Inspired Sentence 7

A few special conifers such as bristlecone pine can live through sequential, sectorial deaths – compartmentalizing their external afflictions, shutting down, section by section, producing fertile cones for an extra millennium with the sustenance of a solitary strip of bark.

That’s from Jared Farmer’s brilliant Elderflora (2022), a history of ancient trees. I relish the clear scientific precision of it (“sequential,” “sectorial,” “compartmentalizing”). Farmer is explaining how the bristlecone pine works, how it manages to live almost indefinitely. I love that “compartmentalizing their external afflictions.” The final part – “shutting down, section by section, producing fertile cones for an extra millennium with the sustenance of a solitary strip of bark” – is inspired. Note that “for an extra millennium” – not a year, not a decade, not a century. A millennium! All from a “solitary strip of bark”!