Is it possible for a seed (lemon, pumpkin, bean, etc.) lodged within a human nose/ear/etc. to germinate and actually begin to grow?
Thanks for your help.
I doubt if anything would grow in ear wax or boogers. Maybe if you had a really dirty belly button or an excess of toe jam. :rolleyes:
[sup]How about fungus, does that count?[/sup]
A seed needs water, soil and air to germinate. If you nose/ear/etc. contains all three of these, then yes technically it is possible, but highly unlikely.
Read this: http://www.yougrowgirl.com/grow/seed_starting1c.php
I forgot light too.
For a class project back in school, I planted some seeds in cotton wool, in a bowl. I always had the bowl in direct sunlight, and the cotton wool was always moist. And whaddya know - the seeds sprouted in about a weeks time! Everyone in class had to do it, and I know all of us didn’t use the same kind of seed.
Can’t verify the ear/nose claim though!!
thanks everybody.
she’s still not convinced, but I’m chalking this up as a victory.
pfbob
Welcome to the SDMB.
It helps to have descriptive titles. I’ve changed the title for you.
DrMatrix - General Questions Moderator
I’ve seen a photograph of this actual occurrence — in a human eye, of all places. A tiny seed had gotten caught in the corner of a person’s eye, and began to germinate. A doctor was required to safely excise it, as it had adhered to the surface of the eye.
It helps if it’s in an area protected from the immune system, which would recognize it as foreign and attack it. I heard a talk by a doctor who described some patients with advanced AIDS who had inhaled some spores and ended up with mushrooms or other fungi growing in their respiratory system.
I’m not sure about plants “proper”, but fungus can certainly get a foothold in people. I’m still scarred by deciding to do an elementary science fair project on fungi, and my mother (in my experience, many lab techs are similarly twisted, bless their hearts) taking great delight in finding medical reference books with photos of fungal infections. (I, having the appropriate genes, took great delight in photocopying the “best” of the photos for part of the project display.) The one that stuck with me was the infection that got into the eye (looking above, the eyes make good soil, apparently), which was massively swollen and protruding from the socket.