Sometimes , science is about rigorous determination and iron - willed patience . Sometimes , it ’s about licking thing . How else would you discover that a effervescent grass in the Australian outback tastes like salt and vinegar ?
Scientists from the University of Western Australia have been working in the sweaty Outback cataloging its native grass coinage . Their work , recently published inAustralian Systematic Botany , line how their expedition discovered eight new species ofperennial locoweed .
One of these was an odd grass they distinguish sparkling at sunset . As the evening went on , their discovery got even eldritch .
“ We were doing late night experimentation … plow specimen of that metal money , " research worker Dr Matthew Barrett toldABC News . " Someone licked their hand at some point and tasted that flavour . "
" It look moderately inconspicuous when you first get to it , but if you look at it very closely it has very , very minute sparkling droplets on the stems , " he added .
" When you lick them , they taste like salt and vinegar chips . "
The two discernment - prove grass species areTriodia scintillans andTriodia vanleeuwenii . According to the squad ’s study , the Grass have “ noticeable droplets that we observed to froth in sunlight in the field of study . These droplet can remain a viscous liquid or become crystalline following specimen dry , and they can even be honour on honest-to-god herbarium material , depending on the quality of the material at the sentence of collection . ”
There are64 known Triodia speciesin Australia . They are known by the vulgar name spinifex , although they are not actually a part of the coastal genus Spinifex . Many of the coinage have water or rosin droplets on their leaves . They are often in such gamy quantities the liquidness can drip down the stem and leaves on hot 24-hour interval . It ’s believed this property is to help the sess last the Outback’sarid and ironical surround . It also makes them well - adapted to survive wildfire , another plebeian terror in the Australian wilderness .
But think , not all science is meantfor licking(image below ) . Even Anderson himself warns , you in all probability should n’t go around clobber all the grasses you see , for obvious ground .
