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Article: Power plants.(The Eden Project, Cornwall, England)
- Article from:
- Popular Science
- Article date:
- March 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Bonnier Corporation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The world's largest greenhouse holds plants that have changed history.
THE PLANT WITH 1,001 uses has found an unlikely home--a surrealistic edifice rising from an abandoned clay pit in southwest England. There, you can find growing a grass used daily by more than half the world's population. Valuable for skyscraper scaffolding, airplane skins, bicycles, musical instruments, furniture, toys, paper, fuel, food, medicines, and even acupuncture needles, it was used to make the first suspension bridge and the first successful filament for Edison's light bulb. It grows faster than any other plant on Earth, as much as 4 feet in a single day. It's known as "the wood of the ...