the fossil record
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Apeape/ Gunnera
Its base decumbent & prostrate:
pale, conspicuous stipules,
fleshy petioles
bearing shallowly lobed blades
like great parasols
--almost glabrous--
Its orange & purplish drupes hide
on the precipitous slopes
under boggy mountain summits
where botanists seek its kind
among the brinks and declivities
of the sharp windward walls of the Ko'olaus
where once a red thrush perched atop
every dead snag.
Clint Frakes