apparent resemblance to Homer Simpson went viral in 2013, plant lovers worldwide have been falling over themselves to get their hands on the prized tubers. Thats not as easy as it might seem. The USDAs Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service classified it as a restricted import in 2014, to the great frustration of exporters and collectors alike.

So for the foreseeable future, at least, the royal fleeceflower will have to go on being admired from afar. Unless you happen to have access to just the right moist patch of earth: by a stream, perhaps, where a certain shoot will spark a burst of excitement. You pull out your gardening trowel and start to dig....

Imagine a forest. Now imagine that forest covering more land area than 100 football fields. Next, imagine that the entire forest is actually just one very large, very heavy, and very old tree!