Gwendoline Riley Takes on the Puzzle of Aging

An Eastern Cape giant cycad in the Palm House at Kew Gardens in London is over 240 years old. It has lived most of its two centuries, since it was first transported by ship from South Africa, in a container, making it, according to the Kew Gardens website, “the oldest pot plant in the world.” A backhanded distinction, maybe, for a cycad, a type of plant that has been around for 250 million years; still, this specimen has made the best of its confines, curling toward the ribbed dome of the enormo...