Plants Always Win

We’re always pretty nerdy on Plants Always Win, but in this interview episode Alex Meinders helps us take it to a whole new level. He’s a wildlife biologist and videogame enthusiast whose passion project is the YouTube and TikTok channel Geek Ecology. He uses his real-world science know-how to analyze the biology and ecology of Pokémon—yes, those quirky monsters from the cartoon, card game, and video games. This week Alex speculates with us about the plant-inspired class of grass-type Pokémon. We consider their place in the food web (are they animals or vegetables?), their evolutionary history (what environmental pressure caused them to look like plants?) and their methods of reproduction (do they create clones by seed and genetic diversity by egg?). If you’re worried about missing out on real-world plant talk, never fear! We dig into some fascinating plants along the way, including the parasitic corpse flower, the piratical ghost pipe, and mandrakes, which really do look like that.  Find Alex on YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter at @GeekEcology.Fact Check:We promised some fact-checking during the episode! Here are the results: Alex brought up the subject of a tissue-culture mammoth meatball that made news headlines. This was created in 2023 by Australian company Vow as a way to bring attention to their cultivated meat products. It turns out the meatball was not eaten since no one knows how our immune systems will react to protein from 10,000-year-old DNA. If someone wanted to eat it, the company would need to re-do the process with closer attention paid to the needs of regulators. But it’s a great story!The Pokémon Grimer was part of Generation 1, which came out in Japan in 1996. Points to Sean for remembering that accurately.It was actually four different fish who beat Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, since, for health reasons, their owner swapped in a different one every twelve hours. But, yes, the notoriously fail-proof game has been beaten by the random movements of fish swimming around a tank with quadrants mapped to the controller buttons.We also mention the Feejee Mermaid. It turns out there were many such “mermaids” made from combining the bodies of fish and monkeys. They have cultural significance as “ningyo” in Japan, but when westerners like PT Barnum got their hands on them in the nineteenth century, shenanigans ensued.  Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Instagram: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Facebook: plantsalwayswinpodcast TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com CreditsWebsite Design and Illustration by Sophia AlladinIntro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-playsLicense code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PHCitationsThe mammoth meatball (which was not, in fact, eaten by anyone):Carrington, D. (2023b, March 28). Meatball from long-extinct mammoth created by food firm. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/28/meatball-mammoth-created-cultivated-meat-firm?CMP=share_btn_url P.T. Barnum’s Feejee Mermaid (one of many from the 1800s):Szalay, J. (2016, September 9). The Feejee Mermaid: Early Barnum Hoax. livescience.com. https://www.livescience.com/56037-feejee-mermaid.html The meaning behind the name Oddish: Fandom. (n.d.). Oddish. Codex Gamicus. Retrieved December 10, 2024, from https://gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/Oddish Mandrakes:The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (1998, July 20). Mandrake | Description, Species, & Traditions. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/plant/mandrake-Mandragora-genus#ref202668 Corpse flower, Rafflesia arnoldi, definitely the inspiration behind Vileplume Rafflesia arnoldi. (n.d.). Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. Retrieved December 10, 2024, from https://www.kew.org/plants/rafflesia-arnoldi Ghost pipe, a mycoheterotroph:Ghost pipe. (n.d.). Nature Conservancy Canada. Retrieved December 10, 2024, from https://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/what-we-do/resource-centre/featured-species/plants/ghost-pipe.htmlTimestamps00:46 Introduction01:56 Pursuing wildlife biology because Jurassic Park isn't real3:54 What is Geek Ecology?5:08 Pokémon Food Webs10:27 The Fish who beat Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire11:30 Why “grass type” and not “plant type”?13:02 Are Pokémon their own kingdom of life?14:00 A discussion on evolution18:07 Angiosperms (flowering plants) and gymnosperms (non-flowering plants)19:09 Impatiens would make good Pokémon20:30 Plant Pokémon reproduction: seeds AND eggs??22:10 Sean wants a Pokémon breeding simulator12:45 Do Pokémon need to be pollinated?25:29 What plant inspired the Oddish?30:58 Vileplume: it’s just a corpse flower, right?34:45 Parasitic plant tangent29:25 Pokémon with fake Latin names40:50 Find Geek Ecology online42:55 Contact Us & Outro