The fog catcher's forest - reproduced with the kind permission of New Scientist

摘要

When Spanish sailors landed on the Canary Island of El Hierro in the 15th century they were amazed to find an aboriginal population with extensive agriculture, which they had somehow managed to sustain with virtually no rainfall. Legend has it that the Guanche people derived all their water from a single large tree, which stripped moisture out of passing fogs and dripped enough water from its leaves to support a thousand people.